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Banedanmark has launched a market conversation to shape a forthcoming tender for a solution to monitor and diagnose railway telecommunications and signalling systems. The aim is to align the specification with what suppliers can deliver before the tender is released. The move was set out in a Prior Information Notice published in July 2025, under the title Market Dialogue for Railway Systems.

Scope and intent

The notice is concise but clear on purpose: before publishing its tender, Banedanmark wants input from potential vendors on a solution that can monitor and diagnose railway telecommunications and signalling systems. In practice, this means the buyer intends to test its thinking with the market and calibrate requirements to match proven capabilities. The emphasis is on fit with what the market can credibly supply rather than prescribing a fixed design up front.

Beyond that, the notice does not set out further technical scope, budget, contract structure or timeline. Those details will follow in the tender documents. For now, the focus is on gathering well‑grounded feedback that will shape the final specification.

A wider shift towards pre‑tender dialogue

The use of structured dialogue ahead of procurement has been growing across transport and infrastructure. It is not new in Denmark. In November 2022, the Danish Road Directorate ran a written dialogue, with the option of follow‑up meetings, to explore IT solutions for managing time, quality and cost on construction contracts (Software package and information systems).

In March 2023, the Danish Road Traffic Authority set out a two‑part market study for a new Driving Licence Register, combining a written consultation with bilateral meetings. The agency said it wanted to understand products, services and technical approaches so the tender would meet market capabilities and mitigate identified risks (Market research regarding acquisition, implementation and maintenance of a new IT system).

There are strong parallels in rail and road infrastructure elsewhere in the Nordics. In May 2023, Finland’s transport infrastructure agency invited bilateral meetings on rail track and switch profiling, using the dialogue to discuss solution options before moving to an open procedure (Repair, maintenance and associated services related to railways and other equipment).

In February 2024, Finland’s road traffic company invited dialogue on the Vuosaari road tunnel replacement, covering technology renovation, lifecycle management and the packaging of works into separate civil and electrical contracts (Market Dialogue: Vuosaari Road Tunnel Replacement).

Closer to urban rail, in January 2024 the city of Vantaa sought bilateral meetings to test procurement routes for the tram project, including the possibility of two alliances or separate procurements for different parts of the scheme (Bilateral Market Dialogues: Vantaa Tram Alliance Procurement).

Digital mobility has followed the same path. In January 2025, a national body for demand responsive transport invited suppliers to discuss the state of the market ahead of a tender for a new digital IT solution for flex traffic (Market Dialogue for Digital IT Solution).

Across these cases, buyers signal a preference to ground their tenders in reality: understand the technology baseline, learn where risks and costs lie, and decide how to structure the procurement before committing to a specification. Banedanmark’s step into dialogue on telecoms and signalling systems sits squarely in that pattern.

What these dialogues tend to cover

Banedanmark’s notice does not list topics for discussion. But recent dialogues in Denmark and Finland show recurring themes that are likely to be relevant here:

Technical scope and standard capability: buyers often ask suppliers to explain their products and technical approach, to avoid over‑specifying and to keep within what the market can support. That was the explicit aim of the driving licence register study in March 2023.
Procurement packaging: some buyers use dialogue to decide whether to run single, multi‑lot, or separate procurements. Vantaa explored two alliances versus separate procurements in January 2024, while the Vuosaari tunnel dialogue considered separate civil and electrical contracts in February 2024.
Format of engagement: written questionnaires often come first, followed by one‑to‑one conversations. The Danish Road Directorate used that sequence in November 2022, and Finland’s transport infrastructure agency invited bilateral Teams meetings in May 2023.
Demonstrations: some buyers ask to see standard solutions in use before finalising requirements. The Danish National Special Crime Unit requested demonstrations of eDiscovery software as part of its dialogue in November 2023.
Risk and cost drivers: dialogue materials frequently invite comment on cost drivers, risk factors and potential deal‑breakers, as seen in the driving licence register study in March 2023.
Lifecycle and support: infrastructure operators often raise lifecycle management and ongoing support during dialogue. The Vuosaari tunnel engagement in February 2024 made lifecycle management a feature of the discussion.

Signals for the rail tech market

For suppliers active in railway telecommunications and signalling, Banedanmark’s step is a practical signal. The buyer wants to see how the market would approach monitoring and diagnostic capabilities, and it wants that input before locking down its requirement. That approach tends to favour clear, evidence‑based responses that show how standard functionality could meet operational needs, and where configuration or integration would be required.

It also reflects a broader trend across public services. Health and regional authorities have used market engagement to test options for network analysis tools and accessibility solutions. In September 2024, a Norwegian health procurement body sought input to shape an analysis tool for a joint network solution (Market Dialogue for Analysis Tool). In February 2025, a regional authority engaged the market on making clinical documents web accessible and highlighted the importance of identifying document archetypes and contract conditions (Market Dialogue on Web Accessibility). The common thread is early, structured testing of what the market can support before formal competition begins.

Transport buyers continue to refine this practice. Ferry services, for example, were the subject of a questionnaire and online meetings in February 2024 (Ferry Services Market Dialogue). In healthcare technology, a municipality opened a dialogue on patient signalling systems in November 2024 (Patient Signalling System Framework).

Outlook

The next step will be a formal procurement. The current notice does not set out technical detail, budget or contract approach beyond the intent to hold a dialogue. When the tender lands, watch for how the scope is defined across telecommunications and signalling, and how the buyer chooses to package the requirement. Elsewhere, operators have weighed single procurements against multiple alliances or separate lots, as seen in Vantaa in January 2024 and at Vuosaari in February 2024.

Also look out for the format of engagement that follows. Other buyers have relied on written questionnaires, one‑to‑one meetings and demonstrations. Each tool can help test assumptions and reduce risk before the competition begins. Banedanmark’s market dialogue is a step in that direction; the tender will show how that feedback has been absorbed.

Rail sector opens dialogue on telecoms and signalling monitoring