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          Discover Innovation pillar
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          Innovation Pillar

          EU-Rail’s Innovation Pillar (IP) is tasked to deliver operational and technological solutions that contribute to a more efficient, flexible, and demand-led, yet safe and environmentally sustainable European railway system. The activities undertaken aim at large-scale demonstrations and they also cover technologies of all readiness levels as well as exploratory research.

          Explore System pillar

          About

          The System Pillar is the “generic system integrator” for the Europe’s Rail Joint Undertaking (EU-Rail), and the architect of the future EU’s railway system.

          Outputs

          Discover key outputs from the System Pillar.

          Governance

          Discover the Governance structure and key decisions from the System Pillar.

          Key documents

          Discover the System Pillar document library.

          Discover System pillar

          System Pillar

          The System Pillar provides governance, resource, and outputs to support a coherent and coordinated approach to the evolution of the rail system and the development of the system view.

          Discover Deployment Group
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          Deployment Group

          The Deployment Group advises the EU-Rail Governing Board on the market uptake of rail innovation developments and support their deployment. Its activities thus form a bridge between the research and innovation process and the coordinated implementation through recommendations for deployment in the rail system.

          Explore the DAC Delivery Programme

          For a successful and effective implementation of the Digital Automatic Coupler for European rail freight (DAC), it is of crucial importance to have open, close and efficient cooperation between rail stakeholders. The European DAC Delivery Programme enabled by Europe’s Rail, offers a unique European platform for such cooperation and collaboration.

          About Shift2Rail

          Explore more information about the Europe's Rail predecessor programme.

          Explore Shift2Rail

          Shift2Rail Programme

          Explore the detailed information about the Shift2Rail Innovation Programmes.

          Organisation

          Explore the structure of the Shift2Rail programme.

          Shift2Rail Projects

          Get a glimpse of the Shift2Rail Projects and their achievements.

          Discover Shift2Rail

          The Shift2Rail Joint Undertaking is the predecessor programme of the Europe's Rail Joint Undertaking (EU-Rail), established by Council Regulation (EU) 2021/2085 of 19 November 2021.

           

        • Projects

          Discover detailed information on Europe's rail innovation initiatives, showcasing flagship and other projects aimed at enhancing rail systems across Europe. It highlights collaborative efforts funded by the European Union to develop sustainable, efficient, and competitive rail transport solutions.

           

          Solutions catalogue

          Europe’s Rail Catalogue of Solutions illustrates successful R&I results in the form of possible products and solutions, while highlighting the benefits for final users, operators, infrastructure managers and/or suppliers. This publication also outlines the advantages of integrating demonstrators into market solutions so that they can deliver the rail innovation Capabilities of the future.

        • Who we are?

          About Europe's Rail

          Europe’s Rail Joint Undertaking (EU-Rail) is established by Council Regulation (EU) 2021/2085 of 19 November 2021. It is the new European partnership on rail research and innovation established under the Horizon Europe programme (2020-2027) and the universal successor of the Shift2Rail Joint Undertaking.

           

          Explore About Europe's Rail

          Mission and objectives

          The objective of Europe’s Rail Joint Undertaking is to deliver a high capacity integrated European railway network by eliminating barriers to interoperability and providing solutions for full integration, covering traffic management, vehicles, infrastructure and services, aiming to achieve faster uptake and deployment of projects and innovations.

          Preparatory Activities

          Discover the the processes and background information on the preparation of the Joint Undertaking.

          Jobs

          Browse latest Europe's Rail vacancies.

          Discover Europe's Rail Members

          Find out the full list of Europe's Rail Members.

           

          Explore Structure of Governance

          Governing Board & General Assembly

          The Europe's Rail Governing Board oversees Europe's Rail Joint Undertaking, guiding strategy, budgets, and work plans. It includes the European Commission and rail industry stakeholders, aiming to innovate and integrate Europe's rail systems, boosting efficiency, sustainability, and alignment with EU Green Deal goals.

