Sebastian Sehmisch, research associate at the Chair of Railway Operations, received the award for his research on “Learning to reduce local train rescheduling problems.” The conference paper was co-authored with Dr. Tabish Haque, Dr. Christopher Szymula, and Prof. Nikola Bešinović. The work is part of the “REINFORCERAIL” project, which develops AI-supported components for traffic management systems in railway operations. With the help of machine learning and mathematical optimization, the goal is to create better real-time control systems to reduce delays following operational disruptions or failures and ensure punctual and reliable rail service.

Sebastian Sehmisch prevailed in the competition among talented young researchers from across Europe. Second and third place went to Yuanchen Zeng (TU Delft) and Réka Kertész-Doffkay (Hungarian Institute of Transport Science and Logistics).

The award ceremony took place during the Transportation Research Arena 2026, held in Budapest from May 18 to 21.

We warmly congratulate Sebastian Sehmisch on this well-deserved award.