EU triples funding for rail innovation

The European Commission has adopted ‘Shift2Rail’, a new public private partnership to invest just under €1bn in research and innovation. It aims to encourage more passengers and freight to use Europe’s railways.

Siim Kallas, European Commission Vice-President with responsibility for Transport, said: “If we want to get more passengers and freight on Europe’s railways, then rail needs to provide better services and offer an attractive choice to more customers. For that to happen, rail needs to innovate. This PPP is a major breakthrough, it will drive innovation to reduce the costs of rail services, increase capacity and provide more reliable, frequent rail services for customers.”

European Commissioner for Research, Innovation and Science, Máire Geoghegan-Quinn, added: “This investment will allow for a major industrial effort, combining public and private funding from throughout the whole rail sector, to develop strategic technologies and solutions that will help to strengthen the competitiveness of European businesses and retain Europe’s leadership in the global rail market. This is a perfect demonstration of the leverage effect of the EU budget for growth and jobs.”

The PPP, which will be in the form of a Joint Undertaking, will see the Commission invest €450m between 2014-2020 in rail research and innovation; this will be matched by €470m from the rail industry. The net gains of this long term collaborative approach will give a very substantial boost to innovation in the rail industry, compared to previous co-funding of individual projects.