Railway infrastructure
I know where the data comes from because I worked next to the track: catenary and measurement systems, work management, asset and network data, GIS — and the organisation that has to keep it all correct.
Railway data that connects.
MatData helps infrastructure managers and railway undertakings turn scattered asset, network and operational data into connected, standards-based knowledge — from data strategy to systems in production.
15+years
Railway infrastructure data at Infrabel, from catenary measurements to leading data centricity
2024Verona
Speaker at the ERA Railway Data Forum
Expertise
Two specialisms, one junction
Most data consultants know data. Most railway engineers know the railway. MatData works where the two meet — so the model fits the infrastructure, and the infrastructure data fits the model.
Linked Data
Ontologies and knowledge graphs that other organisations can reuse: the ERA ontology and RINF, railML, SHACL validation and SPARQL — one identifier per thing, so every system talks about the same station.
Services
From business idea to production
Data strategy & architecture
A data strategy and target architecture that fit how a railway actually runs — application landscape, ownership, portfolio.
Ontologies & Linked Data
Semantic models aligned with the ERA ontology and railML, published as reusable, validated knowledge graphs.
Data engineering & migration
Pipelines, data migrations and data-quality checks, built and run with DevOps practices until they are boring.
Courses & workshops
Hands-on Linked Data courses and modelling workshops so your own team can carry the work forward.
Projects
Things I've built
Open-source tools for railway data and Linked Data. Both run live, so you can try them right now.
See all my repositories on GitHub →
RINF Atlas
A fast map and faceted search over ERA's Register of Infrastructure: operational points, sections of line, tracks, tunnels, platforms and more, with production and test data side by side. Line profiles lay a route out as a strip with speed, electrification, gauge and ETCS level.
MatGUI
A modern knowledge graph and SPARQL workbench: a full query editor with table, graph and map views of the results. It started as a fork of Yasgui and has grown well beyond it; available as a website, on npm and on Docker Hub.
Linked Data, in railway terms
From track to knowledge graph
One small station, seen as a topology, as a knowledge graph, on a schematic and on a map, then aggregated to meso and macro level. Nothing is re-entered: every view comes from the same net elements and relations.
Timetables, infrastructure registers and maintenance systems each keep their own copy of a station. Give the operational point one identifier and a shared meaning, and every system points at the same place.
One network, seven views
4/7
Representation: schematic
The same net elements get a schematic geometry. The topology does not change.
Track record
Sixteen years on one network
Two master's degrees in engineering, both magna cum laude: Energy at KU Leuven, Electromechanics at GroepT Leuven.
Download CV (PDF)-
NOW2025–
Founder, MatData
Independent railway data and Linked Data consultancy.
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2022–2025
Team lead data centricity · Infrabel
Data migration, application landscape, data quality and portfolio management.
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2020–2022
Project lead digitalisation · Infrabel
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2017–2020
Project lead strategic project reporting · Infrabel
Set up the PMO and its reporting.
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2009–2017
Engineer, catenary data cell · Infrabel
Measurement systems and work management; CEN/CENELEC and EIM/ERA working groups.
Talks & papers
Where you can hear me
Most of my slides are interactive and open: click through them in your browser.
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27 Oct 2026Upcoming
From XSD to ERA ontology
RNE Ontology Task Force · how the TAF/TAP TSI schemas became the telematics part of ERA ontology v4.0 · on behalf of Bane NOR
Slides → -
15 Sep 2026
Building and publishing a railway infrastructure knowledge graph
Paper · Sem4Tra 2026 at SEMANTiCS, Ghent · lessons learned from SPARQL Anything, GeoSPARQL, SHACL and RINF publication
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Dots and lines
Operational points, primary locations and sections of line on a mesoscopic topology · on behalf of Bane NOR
Slides → -
One network, one truth
ERA RINF workshop · railway topology as the foundation for RINF · on behalf of Bane NOR
Slides → -
25 Feb 2026
RINF data provisioning
Hands-on workshop at the European Union Agency for Railways, for infrastructure managers and national registration entities
Slides → -
Feb 2026
Building a railway knowledge graph with SPARQL Anything
Facade-X W3C Community Group
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2024
ERA Railway Data Forum, Verona
Speaker
Customers & partners
About
Hi, I'm Mathias
For sixteen years I worked on Infrabel's infrastructure data — from catenary measurements and European working groups to leading the data-centricity team. With MatData I bring that experience to railway organisations that want their data to connect, inside the company and across borders.
Based between Brussels and Leuven, working across Europe.
Contact
Let's connect your data.
Tell me what you're working on. A first conversation is always free.
- Office
- Kampenhout, Belgium
- Status
- Available for new projects