          States Representatives Group

          The Europe's Rail States Representatives Group advises the Europe's Rail Joint Undertaking. It comprises representatives from EU member states and associated countries, ensuring alignment of Europe's Rail activities with national policies, facilitating cooperation, and providing input on rail innovation, integration, and sustainable development across Europe.

          Scientific Steering Group

          The Europe's Rail Scientific Steering Group provides scientific and technical advice to the Europe's Rail Joint Undertaking. Comprising experts from academia and research institutions, it ensures that research projects align with cutting-edge science and innovation, supporting the development of a modern, sustainable European rail system.

          Executive Director

          Find out more information about the Europe's Rail Executive Director.

          Discover Structure of Governance

          Discover the full structure and governance of Europe's Rail, including the decisions of the Governing Board.

           

          Explore Reference Documents

          Key Documents

          Discover main Europe's Rail documentation.

          Annual Work Plan and Budget

          Find out about our key priortires in our Annual Work Plans and Budget.

          Annual Activity Report

          Discover the progress of our programme by downloading Europe's Rail Annual Activity Reports.

          Annual Accounts

          Have a full overview of Europe's Rail Annual Accounts.

          Functioning of the Europe's Rail JU

          Discover key documentation describing the general functioning of the JU.

          Discover Reference Documents

          Get access to Europe's Rail main reference documents, including Annual Work Plans, Annual Activity Reports, Annual Accounts and other important information.

           

News

B4CM software framework: An implemented software framework and supporting documentation for the monitoring of data exchanges and attribution of associated costs in industrial RCM systems

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Description: The B4CM project is delivering a blockchain-based testbed for the attribution of RCM data costs across organisational boundaries in the context of the European Rail Industry. D1.1 presents the software framework developed by the team, describing in detail the selected software stack and the chaincode deployed within the blockchain network.

Target audience: Operators, Infrastructure management companies

How it brings us closer to achieving better rail for Europe: The B4CM software framework demonstrates the potential distributed ledgers offer the industry in terms of understanding the underlying data flows that, in combination, represent the whole system business benefit derived from multi-stakeholder systems, such as Remote Condition Monitoring deployments.

More information on this topic: B4CM


B4CM commercial arrangements: Technical report detailing how business-specific requirements / arrangements can be captured in smart contracts and deployed within the framework

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Description: The B4CM project is delivering a blockchain-based testbed for the attribution of RCM data costs across organisational boundaries in the context of the European Rail Industry. D2.1 outlines the processes by which business / contractual exchanges may be captured and translated into smart contracts for use within the B4CM framework.

Target audience: Operators, Infrastructure management companies

How it brings us closer to achieving better rail for Europe: The B4CM commercial arrangements propose an Escrow-based access agreement methodology and associated accounting model that demonstrate an easier way to provide access to data within the industry.

More information on this topic: B4CM


Report on case studies and analysis of transferability from other sectors

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Description: This deliverable focuses on safe rail automation, it reviews some activities and results of relevant AI applications in sectors other than railways, in particular from Unmanned Vehicles and Automotive, delineates transferability directions to the rail domain, and proposes two railway contexts for case studies and proofs of concept, namely intelligent train operation and cooperative driving.

Target audience: All Stakeholders

How it brings us closer to achieving better rail for Europe: In this document a methodological framework for transferability analyses is introduced, and a vision of intelligent train control is proposed taking the cue from the automotive domain, also considering the issues raised by the exploitation of AI techniques for safe autonomy.

More information on this topic: RAILS


Specification of cost/benefit analysis and learning curves, final release

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Description: D2.6 continued the work started with D2.4 and completed the Cost-Benefit Analysis (CBA), providing the final results concerning the financial and economic convenience of the adoption of FM in railway sector, as per the case study developed in 4SECURail

Target audience: Infrastructure management companies; Suppliers

How it brings us closer to achieving better rail for Europe: The definition of cost and benefit categories connected to the use of Formal Methods in rail safety domain identifies – with quantitative elements – opportunities connected to the use of such methods in the development of guidelines for the specification of requirements for rail safety interfaces and products.

