About Signal+Draht

Signal+Draht

Signal+Draht (spoken "Signal und Draht") is a German trade journal for railway signalling and telecommunications, published by the DVV Media Group of Hamburg. First issued in 1906, it is one of the world's oldest railway technology journals, appearing ten times a year and published fully bilingually in German and English since 2016. With the tagline "Signalling and Datacommunication", it serves engineers, specialists, and executives from railways, industry, and science worldwide with in-depth information on signalling and safety technology, telecommunications, operations control technology, and passenger information systems in long-distance and local transport.

Overview

Signal+Draht appears ten times a year, with double issues for January/February and July/August, in its 118th year of publication in 2026. The journal has been published completely bilingually in German and English since 2016, deliberately reaching a global readership. The editorial profile presents the journal as the world's leading expert source for signalling, telecommunications, and passenger information: a guide to modern signalling, communication, and information technology in rail transport, and an acknowledged leading international trade medium for engineers, experts, and executives from railways, industries, and the sciences worldwide.

The editorial program covers signal and safety technology, telecommunications, operations control technology, and sales and information technology in long-distance and local transport. Topics include the European Train Control System (ETCS), digital interlockings (DSTW), the Future Railway Mobile Communication System (FRMCS), sensor technology and condition monitoring, predictive maintenance, switch technology, and the digitalization of railway operations. The annual schedule of topics structures the editorial year around themes such as control and safety technology, geodesy and geoinformatics, climate technology, environmental and fire protection, and operation and capacity management, with official conference issues tied to the VDEI congresses on railway infrastructure and superstructure.

The readership is the global railway signalling community: engineers and specialists from railway companies and infrastructure managers, the railway industry, engineering offices, universities, and public authorities. The subscription price for 2026 is 296 euros domestically and 341 euros abroad, reflecting the journal's status as a professional reference. The sold circulation reported in earlier years was around twenty-two hundred copies, with the journal's influence extending well beyond its print run through its international readership and its role as the congress journal of the signalling community, reaching decision-makers across the industry.

History

The journal's lineage reaches back to 1906, when it began as "Das Stellwerk" in Berlin, published from 1906 to 1908. From 1909 to 1943 it appeared as the "Zeitschrift für das gesamte Eisenbahn-Sicherungs- und Fernmeldewesen" (Journal for the entire railway safety and telecommunications field), and from the wartime years through 1990 as "Signal und Draht", published in Frankfurt am Main. Since 1991 it has been published in Hamburg as Signal+Draht, part of the Eurailpress railway publishing program of the DVV Media Group. The ISSN 0037-4997 has accompanied the journal through its modern era, and the CODEN SIGDA identifies it in technical literature databases, marking its place in the scientific record.

The journal's history mirrors the technological history of railway signalling: from mechanical interlockings through relay technology to electronic interlockings and today's digital, radio-based train control. The bilingual turn in 2016 acknowledged the internationalization of the signalling market, with European harmonization through ETCS and the global activities of the signalling industry. The journal has accompanied every generation of the technology, from the telegraph wires of its title to the digital radio of FRMCS, and its 118th volume continues the documentation of a field in rapid transformation.

The Eurailpress program, within which Signal+Draht appears, also publishes the Eisenbahntechnische Rundschau (ETR), EI – Der Eisenbahningenieur, and the World Rail Market Study, giving the Hamburg railway publishing house a comprehensive portfolio. The annual International SIGNAL+DRAHT Congress, held in Fulda, extends the journal's brand into the conference business, gathering the signalling community for technical exchange, with company presentations and exhibition space as part of the format and the journal's congress issues as the printed record.

Coverage and Content

Signalling and safety technology form the core: interlocking systems from mechanical to digital, train control systems with ETCS as the dominant theme, and the migration to radio-based operation. Telecommunications coverage addresses the transition from GSM-R to FRMCS, the future railway mobile communication system, and the data networks of the digital railway. Operations control technology covers traffic management systems, dispatching, and capacity management, while the journal's schedule of topics gives each issue a thematic focus, from switch technology to geodesy.

Condition monitoring and predictive maintenance form a growing pillar: sensor technology, big data, and the digitalization of asset management. The journal also covers passenger information systems, the sales and information technology of railways, and cross-cutting themes such as climate resilience, with topics like switch heating, storm damage, and snow removal. The congress issues and special features address the industry's flagship projects, the European corridors, and the news from Europe's railway undertakings and infrastructure managers, keeping readers current on the projects shaping the network.

Organization and Ownership

Signal+Draht is published by the DVV Media Group GmbH of Hamburg, Heidenkampsweg 75, 20097 Hamburg. The editors-in-chief are listed as Dipl.-Phys. Reinholdt Hundt and Ing. August Zierl, with Jennifer Schacha in the editorial department and Silke Härtel directing advertising. The journal is part of the Eurailpress railway publishing program, which is listed in the media database of the German specialist press. The business model combines subscriptions with advertising from the signalling and railway industry, supplemented by the congress business, which gathers the community annually in Fulda and links the journal's brand with the industry's meeting point.

Digital Presence

The journal is presented through the Eurailpress portal at eurailpress.de, where media data, subscription information, and the annual schedule of topics are published. The bilingual media data for 2026 presents the journal's editorial profile in German and English, reflecting the international readership. The Eurailpress portal carries railway news and the publishing program's digital offerings, and the SIGNAL+DRAHT Congress has its own digital presence for registrations and programs, with company presentations as part of the event format. The portal serves as the entry point for subscriptions and for the advertising business, and as the digital face of the Hamburg railway publishing house.

The Congress Journal

The International SIGNAL+DRAHT Congress, held annually in Fulda, is the journal's live extension: a gathering of the signalling community for technical exchange, with company presentations and exhibition space. The congress issues of the journal and the event's digital presence link the print brand with the industry's meeting point, giving advertisers and readers a combined platform. For a specialist journal, the congress is both a revenue pillar and a community service, and it reinforces the journal's position at the center of its field, where the technology's future is debated and decided year after year.

The Journal of Railway Signalling

Signal+Draht has accompanied railway signalling technology for 120 years: from the mechanical interlockings of 1906 to the digital, radio-based train control of the 2020s. A bilingual Hamburg journal published by the DVV Media Group, it is the world's leading expert source for its field, serving the engineers who keep the world's railways safe and moving. Few technical journals anywhere can match its continuity, and its 118th volume continues the record into the era of the digital railway, documenting the transformation as it happens, issue by issue.