Shift2Rail publishes first calls for proposals
Shift2Rail, the Joint Undertaking (JU) backed by the Commission and the rail industry, has published its first calls for proposals, endowed with €170m to support innovation in railways.
The Commission will contribute €90m, with the other €80m being brought by the members of Shift2Rail. In order to be funded, projects will have to demonstrate their ability to increase the quality, reliability and punctuality of rail services while cutting its costs and facilitating cross-border travel.
This first batch of calls covers the five Shift2Rail innovation programmes and is split into two categories: calls reserved for Shift2Rail JU members only, for a total value of €63.7m, and open calls for a total value of €26.1m. The open calls will be available to companies, universities, research institutes and others who are not Shift2Rail members.
Commenting on the calls, Violeta Bulc, European Commissioner for Transport, said: “Investing in innovation is critical to create jobs and get Europe to grow, two main priorities of the Commission. With today’s calls for proposals, we want to pool the expertise from stakeholders towards these goals. Keeping European rail at the forefront of innovation will open new markets globally for our companies. It will also make rail more attractive for passengers and businesses. This is essential to reach our ambitious transport decarbonisation objectives.”
The founding members of the Shift2Rail JU will be joined by 19 associated members from across Europe following the Commission decision of 8 December 2015.
Christos Economou, the interim executive director who has been in charge of setting up the Shift2Rail JU, added: “The launch of the first calls is an important milestone for the Shift2Rail JU. I am convinced the Shift2Rail partners will deliver results that no single company, country or even the European Union as such would achieve alone.”
An Info Day on the Shift2Rail open calls will be held in Brussels on 20 January 2016.
The deadline for submissions of proposals is 17 March 2016, 17:00 CET.
