Matthias Hebenstreit was recognized for his thesis titled Towards Track Friendly Railway Vehicles. A Sensitivity Analysis for Identifying the Factors Influencing Track Deterioration in the Swiss Track Access Charging Scheme.

The award was presented by the University of Applied Sciences Dresden, the Technical University of Dresden, and DVV Media Group GmbH | Eurailpress Hamburg. The aim of the award is to promote young talent in the field of railway vehicle technology.

The thesis analyses damage models to describe track deterioration caused by rail vehicles.

A method has been developed that allows the damage-relevant vehicle design parameters to be determined independently of the respective infrastructure of an operator and the underlying damage model.

The methodology was then applied on the damage model of the Swiss track access charging scheme. Based on a model representing a metro vehicle, track damage was calculated using simulation methods. Finally, the sensitivities and the main influencing factors for this vehicle could be determined.

We congratulate Matthias Hebenstreit on this remarkable achievemen!