The 16th edition of the RailTech Europe trade fair is scheduled for March 4-5, 2026, at the Jaarbeurs venue in Utrecht, hosted by ProMedia, the parent organization of Railway Gazette International.
The event will feature a trade fair and conference sessions, providing two days for knowledge sharing, networking, and live demonstrations.
Key themes at the 2026 event will include skills and recruitment, the digitalization of railways, and the continuing implementation of ERTMS — particularly relevant in the Benelux region due to the recent national roll-out completion in Belgium.
The exhibition hall will feature a specialized Talent Hub, serving as ‘a dedicated area where students and companies can connect, discuss job prospects, and discover what the rail industry has in store for new talent’.
Adjacent to the trade show is a two-day conference divided into different thematic sessions.
Central to the discussion is the significance of military mobility in advocating for rail investment, as well as strategies to enhance the sustainability of railway infrastructure. Speakers confirmed for the two-day event consist of Vytis Žalimas, CEO of Lithuania's rail infrastructure manager LTG Infra; Enno Wiebe, Director General of UNIFE; Carlos Rico, Rail Policy Officer at the Transport & Environment think tank; and Thilde Restofte Pedersen, CEO of Nordic Signals.
The main emphasis of the meeting was to revise the association’s priorities for the upcoming year. Central to CER’s 2026 plan is obtaining robust EU funding for rail in the upcoming Multiannual Financial Framework.
Rail executives emphasized that the assurance of long-term investments will dictate if capacity growth, international projects, and network enhancements can be implemented at the scale and speed currently demanded from the rail system. This is relevant to high-speed rail, digitalization, ERTMS, and rail freight.