COMMISSION PRESENTS RAIL EUROPE’S MASTER PLAN
On 2 February, the European Commission presented the Master Plan of Europe’s Rail Joint Undertaking (EU-Rail) at the meeting of the European Parliament’s Transport and Tourism (TRAN) Committee. Europe’s Rail Joint Undertaking, the successor of Shift2Rail, is the new European partnership on rail research and innovation.
The Master Plan provides an overview of the ambitions and the objectives of this new partnership and defines a long-term and result-oriented delivery strategy for research and innovation in the railway sector. During the debate, MEPs generally expressed their support for the goals of the Master Plan, such as improving rail performance and digitalisation, and focused their questions on how to deliver them. Standardisation, simplification of procedures for vehicle type approval and less administrative charges are the keys of success to finalise the Single European Rail area.
The EU-Rail should not only foster cooperation with rail stakeholders, but also seek synergies with other research areas and other partners that can help solving rail related challenges and provide more coherent services. MEPs asked for a clear roadmap for the deployment of the rail research and innovation results and a platform to share best practices. The Commission replied that the first early demonstrators will be in place in 2025 and they will concern rail freight automation projects.
Source: European Parliament