The Railway Innovation Awards celebrate innovations that deliver practical improvements to the rail industry. Menlo79’s shortlisted entry, “Optimising Rail Operations Through Intelligent Crew Rostering and Workforce Orchestration”, demonstrates how digital workforce management can help rail operators replace fragmented, manual processes with integrated, real-time operations.

Tackling One of Rail’s Most Complex Operational Challenges

Many rail organisations continue to manage workforce planning across spreadsheets, phone calls, messaging apps, and disconnected legacy systems. As operational complexity increases, these methods can slow disruption response, increase administrative workload, and make compliance management more challenging.

WILSON addresses these challenges by bringing crew rostering, competency management, compliance validation, workforce communication, time and attendance, and payroll preparation together in a single platform. The result is greater operational visibility, faster decision-making, and more efficient workforce coordination.

Organisations using WILSON have reported reductions of up to 70% in administrative workload associated with workforce planning and payroll preparation, enabling planners to spend more time optimising operations instead of managing data.

Fabian Stöffler, CEO and founder of Menlo79, said:

"Being shortlisted is a fantastic milestone for our team. It reinforces our belief that workforce management should be viewed as a strategic operational capability. By giving planners real-time visibility and automating complex compliance processes, we help rail operators respond more quickly, work more efficiently, and keep services running reliably."

Founded by former rail industry professionals with experience at Deutsche Bahn and DB Cargo, Menlo79 develops WILSON, a digital solution specifically for safety-critical rail and logistics environments. As the company continues to expand into the UK market, the shortlist represents an important step in bringing its expertise in rail workforce management to British operators.

The winners of the Railway Innovation Awards 2026 will be announced on 3 July in London.

About Menlo79 and WILSON

Menlo79 is an HR tech specialist located in Berlin, Germany, that has been developing the WILSON platform since 2019. Together, our team brings over 35 years of hands-on experience, from driving trains to strategic crew rostering. We are dedicated to solving the most complex workforce challenges in high-regulation industries.

WILSON is a modern, comprehensive platform designed specifically for the complex planning, safety-critical documentation, and compliance needs of the rail and logistics sectors. The software has currently more than 3.500 users.

www.en.menlo79.com

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