Rail Forum is pleased to announce their regional winners of the 2026 European Rail Clusters Initiative (ERCI) Innovation Awards. The ERCI is the leading meta-cluster of the railway industry in Europe uniting 18 innovation clusters from 17 European countries. Their three successful entries are:
- Dual Inventive with the RSS 300 (Remote Safety Switch 3000), which is transforming how railways deliver safe and efficient track access. By enabling infrastructure to be switched remotely in seconds – without requiring staff on site – it removes manual processes and significantly reduces time exposed to risk.
- Machines with Vision with Fault Navigator, which is a railway maintenance application that enables track workers to navigate precisely to defects detected by inspection trains using standard smartphones and tablets, without relying on GPS or mobile signal.
- Vanguard Solutions Group with VDST Visual Decision Support Tool, which replaces the static PDFs, email chains and tribal knowledge that controllers traditionally rely on with a connected, real-time decision environment.
They also like to acknowledge a Highly Commended entry from Prolectric, with their Autonomous Solar-Hybrid Energy System for Rail Infrastructure (ProRXM Hybrid & Ecosystem).
Cat Appleby, Rail Forum Membership and Engagement Director said;
“We have been thrilled by the quality of submissions to this year’s regional round, which was launched earlier this year in collaboration with fellow UK clusters: BRIC and Rail Clusters Scotland. The Regional Judging Panel were impressed by the significant potential impacts that each of our regional winners could deliver for railway operations and we watch their next steps with eager anticipation. Our involvement in the European Rail Clusters Initiative is a principal activity across our membership offer with particular emphasis around innovation and knowledge sharing as well as market expansion and profile raising. We welcome the opportunity to showcase our members innovative responses to known railway challenges and encourage wider industry to explore these developments to the fullest.”
Our three regional winners will now go forward to the finals featuring international entries from across all the clusters. Finalists will be judged by a panel made up of representatives from all the clusters and against criteria including innovation, economic and social benefits, integration of new digital technologies and the impact on ‘human capital’. Awards are available in the following categories:
- Best SME enterprise
- Best Large enterprise and
- Coup de Coeur Award
In 2025 they were delighted that UK based Composite Braiding secured the Best SME award.
