DIGITISATION OF DIAGNOSTICS FOR CRITICAL PARTS OF THE TRACK SUPERSTRUCTURE

by Assoc. Prof. Otto Plášek, PhD

 Head of the Institute of Railway Structures and Constructions, University of Brno

Otto Plášek has more than three decades of experience in the field of railway infrastructure and specializes in the structural behavior, diagnosis and innovation of railway superstructures and components.

After obtaining his M.Sc. in Structures and Transport Structures (1986) from Brno University of Technology, he began his professional career as a railway engineer at Czechoslovak Railways (1986–1991), where he worked on construction projects, station design and track assessment. In 1991, he joined Brno University of Technology, where he received his PhD in Theory of Structures (1999), and he is currently an associate professor. 

Dr Plášek has led and contributed to numerous national and international research and development projects, including EU-funded initiatives such as S-CODE - Switch and Crossing Optimal Design and Evaluation (Shift2Rail Horizon 2020) as well as projects of the Technology Agency of the Czech Republic on smart diagnostics (e.g. Turnout 4.0, Advanced Diagnostics of Railway Turnout Movable Parts), railway bridges and innovations in sleeper pads. His applied research has resulted in patents, utility models, industrial designs, and certified methodologies that have been implemented in railway practice. He has published widely on switch and crossing design, diagnostics, AI-based monitoring techniques, smart autonomous diagnostics and train type identification.

Since 1994, he has collaborated with industry partners on more than 130 projects, helping to shape innovations in rail safety, performance and sustainability. At the international level, he is a member of technical committees such as CEN TC 256/SC1 (Bridge Track Interaction) and the National Technology Platform for Railway Infrastructure, where he holds leadership roles.

NEW PERSPECTIVES FOR IMPROVING THE ACCURACY OF URBAN NOISE DYNAMIC MAPS

by Prof. Gaetano Licitra, PhD

Director of the Pisa Department of Environmental Protection Agency of Tuscany Region

Department of Physics "E.Fermi", University of Pisa

Prof. Gaetano Licitra, BSc and MSc in Physics, Spec. Diploma in Health Physics, is currently Director of the Pisa Department of Environmental Protection Agency of Tuscany Region. Habilitated as Associate Professor (2014) and Full Professor (2020) in Applied Physics, he has been teaching Acoustics at the University of Pisa since 1997 in Physics Department and then at the Environmental Sciences Department and from 2024 at University of Malta. He is member of IIAV and member of the board of the Italian Acoustical Association. 

He has chaired international and national conferences. He is editor of Noise Mapping Journal and Environments.  He is listed among the 2% top scientists by Elsevier and University of Stanford for Acoustics since 2020 and since 2024 also for his career.

Professor Licitra's focus is on environmental noise, developing models and measurement techniques to assess noise pollution in urban areas in line with Directive 49/2002/EC. He also explores innovative solutions to mitigate noise exposure. Professor Licitra's scientific contributions have been widely published in international journals (Scopus H=37, 193 papers indexed and more than 3250 citations). He has played a major role in the development of guidelines, including the WHO Night Noise Guidelines, the EEA Quiet Zone Guidelines, and IEC and ISO standards. These achievements are the result of extensive international collaboration in EU projects such as the V, VI and VII Framework Programmes, Life and Life Plus, Interreg, as well as active participation in working groups such as WHO, EEA, DG Environment, ISO, IEC and concerted actions (ENNAH).