Ever since its creation, rail transport has left its mark on the different periods of contemporary history. It has often been the setting for major innovations, and it has provided increasingly fast and safe travel, both for people and goods. Nowadays, rail transport is facing new ecological, societal and digital challenges. Continued innovation requires contributions from a multiplicity of stakeholders within the railway system.

A constantly developing mode of transport

Although rail is seen as a mode of transport, it is also a powerful industry. However, the European rail industry’s global leadership is currently being challenged¹ by the emergence of major industrial players in Asia, in China particularly. The industry in Europe therefore faces several major challenges, namely, to halve life-cycle costs, double rail capacity (the number of trains running at the same time), significantly increase reliability and punctuality, while maintaining the same level of safety and reducing time to market.
To better respond to these competitive challenges, innovation is vital and must be addressed in all its complexity by involving all the stakeholders in the rail system and by mobilising a whole range of scientific disciplines and technical know-how. The autonomous train, breakthrough concepts such as Hyperloop² and Clip-Air³, are major innovations that will revolutionize the entire rail system.

A rich but complex rail system

Although rail is seen as a mode of transport, it is also a powerful industry. However, the European rail industry’s global leadership is currently being challenged  by the emergence of major industrial players in Asia, in China particularly. The industry in Europe therefore faces several major challenges, namely, to halve life-cycle costs, double rail capacity (the number of trains running at the same time), significantly increase reliability and punctuality, while maintaining the same level of safety and reducing time to market.

To better respond to these competitive challenges, innovation is vital and must be addressed in all its complexity by involving all the stakeholders in the rail system and by mobilising a whole range of scientific disciplines and technical know-how. The autonomous train, breakthrough concepts such as Hyperloop  and Clip-Air , are major innovations that will revolutionize the entire rail system.

An innovative research topic

The systems-based approach to the rail sector fosters exchanges between a number of organisations and universities. In the national context, the following should be mentioned:  Railenium IRT, of which IFSTTAR is a founding member, and IRT SystemX⁴. At the European level, the Shift2rail public-private partnership has been set up to manage and coordinate all research and innovation activities in the field of rail transport.

IFSTTAR's systems-based approach takes into account the complexity of territories guided transport, the major engineering and innovation topics that the Institute is involved in, and in which human involvement plays a central role.

Its research work is centred on the themes of infrastructure and engineering structures, geotechnical engineering, key components and systems (rail capacity, signalling, safety, communications, cybersecurity, maintenance, reliability, etc.) in order to meet the socio-economic, environmental and rail system development challenges.

To this end, IFSTTAR has a wide range of dedicated scientific facilities that enable it to conduct high-level research and expert appraisals.

¹ Source : https://shift2rail.org/about-shift2rail/

² Le transport à hyper grande vitesse sous vide (Hyperloop) by Cédric Villani (2018)

³ Clip-Air,modular aircraft for flexible transportation

⁴ «Intended to support an industrial strategy of conquering profitable markets, the Technological Research Institutes (IRTs) are based on long-term partnerships between higher education and research institutions and firms." The Railenium IRT is focused on rail infrastructure and the SystemX IRT on the digital engineering of future systems. 

The Shift2rail multi annual and annual scientific programme

Rail2050 published by the European Rail Research Advisory Council (ERRAC)