Shift2Rail launches its first Catalogue of Solutions

Credit: @Shift2Rail_JU

Launched at the Shift2Rail exhibition stand at the 2019 World Congress on Railway Research in Tokyo, the new Catalogue of Solutions presents successful R&I results of possible products and solutions and is expected to be updated annually.

Included in the Catalogue are products and solutions for specific topics of ‘passenger trains’, ‘traffic management’, ‘optimised infrastructure’, ‘digital services’, ‘European rail freight’ and ‘horizontal innovative solutions for railway’.

Carlo Borghini, Executive Director of the Shift2Rail Joint Undertaking, believes that the launch of this first Catalogue marks an important milestone showing the success of the Shift2Rail programme just three years after its start: “This first Catalogue of Solutions, which we intend to update annually, constitutes a milestone towards delivering transformed rail systems designed around a wider functional system architecture. The catalogue highlights what will be available in the market as standalone or integrated products, and provides a first glimpse of what the investment of the European Union together with the rail sector stakeholders is capable of materialising, bringing benefits to people and freight businesses.”

Commissioner for Transport, Violeta Bulc, has acknowledged the effective work achieved by Shift2Rail and its members, reflected in the new Catalogue: “I am a firm believer in rail. But railways also have work to do. To get rail where we want it to be, we need to innovate. Rail research and innovation activities under Shift2Rail are starting to deliver concrete results to ensure solutions developed can be deployed rapidly. The Catalogue of Solutions presents successful R&I results in the form of possible products and solutions, which illustrate the value of institutionalised public-private partnerships.”

The next edition of the Catalogue of Solutions is expected for InnoTrans 2020 where visitors will have the opportunity to see many of the showcased solutions, which by then will be one step closer to market uptake.