The MODAL RailLab Team of this year’s G-RIPS summer internship program visited the DB Fernverkehr maintenance facilities in Rummelsburg on Thursday, July 12. G-RIPS stands for Graduate-Level Research in Industrial Projects for Students and is organized by the Research Campus MODAL at Zuse-Institute Berlin in cooperation with the Institute für Pure and Applied Mathematics (IPAM) of the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA).
The excursion started at the DB Visitor Center at Berlin Central Station with a talk about Timetabling and Train Composition by DB Fernverkehr Scheduling Expert Matthias Breuer. After a lunch, the group was allowed to take an ICE deadhead (!) trip to the maintenance facility at Rummelsburg. This required special permission of DB – a real courtesy to the RailLab and a highlight for every railway enthusiast! At Rummelsburg, the group could check the latest in ICE technology, enter the cockpit, creep under the trains, and get their fair share of oil and grease.
The photo shows (from left to right) Matthias Breuer (DB Fernverkehr), John Curtis Lynch (G-RIPS), Niels Lindner (ZIB), Franziska Schlösser (ZIB), Rick Grap (FUB), Boris Grimm (ZIB/MODAL), Stanley Schade (ZIB/MODAL), Alistair Benford (G-RIPS), Nora Rülander (FUB), Ariel Nikas (G-RIPS), Ines Perko (FUB), and Sarah Roth (FUB/MODAL).
Link to RailLab: http://www.zib.de/projects/modal-raillab
Link to MODAL G-RIPS page: https://forschungscampus-modal.de/g-rips-general-information/
Link to UCLA G-RIPS page: http://www.ipam.ucla.edu/programs/student-research-programs/graduate-level-research-in-industrial-projects-for-students-grips-berlin-2018/