EUROPE: The European Rail Research Advisory Council has published a list of nine ‘transforming projects’ which it believes are needed to maximise rail’s contribution towards meeting European transport and environmental goals.
Intended to offer a framework for further decision-making on joint actions, the Strategic Research & Innovation Agenda identifies at a high level what the sector needs in terms of targeted and focused research.
The topics are:
- smart integration for railways within door-to-door mobility;
- rail as the backbone of a green freight logistics chain;
- a connected and open rail framework for European mobility;
- network management, planning and control;
- environmentally friendly and attractive sustainable mobility;
- assets for automated and/or autonomous and/or remotely piloted operations;
- smart asset management and maintenance of the future;
- non-traditional and emerging transport models and systems;
- digital twins, simulation & virtualisation.
‘Rail has demonstrated it can satisfy the mobility needs of goods and passengers, can accommodate capacity growth and can deliver large transformation programmes’, said ERRAC Chair and Thales Vice-President Alberto Parrondo on December 7. ‘The sector is rich in ideas to make effective use of technology and innovation.’
