Post by Sophia von Berg

Today we had the opportunity to present the final results of our Skydeck Accelerator journey powered by DB Systel GmbH, and what a journey it has been! 🚂 The Digital Automatic Coupler (DAC) is one of the largest transformation programs in European rail freight, requiring coordinated conversion of hundreds of thousands of wagons under real operational constraints. Key planning decisions on infrastructure, capacity, and migration strategy must be made before large-scale migration takes place. 💡 That’s why we developed PopUpSim: An open-source simulation software specifically designed to enable evidence-based planning for DAC migration. After just five months, we are proud to have delivered a working MVP and received strong validation from stakeholders across the rail freight sector. During our live demo, we showcased a variety of output metrics - for example, the Track Utilization Heatmap pictured below - that help planners identify bottlenecks around the workshop’s track infrastructure and make more informed decisions. 💜 My thanks go out to Frederik Schäfer, Jan-Hendrik Wendisch, Dr. Johannes Jüngst, Cornelius Schumacher, Isabel Gaubatz and Volker Kühn for their passion and dedication on this project! 📧 If you are dealing with planning questions around DAC migration, infrastructure sizing, or migration scenarios in rail freight, feel free to reach out. You can find PopUpSim on Github 👉 https://lnkd.in/d4dfzKCx #PopUpSim #RailFreight #DAC #DACFit #OpenSource #Simulation #Innovation #Skydeck #DACDecisionSupportSystem