About Milan

Milan Karunaratne is a Vice President at Wabtec with nearly two decades of experience pioneering digital solutions in rail transportation across GE and Wabtec. He leads the global Digital Advanced Technology organization within the Office of the CTO, bringing a startup-style approach to innovation within a large enterprise. A Railway Age "25 Under 40" award recipient with an MS in Mechanical Engineering (Stony Brook) and MBA (UCLA), Milan and his team specialize in translating emerging technologies like automation, robotics, and AI into production-ready solutions that deliver measurable impact to safety, reliability, and operational performance.

About Wabtec

Wabtec Corporation is revolutionizing the way the world moves for future generations. The Company is a leading global provider of equipment, systems, digital solutions and value-added services for the freight and transit rail industries, as well as the mining, marine and industrial markets.

https://www.wabteccorp.com/

My Key Takeaways

• Big players can innovate too – As Wabtec’s history shows, even long-established rail companies can reshape the industry when innovation is taken seriously.
• Autonomy is a must for the future – It’s not hype, but essential to improve safety, efficiency, and rail’s competitiveness against road transport.
• Rail is already a high-tech system – Rail networks are among the most complex and data-rich platforms in the world.
• Maverick is the North Star – The Maverick project represents the long-term vision for autonomous rail, especially in shunting and local operations.
• Pathfinder delivers value today – A pragmatic upgrade that brings modern digital, safety, and automation capabilities to existing locomotives.
• Big innovation happens in steps – Breakthroughs come from many smaller innovations, not one giant leap.
• Autonomy needs the whole system – Locomotives, yards, IT, data, and processes must evolve together.
• Humans stay in the loop – Automation supports people; it doesn’t replace them.
• Safety and regulation come first – Rail autonomy must respect the unique physical and operational constraints of rail.
• Get your hands dirty – Real innovation means experimenting, iterating, failing fast, and learning by doing.

Sebastian Sperker

https://www.railup.club/

sebastian@railup.club

About Bernhard Frei

Bernhard is a strategy and innovation expert with 25+ years of leadership experience in mobility, industry, and technology. As Director of Corporate Development at PROSE AG, he shapes the strategic transformation of a leading European mobility engineering company. Previously, he held senior roles at Zoppas Industries, ALPHA ET, and Kraft Foods. He is a SWISSRAIL board member, university lecturer, and holds a PhD in Business Administration, an Executive MBA, and engineering degrees.

About Felix Saur

Felix is a Senior Consultant at PROSE AG in Bern. For more than 15 years, he has led numerous projects in the field of running gear and measurement technology for rail vehicles. At PROSE, Felix is particularly responsible for troubleshooting projects. In addition, he works on wheelset torsion issues involving wheelset axles, as well as challenges such as the demand-oriented railhead conditioning presented in this podcast, which require interdisciplinary solution approaches.

About Prose

PROSE is a leading European engineering and consulting company for the mobility sector, with a strong focus on rail transportation. The company supports rail manufacturers, operators, maintenance providers, and authorities in the areas of rolling stock engineering, maintenance, certification, safety, digitalization, and systems engineering.

With around 150 employees at several locations across Europe, PROSE combines deep technical expertise with strong strategic consulting capabilities. The company focuses on innovative, sustainable, and economically robust solutions that cover the full lifecycle of rail vehicles and mobility systems.

PROSE is regarded as an independent, manufacturer-neutral partner and is the market leader in engineering and consulting for the rail sector within the EU. It guides customers through complex transformation processes, develops future-oriented business models, and strengthens the competitiveness of the European mobility industry.

https://prose.one/

Key Takeaways

• A serendipitous beginning: COVID forced PROSE to rethink their approach — leading to an unexpected discovery that kick-started the Bern project.
• A decades-old problem: Bern’s trams produced loud curve squealing — a nuisance no one had truly solved.
• AI meets acoustics: Trams equipped with microphones,GPS, and weather data predict noise before it happens.
• Swarm intelligence: Only part of the fleet needssensors — they collectively guide lubrication like a hive.
• 98% noise reduction: Bern transforms into a “silent city,” with complaints disappearing almost instantly.
• Lucky discovery, bigger impact: Felix realized acoustic fingerprints reveal much more — enabling new use casesfor freight, passenger trains, and maintenance.
• Mindset matters: Openness, willingness to fail, andblending digital skills with veteran expertise are key.
• Swiss rail magic: Strong societal support and integrated planning make Switzerland the ideal birthplace for such serendipitous breakthroughs.
• Less concrete: Every euro poured into new tracks triggers seven euros in maintenance later — a cost spiral that demands smarter, not bigger, rail systems.

Sebastian Sperker

sebastian@railup.club

https://www.railup.club/

About Dominic Joshua

Joshua co-founded Dreamstar Lines to tackle the hassle of U.S. medium-distance travel, inspired by the efficiency of European and Asian trains. He leads the company’s vision and strategy with 15 years’ experience across startups, finance, transportation, and logistics. A U.S. Air Force Reserves veteran specializing in transportation/logistics, he holds an Economics degree from Columbia University. Joshua began in corporate strategy and M&A before moving into startup growth roles at Darktrace and CloudKitchens.

About Dreamstar Lines

Dreamstar Lines is a U.S. startup building premium overnight passenger trains, starting with Los Angeles ↔ San Francisco. The service targets “too long to drive, too short to fly” trips with private sleepers (ensuite showers), a lounge car, morning arrival, optional auto-carry, and pet-friendly cabins. Pricing aims to undercut last-minute flights and flight+hotel, with interiors by BMW Designworks and operations on lightly used nighttime corridors in partnership with track owners. The goal is to launch by the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics and scale into a national network of medium-distance night routes.

https://www.dreamstarlines.com/

My Keytake aways

• History comes full circle: Dreamstar flips the Orient Express story—this time a U.S. startup draws on Europe’s night-train revival.

• Real pain point: A “90-minute” flight often becomes 5+ hours door-to-door; the service targets that hassle, not just speed.

• Travel cadence: Board around 8–10 pm, unwind in the lounge, sleep, wake to coffee, and arrive meeting-ready.

• Culture stance: Not anti-car or anti-plane—pro-choice: make trains aspirational so people want to switch modes.

• Routing logic: Prioritizes arrival time over shortest path, using low-traffic nighttime corridors via host-railroad agreements.

• Initial consist & classes: Start with 4–6 cars; tiers include lie-flat pods, standard bedrooms, family rooms, and a larger suite—built to scale.

• Scaling economics: Begin premium to drive adoption, then add cars so revenue scales faster than cost, enabling broader affordability.

• Market education: Many Americans (outside the NEC) barely encounter passenger rail—opportunity to define the modern U.S. train experience.

• Amtrak contrast: Public-service obligations shape Amtrak; a private operator can optimize purely for customer satisfaction and viability.

• Sustainability framing: Position trains as the practical, lower-pollution choice today, while tracking zero-emission tech (batteries/H₂) for tomorrow.

  
  

  Sebastian Sperker

  sebastian@railup.club

  https://www.railup.club/