The beginning was hearty: The Association of German Railway Engineers VDEI was founded on December 10, 1949 in the station rooms of Hamm station in Westphalia. The railway engineers in the GDR had their engineering home in the “Chamber of Technology of the GDR”. With the collapse of the East German state, the VDEI Dresden district was founded first in Plauen on April 20, 1990 and then the VDEI-DDR on May 14, 1990 in Dresden. On October 12, 1990, this association merged with the previously West German VDEI to form a joint association.
Today, the VDEI is the professional association for engineers in Germany who work in the field of rail-guided transport – an organisation for around 4,000 members of all ages and professional hierarchies from different areas such as business, authorities, engineering offices or universities. Since 2010, the VDEI Academy for Railway Systems has been providing professional training and further education for engineers in the entire spectrum of rail-guided transport with a wide range of specialist conferences, seminars and workshops.
The VDEI is organised in 15 districts and 13 specialist committees from four specialist areas, in working groups and networks. There is the Young Railway Network working group for engineers under 35 years of age and a women’s network. The Transport Policy Working Group develops transport policy concepts. The German-French network organises regular meetings and discussions between railway engineers from both countries. Contact: Gerhard.Erbel@t-online.de . The Europeanisation of Railways Network is concerned with improving cooperation between European railways and rail transport across borders. Contact: Juergen.murach@gmx.de .
strengthen and expand rail transport for sustainable and environmentally friendly mobility. For this purpose, there are continuous contacts with politics, administration, business, research and education.
The VDEI also had a stand at the INNOTRANS trade fair. There it promoted work in railway professions and membership in the association. Also The VDEI is the national certification office for European railway engineers (EURAIL-ING) and the organiser of the “iaf International Exhibition Track Technology” and the “iaf Congress Railway Construction”. It publishes the monthly trade magazine “EI – The Railway Engineer” and other specialist publications.
The VDEI is a member of the European umbrella organisation UEEIV and the Central Association of Engineering Associations e.V. (ZBI), which as an umbrella organisation with over 40,000 members is one of the largest engineering associations in Germany. https://www.vdei.de/ gs@vdei.de https://www.vdei-akademie.de/
Hermann Schmidtendorf, Editor-in-Chief
