The partnership aims to accelerate the development and deployment of innovative technologies, especially in the fields of digitalisation and automation. The vision of EU-Rail is to deliver, via an integrated system approach, a high capacity, flexible, multi-modal and reliable integrated European railway network by eliminating barriers to interoperability and providing solutions for European citizens and cargo. It consists of three research and innovation pillars:

• Innovation pillar: the main areas of research are European rail traffic management and supporting rail’s key role in a multimodal transport system, digital and automated train operations, sustainable and digital assets, competitive cigital green rail freight, smart Solutions for low density traffic lines (cost-efficient regional railways), data and digital enablers
• System pillar: Whilst most individual railway systems have views of the future railway architecture, there is no common EU railway system view that is used today. The purpose of the system pillar is to improve the European railway system to offer better services for European passengers and freight and to make rail traffic more efficient and less costly. It shall ensure that the evolution of the rail system is based on common operational visions and a layered functional architecture, facilitating the uptake of harmonised, innovative solutions by the sector. The strategic target is the Single European Railway Area (SERA).
• Deployment group: In the past, deploying innovative solutions in Railways sector often led to patchwork systems and the purpose of this pillar is to make sure this is a thing of the past and is replaced an integrated approach to fully maximize the impact of the innovations.

Contact

The Belgian representative in steering group of Europe's Rail Karen Roofthoofd (FOD Mobiliteit) +32 2 277 45 50