The present article focuses on the research and development planning for innovative railway systems. Within such a general framework, the specific objectives of the research have been defined within the framework of a large Intelligent Railway System project in Hungary. Our theoretical research work at the university is combined with practical experience gained at the Hungarian State Railways. In the course of this research work, the development of an intelligent railway system has been investigated by leveraging on the fruitful cooperation between academic and industrial partners, in order to promote the application and integration possibilities of the development results, as well as the introduction of innovative components in the railway system. In such a context, this article discusses the research plan, preliminary and long-term expected results, sharing objectives and experiences with the aim of providing novel views in an extremely current and challenging field of research.