Projects
As a Network of Excellence, EURNEX is a suitable project partner for introducing the contribution of selected stakeholders, target users platforms and high level experts in the projects discussions and workshops. EURNEX participates in selected projects and coordination actions, having the aim to reinforce the participation of academia and science throughout its network of excellent experts.
Navigate on the tabs to know more about our project activities.
Ongoing & Upcoming Projects:
AUTOMOTIF. „AUTOMATION TOWARDS MULTIMODAL TRANSPORTATION AND INTEGRATION OF FREIGHT“
HORIZON-CL5-2023-D6-01-07
18 Partners , Starting date: 1 June 2024
Project duration: 36 months
AutoMoTIF will focus on the development of strategies, business and governance models, regulatory recommendations and synergies that will enable the integration and interoperability of automated transport systems and solutions towards the operational automation of multimodal cargo flows and logistics supply chains in the intra-European network. It will list the gaps – both regulatory and technological – that are currently identified in automated transport technologies and logistics operations between modes and hubs through the analysis of automation demand and supply in multimodal transportation (users vs market). AutoMoTIF will follow an inclusive model to ensure that user and community needs are properly addressed and innovations are aligned with their expectations. UCs and scenarios will focus on real challenges and gaps in seamless automated logistics that will be simulated in real settings and different geographical locations. The results of the UCs will be used to set up a master scenario addressing the end-to-end delivery of goods using highest degree of automation possible. The outcomes from current practices will be analysed, leading to the assessment of benefits that can be gained by exploiting automated transport means to seamless multimodal automatic cargo transport and vice versa. These benefits will be defined and analysed based on their social, environmental and economic impact, such as decreased emissions and congestion, improved working conditions and safety, as well as reduced logistics and freight transport costs, with the SSH aspects being a priority. AutoMoTIF will contribute to the enhancement of synergies among sectors and stakeholders, following European priorities, strategic partnerships, such as CCAM, Zero Emission Waterborne Transport and EU Rail JU to ensure that transferability of expected outcomes.
XCROSS
The next generation of railway crossing asset management technology.
New European research project XCross Launched to Develop Innovative Technology for Railway Crossing Asset Management started on 1st October 2024
The XCross project, funded by Europe’s Rail Joint Undertaking, officially launched with a kick-off meeting in Delft on 1st October 2024.
Coordinated by Delft University of Technology (TU Delft), XCross is backed by a grant of EUR 2.04 million and will run for a period of 30 months. The project brings together a consortium of 10 partners from 7 countries, including the EUropean rail Research Network of EXcellence (EURNEX), Evopro Innovation, ProRail, Union Internationale des Chemins de fer (UIC), Asociación de Investigación Metalúrgica del Noroeste (AIMEN), Dresden University of Technology (TU Dresden), TXT E-Tech, Rotterdam Electric Tram (RET), and the University of Leeds.
The main objective of XCross is to enhance the monitoring, inspection, and maintenance of railway crossing surface profiles. To achieve this, the project will develop new crossing inspection techniques using handheld 3D laser scanning technology and computer vision, enabling fast, repeatable, and high-accuracy measurements of crossing surfaces. These 3D scans will be used to create a digital twin of the crossing, which will employ advanced optimization strategies to determine the optimal geometry profile achievable through on- site welding and grinding techniques, considering lifecycle costs. In addition, Augmented Reality and 3D printing techniques will be developed to provide both virtual and physical visualization guides for on-site procedures.
The kick-off meeting focused on aligning the project’s objectives and planning the upcoming activities, which included organizing the first workshop by Rotterdam Electric Tram (RET) and planning a first set of dissemination and communication activities.
