The fact that the railway industry is booming was confirmed at the end of InnoTrans 2018 www.innotrans.com — a four-day international trade fair for transport technology that closed on 21 September.

All available space at the Berlin Exhibition Grounds was occupied by 3,062 exhibitors from 61 countries, presenting the entire range of products and services for the ‘mobility sector’.

The event also attracted 153,421 trade visitors, from 149 countries.

InnoTrans again confirmed its reputation as an “international business hot-spot”. Rafael Santana, president and CEO of GE Transportation, reported signing a contract to supply 300 shunting locomotives to Kazakhstan Temir Zholy, while Siemens Mobility and Deutsche Bahn said they are planning to work together to implement some new “rail travel ideas”.

Meanwhile, the rail industries of Germany and China said they are looking to work together closely in the field of urban rail transport.

Volker Schenk (president of the German Railway Industry Association — VDB), and Zhou Xiaoqin (executive vice-president of the China Association of Metros) signed a declaration of intent on “Sino-German co-operation in urban rail transport”.

This focuses on co-ordinating the planning, construction and standardisation of rail transport vehicles in metropolitan regions.

According to a survey, exhibitors and trade visitors alike gave a positive assessment of InnoTrans, with about 90% of trade visitors saying they were highly satisfied with the business results of their visit.

Moreover, 90% of exhibitors expected follow-up business to be good.

In the outdoor display area at InnoTrans, there was a lot of interest in the new Series 484 light-rail trains for Berlin’s S-Bahn, which are due to commence scheduled services in 2021.

The rolling stock is being manufactured by a consortium formed by Siemens and Stadler.

Another exhibit that was very popular with the public was the DB Regio ‘train of ideas’.

In addition to a keep-fit cabin, a ‘power napping’ area and swivelling panorama seats, this life size mock-up also included a children’s play corner.