Download - Unife

More documents

Recommendations

Info

3. UnIFE InItIAtIVES DUrInG tHE IrISH prESIDEnCY During the Irish Presidency, UNIFE will be working on three initiatives that have the potential to increase significantly the competitiveness of the railway sector. 16
3.1. SHIFT²RAIL, the rail Joint Technology Initiative JTIs are instruments created under the current EU Research Framework Programme. They move away from the traditional case-by-case public funding of projects approach towards large scale research programs that couple research tightly to technological innovation. The European rail industry is at a turning point of its history. Whilst European companies have built up a global presence, they increasingly face competition from suppliers from other countries (e.g. China, Japan, South Korea). At the same time, the EU’s transport sector faces considerable challenges, as highlighted in the Transport White Paper. Whilst rail can make transport more sustainable, the sector clearly needs to improve its capacity to absorb bigger shares of traffic and develop its attractiveness and efficiency. It is now essential to secure adequate level of funding for research to produce real innovation in an industrial sector that accounts for € 136 billion turnover, which is rapidly growing and provides 400000 direct and indirect jobs in Europe. During the past two years, major European rail stakeholders, under the umbrella of UNIFE and in cooperation with the whole railway community – including infrastructure managers and soon leading railway undertakings – have therefore initiated a major effort to identify the priority research axes which should pave the way for tomorrow’s railways. In-depth investigations, involving hundreds of experts and engineers, have been conducted to identify how best innovation could increase the competitiveness of the European industry. These investigations have now resulted into the creation of a long term research programme on rolling stock, traffic management, infrastructure, telematics and freight, with clear strategic objectives: the SHIFT²RAIL Joint Technology Initiative (JTI). The development of the SHIFT²RAIL JTI has been supported at the highest level within the industry, with the signature of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) by the CEOs of the leading European rail companies in June 2012, in which they commit themselves to a long-term investment in the future of European rail research. The current signatories of this MoU are Alstom Transport, Ansaldo 17
Page 1 and 2: January 2013 UNIFE briefing for the
Page 3: tABLE OF COntEntS 1. Introduction -
Page 6 and 7: 2. DOSSIErS DUrInG tHE IrISH prESID
Page 8 and 9: 2.2. TEN-T Policy Review On 19 Octo
Page 10 and 11: 01 A sufficient allocation of the C
Page 12 and 13: 05 Ensure an efficient liberalisati
Page 14 and 15: UNIFE calls the Irish Presidency of
Page 18 and 19: Breda , Ansaldo STS, Bombardier Tra
Page 20 and 21: 3.3. UNIFE-CER Annual Reception Tog
Page 22: 22 nOtES

Download - Unife

Create successful ePaper yourself

Delete template?

Save as template?