The Flagship Project stemming from this topic should develop the following capabilities:

Alternative energy solutions for the rolling stock

Development, validation and demonstration of traction system components, including related innovative and standardised functions, to improve technical, environmental, circular economy and LCC KPIs. To demonstrate the feasibility of the results of the innovation, the technical enabler will be applied in static test bench and real demonstrators of:

• Enabler 1: Trains with on-board Energy Storage Systems. High performance and high efficient Batteries Electric Multi-Unit (BEMU) trains with long autonomy (80km baseline and over 200 km targeted) (TRL 7/8 to be achieved in 2028)
• Enabler 2: Hydrogen hybrid trains: infrastructure inspection/maintenance heavy duty vehicle and/or loco for freight-passengers at TRL7 in 2028 (powered with gas H2 or liquid H2)

Holistic approach to energy management in the railway system

The increased use of renewable energy sources (RES), energy storage devices and the smart energy management will improve the global mobility decarbonization and the energy efficiency of the railway system. Within this Destination, this approach will be done through:

• Enabler 3: Development of a universal hydrogen refuelling interface as well as digital algorithms to improve refuelling efficiency at TRL6/7 in 2028.
• Enabler 4: Integration of various sources in different systems (e.g. 25kV AC, 1,5/3kV DC), of renewable energy, energy harvesting technologies, breaking energy recovery, etc, as well as the integration of energy storage at TRL6/8 in 2028.
• Enabler 5: Solutions for the optimal energy management in the whole power system, covering traction and non-traction demand including stations as energy hubs and integrated in a smart grid under the market rules and targeting at TRL7/8 in 2028.
• Optional – Enabler 17: Develop and validate innovative static and dynamic charging solutions for battery trains operating with DC traction at TRL6 in 2028

Sustainability and resilience of the rail system to deliver added value on asset management

This Destination aims to provide solutions to foster environmental advantages of rail, reduce nuisances and addressing resilience on the whole life cycle through:

• Enabler 6: Adaptation to climate change with the development of a tool on European climate variables usable for railway assets, considering risk assessment reports and considering the evaluation of existing solutions to accelerate the lowering of environmental footprint targeting TRL6 in 2028 to implement adaptation strategies.
• Enabler 7: Development of noise indicators, simulation and measurement tools, mitigation measures and optimised maintenance regimes for noise and vibrations, at TRL6/7 in 2028.
• Enabler 8: Research oriented towards smarter and greener railway stations including methodologies and guidelines for the optimal design/rehabilitation of station layout including modularity oriented towards carbon footprint reduction, as well as digital twin technologies for smarter energy management and for the integration of resilience and circularity indicators of railway stations to be validated at TRL7/8 in 2028.
• Enabler 9: Development of tools and indicators to promote eco-design, assess environmental performance improvements and ensure standardized reporting of the environmental impacts of the rail sector at TRL6/7 in 2028.

Improvement of electro-mechanical components and sub-systems for the rolling stock

The technological solutions for the migration to the airless train will require high performance bogies, gearboxes, suspensions, and materials. This destination will achieve those improvements by:

• Enabler 10: Developing and introduce to the market electro-mechanical braking system and pantograph while targeting energy savings on the involved subsystems and reduce associated maintenance costs at TRL7/9 in 2028 and prepare for later evolutions.
• Enabler 11: Introducing optimised motors and gearboxes, high performance bogies, suspensions and new materials following circular economy principles at TRL7 in 2028.
• Enabler 12: Delivering alternative technologies to replace hydrofluorocarbon refrigerants by HVAC system using green refrigerants or new cooling technologies with reduced energy consumption at TRL7 in 2028.
• Enabler 13: Introducing enhanced experimental and numerical methods at TRL6/7 on aerodynamic certifications in 2028.

Healthier and safer rail system

The demonstration of novel systems and technologies to include enhancing the air quality by air purification and air distribution while addressing the thermal comfort and air quality (virus, bacteria, volatile organic compounds and fine particles) to guarantee a platform independent approach by:

• Enabler 14: Specific sub-demonstrators to be set-up, each of them contributing to the overall goal of the demonstration of a healthier environment in the rail vehicle, for both new designs of future trains and refurbishment of existing trains at TRL7/9 in 2028.

Attractiveness

This destination is expected to develop rolling stock interiors designed by modularity, plug and play fixation systems by innovative low-tech, circular design and comfort aspects, as well as to develop new architectures for driver’s cabin to reach TRL7/8 in 2028. Within this Destination, the demonstrations will be supported on:

• Enabler 15: The facilitation of on-demand/modular comfort for users such as access, lighting, thermal and acoustic conditions as well as with new architectures to increase passenger capacity at TRL8 in 2028.
• Enabler 16: The facilitation to adapt rolling stock with refurbishment and innovative concepts to support the increase of capacity of the rolling stock, including accessibility to PRM at TRL7/8 in 2028 and prepare for later evolutions.

Developments on all those 16 enablers (+1 optional) should also cover important preparatory works with higher TRL for the future set of demonstration foreseen in the Multi- annual Work programme in view of the evolutions of the solutions.