For further information, please contact: Project Coordinator:
Valeri Markine
e-mail: V.L.Markine@tudelft.nl
Communication and Dissemination Manager:
Celestino Sánchez
e-mail: cesama@eurnex.eu
PHD EU-RAIL
The PhDs EU-Rail project, under the Horizon Europe framework funded by Europe’s Rail Joint Undertaking (EU-Rail), aims to consolidate academic and industry collaboration in the railway sector through the work of 10 PhDs. These projects will contribute to advancing innovation and sustainability in rail transport, aligning closely with the objectives of EU-Rail to support railway engineering, decarbonisation, gender equality, education, economics/impacts and inclusive rail solutions among others.
The 3-year-long project is organised into 5 structured Work Packages to ensure comprehensive research coverage and strategic coordination. Apart of the PhDs theses themselves, a key goal is to produce valuable tutorials and documents that will aid current and future PhD students interested in railway domain, fostering effective collaboration with industry partners and enhancing real-world applicability.
PhD Research Focus Areas The kick-off event featured presentations on individual PhD research projects, each addressing critical topics within railway innovation:
- PhD1 Measures and mechanisms to support implementation of rail technical innovations supporting the decarbonisation of transport (VGTU/KYIV).
- PhD2 Change making for gender equality in rail (UMA/UIC).
- PhD3 New generation education and training methods for rail (ASTON).
- PhD4 Rail enabled urban logistics (PARDU).
- PhD5 Fast night train operations (ZAGREB).
- PhD6 Dynamic stability of trains over bridges: a normative research approach (UPORTO).
- PhD7 Safety-relevant communication in the railway system with special consideration of human factors using the example of the digital command (TUB).
- PhD8 Assessing the economic impact of rail technical research: delivering societal objectives in the face of external challenges (LEEDS).
- PhD9 Railway inclusion and accessibility for individuals with intellectual disabilities (LILLE).
- PhD10 ICT platforms for reliable and interoperable ERTMS systems (SSSA).
Partner Institutions The project boasts a diverse consortium of partners, including: DERGAVNIS UNIVERSITET INFRASTRUKTURI TA TECHNOLOGIS (KYIV, Ukraine) The Project is supported by the Europe’s Rail and it’s members. Funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or Europe’s Rail Joint Undertaking. Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them. For further information on the PhDs EU-Rail project, please reach out to Armando Carrillo Zanuy.
TRAVEL WISE
Travel Wise is an intermodal innovation project for the aviation and railway sectors, focused on connecting air and rail traffic management systems to create seamless, coordinated travel. By fostering collaboration across transport sectors, it aims to break down barriers and enable smooth, intermodal operations through innovative solutions.
The project will develop an Intermodal Collaborative Decision-Making tool to help rail and air operators work together more effectively, managing operations smoothly in both routine situations and during disruptions, enhancing the passenger experience. Travel Wise builds on the expertise gained from the Single European Sky and Europe’s Rail research on European-level rail traffic management.
Mission – To enable information sharing and joint decision-making between air and rail operators. To develop integrated plans and technical solutions to enhance the passenger travel experience. To support, share expertise, and bridge knowledge between the air and rail sectors.
Vision –To create a connected, digitalized ecosystem where air and rail work seamlessly together with efficient traffic management and an improved passenger experience through shared data and collaborative decision-making.
Project Acronym: Travel Wise
Grant: 101178579
Call: HORIZON-JU-ER-2023-01
Topic: HORIZON-JU-ER-2023-FA1-SESAR
Consortium Coordinator: DeepBlue
Academics4Rail coordinated by EURNEX is a new research project funded by Europe’s Rail with EUR 1.807.237,50, launched on the 1st September 2023 and continuing over 42 months. The project held a kick-off meeting on the 9th September in Berlin, gathering the whole consortium of 25 partners from ten countries.
Academics4Rail will create a stable and durable scientific community that in an organised way will share and exchange scientific knowledge with EU-Rail and ERRAC.
This knowledge is shared at different levels (strategic to concrete technical areas) and for different purposes.
When it comes to the strategic level the scientific community intends to share knowledge with ERRAC and EU-Rail with the purpose of optimising the program for railway research providing insights of fund use, existing themes for research and scientific necessities for the future of European railways. It also supports the methodology of program assessment using KPIs and impact estimation towards the objectives set out in the EU-Rail masterplan.
