#31 From Rainforest to Railway: How One Founder Is Rethinking Infrastructure

About Oliver von Sperber Oliver is an entrepreneur, technology expert, and rail innovator who brings experience from investment banking and sensor technology to the railway sector. As the founder of AXO, he focuses on making rail infrastructure more resilient through smart, data-driven predictive maintenance.With a background in forestry, he takes a long-term view of infrastructure—seeing railways as complex systems and vital public goods that require sustainable, generational thinking.About AXO AXO enhances the stability of rail networks by providing specialized sensor systems for rail switches. As critical infrastructure nodes, switches are essential for capacity and safe operations, yet remain maintenance-intensive and prone to failure.With around 20% of infrastructure-related train delays caused by switch failures, AXO focuses on practical solutions to prevent disruptions. By detecting anomalies early, its technology enables infrastructure managers to take preventive action before operations are affected. AXO’s mission is to strengthen the long-term reliability and resilience of railways as a vital public good.https://axotrack.de/My Key Takeaways A single failed railway switch can disrupt an entire journey — that’s why people avoid tight connections.Railways and forests have more in common than you think: both are complex systems managed over decades.There are ~60,000 switches in Germany alone — each one a potential failure point.Just one local defect can trigger system-wide delays, showing how fragile rail networks are.In rail, every minute of delay costs ~€100 — small issues quickly become expensive.AXO sensors measure extreme forces up to 500 G, far beyond lab expectations.Early field tests completely destroyed the hardware, revealing real-world conditions.Instead of “AI-first,” AXO focused on understanding physics and data first.The mission is to digitize the intuition of experienced technicians before it disappears.The opportunity is global: high-speed, heavy haul, and metro systems all face the same challenge.Sebastian [email protected]://www.railup.club/