European Railway Challenge 2026: Let the battle begin!

---

advertisement

---

advertisement

Imagine designing, building, and racing your own locomotive while working alongside experts from the railway industry. The European Railway Challenge, with Alpha Trains as main sponsor, is a competition and a unique opportunity to gain real-world engineering experience, develop project management skills, and become part of the next generation of railway innovators.

Over a 10-month development cycle, teams of students, apprentices, and young professionals work together to create a fully functional 10.25″ gauge locomotive. From concept design and technical calculations to manufacturing, testing, and performance evaluation, participants experience every stage of a professional railway project.

The challenge combines exciting on-track competitions with engineering-focused assessments, including an energy recovery challenge, ride comfort challenge, and our favorite: the change-a-wheel-during-a-pitstop-challenge. Every challenge offers the chance to win awards, while the highest-scoring team earns the prestigious title of Grand Champion.

Held in Bad Schussenried, Germany, from 5–7 June 2026, the event brings together ambitious teams from across Europe, creating an incredible atmosphere of collaboration, creativity, and friendly competition. Supported by leading railway organisations such as Alpha Trains, Stadler, VDB, TÜV SÜD, and many others, participants gain valuable exposure to industry professionals and potential future employers.

---

advertisement

---

Whether you’re passionate about engineering, railways, teamwork, or all at the same time, the European Railway Challenge offers an unforgettable experience that will strengthen your skills, expand your network, and help launch your career.

Join the European Railway Challenge and help shape the future of rail!

And why are we writing about this? Because we’re enthusiasts ourselves and certainly not neutral!

Railcolor is a proud sponsor of FH Aachen’s locomotive, better known as Carla. We’ve already had a sneak preview, seen the locomotive up close, and witnessed the many improvements the team has implemented since last year (#fancydigitaldrivingdesk).

The team has been working for months to refine the design, solve technical challenges, and squeeze every bit of performance out of the machine.

With strong competitors from across Europe and several returning teams raising the bar once again, the 2026 edition promises to be a fascinating contest. We can’t wait to see Carla take on the challenge and find out who will come out on top.

This year, the follwoing teams are participating:

• EAGLE (TH Nürnberg, Germany);
• PUTrain (Poznan University of Technology, Poland);
• FH2Rail (FH Aachen, Germany)
• Loc.KA.engineering e.V. (Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Germany)
• Next Stop: Innovation! (Ostfalia University of Applied Sciences, Germany)
• ifs Charlemagne Express (RWTH Aachen, Germany)

Entry level:

• Locomotive Engineering Team (Budapest University of Technology and Economics, Hungary)
• Heron (Anglia Ruskin University, United Kingdom)

The team Ceylonic E Rail from Sri Lanka withdrew from this year’s event but has indicated its intention to participate in 2027.