The European Commission has put forward a proposal for a European Partnership on Rail Research and Innovation, Europe’s Rail Joint Undertaking, in accordance with the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU), building upon the current Shift2Rail Joint Undertaking.

The Rail European Partnership will focus on accelerating, with an integrated system approach, research, development and demonstrations of innovative technologies and operational solutions (enabled by digitalization and automation) for future deployment to deliver on European Union policies towards “European Green Deal“ objectives (e.g. shift substantial part of the 75% of inland freight carried today by road to rail and inland waterways^[1]),  “a Europe fit for the digital age”, “an economy that works for people” and “a stronger Europe in the world”^[2].

Interested parties can find on this page all public relevant information on the ongoing process for the Shift2Rail Successor, Europe’s Rail. Please note we advise interested parties to regularly monitor this web page as well as the European Commission’s relevant web pages for updates on the latest information available.

Draft Master Plan of Europe’s Rail Joint Undertaking

The draft Master Plan of the future Europe’s Rail Joint Undertaking has been prepared in accordance with Article 93 of the Single Basic Act (Commission Proposal to establish the Joint Undertaking under the Horizon Europe Programme of 23 February 2021).

To consult the document please click here.

This draft act is open for feedback for 4 weeks. Feedback will be taken into account for finalising the Master Plan.

Your feedback shall be sent by 26 November 2021 to the following email address: prepare-eurju[at]s2r.europa.eu

However, we consider the following kinds of content unsuitable:

• abusive, obscene, vulgar, slanderous, hateful, xenophobic, threatening or sexually-oriented comments
• spam, advertising for a website or product
• duplicate content, where the same content has been posted more than once by the same user
• off-topic comments, unrelated to the proposed legislation
• links to illegal or pirated software
• any other content users report to us with a valid explanation as to why

Feedback or suggestions that contradict these rules will be disregarded and possible legal actions taken.

A webinar on the draft Master Plan will be held on 19 November at 15:30 – 17:30 CET. Should you wish to join, please kindly express your interest here: https://ec.europa.eu/eusurvey/runner/WebinarEuropesRailMasterPlan

Please see below the draft programme of the webinar session:

• Introduction (EC/JU)
• Short presentation of the main parts of the Master Plan (EC)
• Tour de table (2 minutes per participant, subject to the number of interventions the time will be adapted)
• Closing words (EC/JU)

Questions and answers

• Q&A for CFM – published on 26 July 2021
• Q&A for CFM – published on 14 July 2021
• Q&A for CFM – published on 25 May 2021
• Q&A for CFM – published on 29 March 2021

Resources

• Report of the Platform on International Rail Passenger Transport and factsheet (29 March 2021)
• Proposal for a Council Regulation establishing the Joint Undertakings under Horizon Europe (23 February 2021)
• European Commission Press Release: EU to set up new European Partnerships and invest nearly €10 billion for the green and digital transition (23 February 2021)
• Rail Strategic Research and Innovation Agenda (December 2020)
• Invitation to manifest the interest to become candidate founding member of the Transforming Europe’s Rail System European Partnership (August 2020)
• Roadmap – European Partnership for transforming Europe’s rail system (Horizon Europe programme)
• Candidates for European Partnerships in climate, energy and mobility
• Draft Proposal for a European Partnership under Horizon Europe: Transforming Europe’s Rail System (July 2020)
• Presentation on the “Draft Proposal for a European Partnership under Horizon Europe: Transforming Europe’s Rail System” (July 2020)
• Coherence and Synergies of candidate European Partnerships under Horizon Europe – Draft Report (June 2020)
• Foresight Report – FOD Report for Shift2Rail JU (May 2020)

With regard to the Horizon Europe proposal, information is available here.

^[1]  Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament, the European Council, the Council, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions of 11 December 2019 on the European Green Deal (COM/2019/640 final)

^[2]  Priorities of the European Commission 2019 – 2024