| · Best Small & Medium-sized Enterprise: | Composite Braiding Ltd, UK |
| · Best Large Enterprise: | TUC Rail, Belgium |
| · Coup de Cœur Winner: | LAT Group, Germany |
Published on behalf of ERCI
On Tuesday 30 September 2025 (1530-1630hrs CEST), during Expo Ferroviaria, at the Fiera Milano Rho, Milan, Italy – hosted by DITECFER at their booth (J30) – the European Railway Clusters Initiative (ERCI) awarded prizes to the best European innovations in the railway industry from those companies who submitted applications to the annual ERCI Railway Innovation Competition.
The competition identifies the best innovation at Technology Readiness Level (TRL) 7 or above from large enterprises as well as deciding on the best innovation from the small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) nominations.
The competition also identifies a ‘Coup de Cœur’ award from the remaining nominations where the jury identified particularly strong nominations that were worthy of special recognition.
It goes without saying that, without any nominations, there could not be a competition – and all 30 nominations (from 7 countries) along with their parent railway clusters are to be commended on submitting the nominations. Furthermore, the DITECFER Cluster deserves our congratulations and deep gratitude for providing the administration and oversight for this year’s ERCI Innovation Award as well as staging the awards and cocktail reception at their booth.
We remain most grateful to Prof. Dr.-Ing. Alessandro Fantechi, Full Professor at Department of Information Engineering of University of Firenze, Member of the Scientific Steering Group of Europe’s Rail Joint Undertaking for his most valuable contribution as Chairperson of the ERCI Railway Innovation Competition. Additionally, we are delighted that Professor Fantechi will be attending the ceremony as well as giving a speech congratulating the winners, whilst recognising the efforts of all entrants in this prestigious competition.
Last, but certainly not least, we are particularly grateful to Mr Dirk-Ulrich Krueger, President of the ERCI and Dr Veronica Elana Bocci, Coordinator DITECFER and Vice-President ERCI who will present the trophies to the winning entrants.
The 2025 ERCI Innovation Awards
The 30 participating companies have had their submissions assessed by a European Jury composed of railway experts from a variety of European countries. The following companies were selected as winning entries and have been awarded ERCI Innovation Awards as follows:
Best Small and Medium-sized Enterprise:
Composite Braiding Limited, UK. Composite Braiding Ltd is based in Derby, UK and was nominated by the Rail Forum, UK.
Company: Composite Braiding Ltd (CBL) is an SME based in Derby, UK developing and manufacturing high-performance, sustainable composites to meet high-volume engineering demands.
Website: www.compositebraiding.com
Innovation: The Composite Twin Track Cantilever (CTTC) is a ‘game-changing’ proof-of-concept prototype for the application of high-volume composite materials in overhead line equipment (OHLE). At 8m high and 5m wide, the CTTC represents the sustainable, low-cost and safer future of (and for) rail infrastructure.
Advantages: The CTTC has a significantly reduced mass over conventional steel structures (277kg versus 1,714kg like-for-like), it enables a vastly reduced possession time and provides improved worker safety. Moreover, it is recyclable at its end-of-life and is repairable in service as well as having more than 83% reduction in CO2e emissions and minimised scrap (less than 2%). Suitable for high volume production with a price similar to steel but with huge overall savings accruing from much lower installation costs.
Contact: Steve Barbour, Managing Director CBL (email: [email protected])
Best Large Enterprise:
TUC Rail. TUC Rail is registered in Brussels, Belgium and was nominated by the Logistics in Wallonia Cluster.
Company: TUC Rail offers in-house expertise across all rail disciplines, including project management and on-site construction supervision.
Website: www.tucrail.be
Innovation: RailCharge is a pioneering power conversion system enabling the charging of electric vehicles via the overhead contact during off-peak hours and at night when there is a surplus electrical power available for traction systems.
Advantages: The RailCharge system utilizes underused capacity of the railway energy infrastructure, unlocking new charging opportunities in every location adjacent to railway networks and enabling direct energy transfer from railway infrastructure to EV charging stations. RailCharge eliminates the need for separate grid connections for EV charging and is a scalable, cost efficient and sustainable solution – bridging rail and road mobility.
Contact: Bert DE TAEYE, Portfolio Manager Energy Transition (email: [email protected])
Coup de Cœur Award:
LAT Group. LAT Group is headquartered in Berlin, Germany and was nominated by Cluster Transport, Mobility and Logistics Berlin Brandenburg.
Company: LAT is a family-owned and operated firm for mobility related services including (cable) construction for railroad tracks and passenger safety systems for public transport.
Website: www.lat.de
Innovation: The SchaufelPlus is an autonomous system using a quadruped robot (Spot) with custom sensors which maps underground utilities in real time without disrupting operations. It also records environmental data to assess infrastructure conditions.
Advantages: The SchaufelPlus reduces the risk of utility strikes (with €500M annual damage potential in Germany alone) and it replaces error-prone manual methods with automated precision surveying as well as complementing existing platforms by covering legacy infrastructure and rail-adjacent areas. Furthermore, SchaufelPlus also contributes towards EU and global goals for smart, resilient urban infrastructure.
Contact: Larissa Zeichhardt, CEO LAT (email: [email protected])
Summary
Many thanks to the ERCI Railway Innovation Competition Team for all their hard work and all the companies which participated this year; we look forward to seeing you in 2026 for a new edition of the ERCI Innovation Awards!