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 start 2024
PHD EU-RAIL start 2024
TRAVEL WISE (start 2024)
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).