More information on this topic: 4SecuRail


Exploitation plan

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Description: The document describes the plan for business and exploitation of project results: the objective is to implement a strategy to facilitate the successful adoption of results and benefits within the Railway Sector, research communities and policy advisers.

Target audience: Operators; Infrastructure Management companies; Suppliers

How it brings us closer to achieving better rail for Europe: The Exploitation Plan has been designed in order to multiply the impact of 4SECURail results and prepare the transition towards industrial and commercial uptake in order to fully achieve better rail in terms of security, safety and cost-effectiveness.

More information on this topic: 4SecuRail


Optimization tools for preliminary results to railway carbodies

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Description: Optimization is an important part of this design strategy, as it allows the designer to systematically find feasible design solutions for the relevant functional constraints. Work topology optimization of sandwich structures subjected to static and dynamic loading has been studied. Particular interest has been given to the mass minimization of the structure while subjected to constraints on the static and dynamic response. The Topology Optimization of Binary Structures (TOBS) method have been used to generate a non-homogeneous macrostructure in the core material of a sandwich beam.

Target audience: All Stakeholders

How it brings us closer to achieving better rail for Europe: The results show that the proposed method is able to find feasible solutions with low mass that fulfill the different constraints. A range of core material properties are used to evaluate how the final topology varies with differing material properties between the face sheet and core materials.

More information on this topic: PIVOT2


Feasibility study for a hybrid wheelset for a tram of light rail vehicle

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Description: Assess the feasibility of a hybrid metalcomposite (HMC) wheelset, considering the scenarios of a composite axle of a trailer bogie, with integrated connections with wheel rims, brake discs and bearings.

Target audience: All Stakeholders

How it brings us closer to achieving better rail for Europe: This deliverable presents a detailed analysis of the feasibility of this hybrid metalcomposite axle, characterized by a metallic collar designed to be connected to metal bearings, wheels and brake discs. The HMC railway axle permits the existing wheels and bearings to be used. The interference fits between these components and the axle are met by the metallic collars. The proposed design has been checked against requirements for inspection during maintenance service interruption. The analysis of the dynamical forces at the interaction between rail and wheels has shown that the proposed HMC axle can contribute to reduce the dynamic forces that are responsible of wear mechanisms of the wheels and the rails, particularly at high speeds, thus confirming the potential positive impact on maintenance costs offered by a lighter wheelset.

More information on this topic: NEXTGEAR


Terms of Reference, Requirements and Specifications for Novel Elastomer based Running Gear Components

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Description: A preliminary list of elastomeric and metal-elastomeric components for running gear as well as a list of potential elastomeric materials to manufacture the components. An exhaustive study of market solutions for components is presented.

Target audience: All Stakeholders

How it brings us closer to achieving better rail for Europe: The project designs, prototypes, and validates new elastomeric running gear components based on new formulation(s) of elastomer materials, or adaptation of high performance elastomers from other sectors, including nanotechnology solutions for enhancement of durability and lifetime, with the aim of reducing the need for replacement during the life of the vehicle.

More information on this topic: GEARBODIES


Interface Specifications

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Description: Based on the results described in FR8RAIL standard interfaces definition and integration towards electrification, telematics, CBM as well as autonomous coupling & train operation

Target audience: Infrastructure management companies; Railway Undertakings; Wagon Keepers; Suppliers

How it brings us closer to achieving better rail for Europe: High level definition of how the different telematics fit in an actual freight railway wagon, detailing key interface characteristic like weight, size, power budget, connecting needs- connectors, and other non-functional requirements.

More information on this topic: FR8RAIL II

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