Into the Future Innovation is an important element for companies to keep existing and do their daily work. The same holds for ProRail as well. SCOPE visited ProRail to talk about its innovations and future plans. What kind of innovations is ProRail involved in? How do innovations affect their own organization? What consequences do these innovations have for ProRail’s collaborations with other parties? SCOPE spoke with Michelle Spaas, program manager of innovation & development. TEXT Sander Roeleven DESIGN Caitlin Riesewijk
ProRail / Stefan Verkerk
Innovation on the track About ProRail The Dutch railway network consists of 7.021 kilometers of track, 2.589 level crossings, 4.500 kilometers of overhead wires, 7.071 switches, and 404 stations where 1 million train journeys are made every day and 115.000 tons of goods are transported on a daily basis. ProRail is responsible for the maintenance, renewal, expansion and safety of the Dutch railway network. “As an independent party, we divide the space on 7000 kilometers of track (between carriers), regulate all train traffic (1.4 million journeys per working day) and build and manage stations”. ProRail has been founded in 2005 and
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its headquarter is located in Utrecht. Subsequently, ProRail has several regional offices located in Amsterdam, Eindhoven, Rotterdam, and Zwolle. More than 4100 employees are currently working at ProRail.
planning is an important element of this chain. How are we going to use our future infrastructure? The activities in these two chains are different, but of course, they are also connected to each other”.
In general, ProRail makes sure that trains can run on the track. Michelle Spaas explained: “Within ProRail, you can distinguish two chains: a logistics chain and an asset chain. The asset chain is focused on optimizing the infrastructure and technique. The logistics chain is more focused on dividing the space over the tracks and regulating all train traffic. Future
Department innovation Michelle Spaas works in the innovation department of ProRail. This department is central within the organization, so it does not belong to a specific business unit. “We work with all departments of ProRail and we connect them in the innovation department. It is complex to introduce new innovations in the rail sector since many people depend on
