With a budget of €1.2 billion, Europe's Rail (EU-Rail) falls under the new European Innovation Framework Programme, Horizon Europe, and builds upon the work carried out in the previous rail innovation program, Shift2Rail, in which Indra was already a member of the highest governing body and within which both companies played a significant role, participating in more than 25 projects. EU-Rail focuses its efforts particularly on digitalization and sustainability, aiming to achieve zero emissions and enhance safety.
As part of EU-Rail, Indra and Talgo are key players in defining and implementing the strategic R&D&I agenda for the sector, in collaboration with the European Commission. Both companies will contribute their technological capabilities and experience, and will collaborate with leading European companies, entities, institutions, and universities to develop and test, on a large scale, new marketable digital and sustainable solutions that place rail at the heart of green mobility. Europe's Rail prioritizes, even more than Shift2Rail, the market launch of the developed solutions. To this end, it plans to develop large-scale demonstrators involving a significant portion of the industry and numerous European countries. The first calls for proposals for projects in the areas defined by the program were launched this March.
This alliance between Indra and Talgo is based on their complementarity. Both have contributed to the design of, and aspire to participate in, projects across the seven Flagship Areas (FA), the main areas of activity that structure the Europe's Rail program, along with the cross-cutting area of digital enablers.
Specifically, in addition to working in this cross-cutting area, they will seek the development of new technologies for the management of the railway network and passenger mobility in a multimodal environment (FA1); the digitization and automation of operations to move towards autonomous trains (FA2); the intelligent and integrated management of assets (FA3); projects to move towards a sustainable and green railway system (FA4); new digital and sustainable services that improve the competitiveness of rail freight transport (FA5); new innovative solutions and services to boost regional rail services (FA6); as well as innovating in new approaches for new modes of guided transport, such as Hyperloop (FA7).
Indra and Talgo's objective in EU-Rail is to contribute their expertise and further develop their advanced technology for the rail sector, aiming to leverage all the advantages of CyberRail IoT, satellite ERTMS, digital twins, big data, artificial intelligence, and smart maintenance technologies to make the train the center of the new mobility ecosystem and put it at the service of the traveler. This will also be aided by developments to create more efficient, attractive, and sustainable vehicles with a reduced environmental impact.
For example, to address the integration of the entire mobility ecosystem, Indra will continue working on its integrated, open, flexible, and scalable solution for rail traffic management, Indra Rail TMS, together with its specialized smart mobility platform, In-Mova Space. Based on new digital technologies, In-Mova Space focuses on mobility as a service and creates a collaborative environment where data from all modes of transport is shared and information is enriched by applying intelligent analytics, machine learning, and predictive models. It facilitates a cross-cutting and multimodal view that, in addition to serving citizens' needs, enables the creation of cleaner flows for more sustainable transport. It also allows for adapting transport services to real demand and user needs, improving the passenger experience, optimizing infrastructure and service capacity and maintainability, and fostering the development of automation.
Indra also hopes to transfer its experience in the aerospace industry and the advantages of innovation in the so-called New Space era to improve signaling and safety in rail transport.
Similarly, Indra and Talgo will continue the work begun in Shift2Rail for the development and implementation of a secure, wireless-based railway IoT network. This network can offer, for example, enormous opportunities to move towards more automated, secure, and intelligent railway management and facilitate the management of secure assets. These solutions facilitate coverage in areas where there is no existing network infrastructure or where its deployment is difficult, such as low-traffic regional lines, as well as enabling smart maintenance—intelligent and predictive maintenance—which brings significant economic and environmental benefits.
Additionally, building on the experience gained from Shift2Rail, Talgo will work on developing lighter and more efficient trains using new materials and processes, as well as permanent magnet motor traction. These two lines of development will also be enhanced to improve performance and promote a circular economy by exploring the recyclability of raw materials. Furthermore, other developments will be undertaken to increase the efficiency of hydrogen traction and to create more flexible and attractive interiors.
The program also aims to continue innovating in its ticketing solutions, promoting multimodality and mobile payment; access control, through paradigms such as Be-In Be-Out (BIBO) and biometric identification; or for the digitization of cargo operations and the logistics chain in the transport of goods.
