A 16-year-old public speaker who has already completed a six-month internship at Hitachi Rail told the 2026 Railway Influencer Festival at InnoTrans that the railway sector is failing to present itself to young people as a home for AI and innovation, and that the industry's future talent pipeline depends on fixing that now.

Adam El Rafey, the UAE's youngest university student and an InnoTrans ambassador, delivered the message in Berlin on September 25. "It is essential for the future talent pipeline to involve youth now," he said.

El Rafey's own trajectory illustrates the recruiting route he wants the industry to widen. He began public speaking at eight and became one of the youngest TEDx speakers. At 12 he started studying Computer Science at the University of Wollongong in Dubai. He discovered InnoTrans, by his own account, "while reading Railway Gazette in class," and participation in the first Railway Influencer Festival at InnoTrans 2024 led to the Hitachi Rail internship. He also joined a panel with Hitachi Rail at this year's event.

'Ability, not age'

El Rafey said he has been "passionate about all things trains and rail for as long as I can remember," but argued that peer enthusiasm is rare because young people associate technology careers elsewhere.

"Far too many young people hear tech, AI or innovation, and their mind immediately jumps to Silicon Valley. They definitely don't think of rail first, and that's a pretty big issue for the future talent pipeline," he said.

He recalled walking through the trade fair "in awe of how AI is being used for predictive maintenance" — evidence, in his view, that rail "has an incredible ability to attract young talent into the industry." The problem is visibility: he is "not sure enough young people know that."

His core message to employers is "ability, not age." "Don't judge people by how old they are; give them the opportunities to show you what they can do. This breaks down the barriers that can stand between people and what they're capable of," he said.

Creators as a bridge

El Rafey positioned the content creators gathered at the Railway Influencer Festival as "the bridge between industry innovation and millions of the next generation in rail," because they are "able to take all this breakthrough technology and spark curiosity in so many young minds."

He credited a YouTube channel with fuelling his own interest — "a shout-out to Simply Railway if you're in the room."

Thibault Constant of Simply Railway was in the room. Winner of the Best Mobility Channel award at the inaugural InnoTrans Railway Influencer Festival in 2024, he has since co-founded night train company Nox, working with Janek Smalla, whom he met at InnoTrans. Nox has unveiled a night train coach and announced a Hamburg–München launch in March 2027.

That trajectory, from creator award to operating start-up, gives concrete backing to El Rafey's claim that the digital creator space and rail entrepreneurship cross-pollinate.

A call for structured action

El Rafey said the relationship between the industry and influencers could "go a bit further," arguing that content creators' knowledge of young audiences could help companies understand what excites the next generation. He urged suppliers and operators to move from passive presence to structured engagement.

"Open a door, break down a barrier, start a youth board, make an opportunity available that works directly alongside the next generation," he proposed.

He closed with a challenge to the rail sector representatives attending InnoTrans: "make the collaboration between youth influencers and industry the norm when designing the cities and transport of tomorrow." The future of rail, he argued, "starts with these barriers broken" — and his own path from classroom reader of trade press to Hitachi Rail intern shows what becomes possible when one door opens.