The areas are:
- PhD1 Aerodynamics of freight trains. Politecnico de Milano.
- PhD2 Electromagnetic compatibility. Universidad Politecnica de Madrid.
- PhD3 Additive Manufacturing in wheel re-profiling. Universidad del Pais Vasco/Euskal Herriko Unibertsitatea.
- PhD4 Digital communications for virtual coupling. Université Gustave Eiffel.
- PhD5 Prognostics and health management approach for railway asset maintenance. Luleå Tekniska Universitet.
- PhD6 AI-based Driving Assistance. Uinversité Polytechnique Hauts-De France.
What could rail transport look like in the future? How can intermodal transport options be strengthened and expanded? How can we generate a seamless and sustainable mobility system for all and eliminate today’s hurdles?
In September 2023 15 partners from seven European countries launched “Pods4Rail“, a research collaboration funded by the European Union. Over the 30 months of its duration the project that brings together top-level research institutions and highly innovative industry partners, is intended to substantiate the concept for a digitalised, decentralised mobility service with multimodal interfaces to different transport modes in order to carry out a concept for a door-to-door transport chain based on rail by 2025 and thus contribute to the necessary transformation of the European rail network.
In a changing world the transport sector faces complex challenges for the future: climate change and the need for environmental protection, demographic change and urbanisation, shifting mobility behaviour as a whole, a shortage of skilled workers for rail operations and a growing need for operational efficiency. In particular, the demand for sustainable solutions for transporting people and goods forces us to rethink and find new approaches and innovations. Pods4Rail aims to harness advances in connectivity and automation and the existing rail infrastructure to push the concept of intermodality beyond established ideas.
Developing a new kind of mobility system. The railway-based intermodal pod system should be autonomously operating, electrically driven vehicle and the homologated transport units should be designed for people or goods respectively and separated from a specific carrier unit. Together with an pods coordination and mobility management system for operations and logistics as well as all aspects of a mobility-on-demand offer across diverse transport modes, this represents a completely new form of mobility experience.
Moving towards a sustainable future. By making optimal use of existing transport systems and reducing the need for new infrastructure to a minimum, land scarcity can be addressed and ecosystems protected for future generations. Rail transportation, with its efficiency, but also with the associated infrastructure, is set to be the backbone technology for a pod mobility system that is uncompromisingly geared towards people’s needs and at the same time has extremely resilient capacity. Pods could be used to better adapt rail transport to the needs of users through greater flexibility, customisation and efficiency and to realise needs-based rail transport, using existing or to be reactivated railway infrastructure in combination with other modes of transport, like road or ropeway. This will improve the quality of life in urban and rural areas and contribute to a more sustainable and efficient future of mobility.
SPINE aims to accelerate progress towards climate neutrality by integrating public transport systems with new mobility services, sharing schemes, active transport modes, and micromobility.
The SPINE consortium consists of experienced professionals, including transport engineers, public transport operators, computer scientists, data analysts, transport modelers, social scientists, urban planners, policy analysts, and software providers, who will provide a comprehensive approach to the challenges, scope, and expected impact of the project.
The ESEP4Freight project, funded by Europe’s Rail Joint Undertaking, held its kick-off meeting in Berlin on 6-7 September 2023.
ESEP4Freight, coordinated by Royal Institute of Technology (KTH) of Stockholm and funded with EUR 1,3 million, started on 1st September and will take place over a 24-month period. The consortium, comprising 9 partners from 5 countries, also includes EUropean rail Research Network of Excellence (Eurnex), Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, Union internationale pour le transport combiné Rail-Route (UIRR), Fundació Eurecat, Gruber Logistics, Tenalach Consulting, Studiengesellschaft für den Kombinierten Verkehr (SGKV), and Consorzio per la Zona Agricola Industrialle di Verona (ZAI).