Project description
Railways on track for climate resilience
Europe’s railway network is vast and vital, carrying billions of passengers and tonnes of goods every year. But ageing infrastructure and worsening climate change are testing its limits. Extreme weather disrupts services and threatens safety – mainly because current monitoring of wheel-rail contact conditions falls short of predicting or preventing failures. Supported by the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions programme, the TwinsRail project is combining real-time onboard monitoring, AI-driven models, and digital twin technology. It aims to create a smart, dynamic system that continuously assesses rail conditions. This innovation promises safer, greener, and more reliable rail travel while cutting maintenance costs. TwinsRail offers a blueprint for climate-resilient railways worldwide.
Objective
Railway networks in Europe are one of the world's most developed and dense rail transport networks, spanning over 201,000 kilometers. However, as European railway infrastructure ages and the impacts of climate change become more pronounced, the challenges associated with the operations and maintenance of the infrastructure are increasing, for example, recent reports have highlighted delays and service disruptions on the rail network caused by extreme weather events such as heavy rain, snow, and heatwave. The root of these challenges lies in the monitoring and maintenance of the wheel-rail contact conditions.
TwinsRail will revolutionize the rail infrastructure operation and maintenance for climate change adaptation by uniquely integrating state-of-the-art developments in on-board & real-time monitoring solutions, advanced surrogate modelling, physics-informed AI models, and cutting-edge digital twin technologies. The Experienced Researcher (ER), Dr Ruihua Liang, will utilise his unique background in railway dynamics surrogate modelling, in combination of railway-domain expertise with experienced supervisors, to develop a digital twin framework to achieve real-time assessment of wheel-rail contact conditions (including rail adhesion, rail roughness, etc.), enhance safe, stable, comfortable, resource-efficient, and low-carbon transport for over 10 billion passengers and 400 billion tons of goods annually in the EU.
TwinsRail substantially offers a reliable solution to minimize operational failures and reduce manual inspection costs for dense rail transport networks. Furthermore, the action will serve as a scalable model for global adoption, driving innovation in the operation, management, and maintenance of infrastructure, while contributing to global efforts in climate change adaptation. Ultimately, the ER will gain unique multi-disciplinary core competencies to create actionable climate solutions and make a positive impact to the railway industry globally.
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Keywords
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Programme(s)
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
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HORIZON.1.2 - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA)
MAIN PROGRAMME
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Topic(s)
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Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Funding Scheme
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Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
HORIZON-TMA-MSCA-PF-EF - HORIZON TMA MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
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Call for proposal
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Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
(opens in new window) HORIZON-MSCA-2024-PF-01
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B15 2TT Birmingham
United Kingdom
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