UNIFE participated in TRA 2018 in Vienna
The 7th European Transport Research Conference (TRA) took place in Vienna from 16 to 19 April 2018. Under the heading of “A digital Era for Transport: solutions for society, economy and environment”, TRA 2018 was an opportunity to explore, discuss and demonstrate these major paradigm shifts that are specifically directed at important areas of our lives, such as transport, mobility, logistics and industrial production.
The conference aimed at contributing to innovation in sustainable mobility for Europe, by bringing together all the stakeholders of the transport system.
This high-level research event was attended by the European Transport Commissioner Violeta Bulc who underlined the importance of Research and Innovation to get a cleaner transport system and more efficient resources in Europe to embrace all the digital opportunities.
UNIFE was pleased to welcome at its stand Violeta Bulc, the European Transport Commissioner, Henrik Hololei, Director General, DG Move, Carlo Borghini, Executive Director, Shift2Rail Joint Undertaking and many other high-level representatives from the European Commission, the Member States and the rail sector, and present the 14 EU research and innovation projects in which UNIFE and its members have been involved in.
TRA 2018 was a great opportunity for UNIFE to:
▫ Convey key messages to EU decision makers on the future of the Rail Research & Innovation programme (e.g. Preparation of the next European Research Framework Programme – FP9) and the establishment of a new rail research PPP – Shift2Rail 2.0
▫ Promote the ERRAC Rail 2050 Vision
▫ Promote UNIFE’s Vision for Shift2Rail 2.0 (based on UNIFE's 9 Key Enablers)
▫ Report on the progress of various Research & Innovation projects (e.g. Shift2Rail, European GNSS Agency)
▫ Meet EU and Member States’ decision-makers
▫ Meet rail stakeholders, EU agencies and associations
The Shift2Rail Joint Undertaking and the European Rail Research Advisory Council (ERRAC) also had stands at TRA, which enabled Shift2Rail to promote and present their research and innovation activities, and for ERRAC to promote the ERRAC Rail 2050 Vision published in December 2017, promoting rail transport as the backbone of the mobility of the future. The new ERRAC Vision was handed over to several high representatives from the European Commission.
In terms of exhibition, rail was the second mode of transport that had the most representation, which was a significant improvement compared to the last TRA edition that took place in Warsaw in April 2016.
We would like to take this opportunity to thank all UNIFE members who were present at TRA in Vienna. The next TRA event will take place in April 2020 in Helsinki (Finland). Through ERRAC, UNIFE will contribute to the organisation of this event and will inform regularly UNIFE members about its progress.
For more information, please contact nicolas.furio@unife.org
DYNAFREIGHT presented during the Shift2Rail IP5 joint event
On 18 April, the DYNAFREIGHT project was presented by UNIFE, Huddersfield University, KTH and FIT Consulting during the Shift2Rail IP5 joint event. The event was the opportunity to illustrate some of the main achievements and the links with the correspondent Call for Member project, Freight Future Locomotive for Europe (FFL4E). - Read more
IT2Rail Final Conference held in Vienna
The IT2Rail Final Conference was successfully held on 18 April in Vienna. The project partners had the opportunity to showcase the various functionalities that have been developed in the IT2Rail project, followed by a short demonstration. The conference participants also had the opportunity to be involved in the discussions through the panel and interactive sessions that were planned, which focused on key aspects of the project. The event closed with an overview of the project outcomes and main innovations, followed by a brief introduction on how the results will be taken further by the currently running and future Shift2Rail projects. - Read more
In2Rail Final Conference and the way forward
The In2Rail Final Conference also took place on 19 April during TRA2018 with the participation of more than 70 experts from all around Europe. The event was the opportunity for Work Package Leaders to present the main results of the project and their important links to Shift2Rail. After a general introduction on the project, the event was split into three separate workshops, each one covering one of the three areas the project was built on (Smart Infra, I2M, Energy Management). At the end of the workshops, Andy Doherty officially closed the event with a presentation on the conclusions of the project and the way forward. Presentations will be available on the official In2Rail website shortly.
Shift2Rail lighthouse projects combined in a high-level session
On 19 April 2018, a Shift2Rail lighthouse projects combined high-level session took place in Vienna in parallel with the TRA conference. This high-level session marked the end of the Shift2Rail lighthouse projects. This event brought together representatives from the European Commission, the Shift2Rail Joint Undertaking, coordinators and partners of the four Shift2Rail lighthouse projects (Roll2Rail, In2Rail, IT2Rail and Smart Rail) and many rail stakeholders.
This event was an opportunity to present the achievement of the four projects and get views from the European Commission, Shift2Rail and the sector on the results and impacts of the Shift2Rail lighthouse projects.
In his introduction, Keir Fitch, Head of Unit R&I Transport Systems at DG MOVE, European Commission underlined the very good results achieved by the Shift2Rail lighthouse projects contributing to the delivery of new technologies in Shift2Rail.
Shift2Rail Executive Director, Carlo Borghini underlined in his concluding remarks that the Shift2Rail lighthouse projects are feeding Shift2Rail activities, contributing to the railway system transformation to be continued in the next European Framework Programme (Shift2Rail 2.0).
For more information, please contact nicolas.furio@unife.org.
