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European rail research network of excellence (EUR²EX)

Fact Sheet

Result in Brief

Reporting

Results

Objective

The strategic objectives of the European Rail Research Network of Excellence (EUR²EX) are: 1.To integrate the fragmented European Rail Research landscape by networking together the critical mass of resources and expertise to provide European leadership and be a world class player, 2.To promote the railway contribution to sustainable transport policy, 3.To improve the competitiveness and economic stability of the railway sector and industry by:creating a durable integrated network of excellence in rail resea rch, technology innovation and knowledge management from the research capacities of universities and institutions, implementing knowledge from rail operators, rail industry incl. SME, with priority given to engineering interfaces and methods for product qu alification in line with ERRAC's SRRA.EUR²EX will have as its foundation six regional/supra regional networks with 67 members and some 670 researchers. Each region has nominated a representative who will be a formal participant for the purpose of the EC co ntract and lean management structure. EUR²EX will encourage new networks to be formed where justified incl. a CEEC network.The members of the regional networks will provide the researchers and research projects that will be integrated and form the research base for new joint projects. UIC, UNIFE and UITP will be EUR²EX participants. They will not provide researchers for integration but their involvement and support are crucial to the success of EUR²EX.EUR²EX will have close links with selected companies tha t have specific knowledge but who may not be able to commit themselves to formal integration. These companies have been identified as associate members.The process of integration of excellence takes place on the basis of a JPA with integrating activities, jointly executed research while sharing research platforms, facilities and activities for spreading excellence to be transferred into a durable integration based on a profound business case.'

Programme(s)

FP6-SUSTDEV - Sustainable Development, Global Change and Ecosystems: thematic priority 6 under the Focusing and Integrating Community Research programme 2002-2006.

Topic(s)

SUSTDEV-2.1 - Developing environmentally friendly and competitive transport systems and means of transport

SUSTDEV-2.2 - Making rail and maritime transport safer, more effective and more competitive

Call for proposal

FP6-2002-TRANSPORT-1

See other projects for this call

Funding Scheme

NoE - Network of Excellence

Coordinator

TSB INNOVATIONSAGENTUR BERLIN GMBH/FORSCHUNGS- UND ANWENDUNGSVERBUND VERKEHRSSYSTEMTECHNIK BERLIN

Address

FasanenstraSSE 85
Berlin

Germany

Administrative Contact

Wolfgang H. STEINICKE (Mr)

Participants (69)

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UNIVERSITY OF BIRMINGHAM

United Kingdom

INSTITUT NATIONAL DE RECHERCHE SUR LES TRANSPORTS ET LEUR SECURITE

France

INSTITUTO SUPERIOR TECNICO

Portugal

TFK-INSTITUTET FOER TRANSPORTFORSKNING

Sweden

CONSORZIO NAZIONALE INTERUNIVERSITARIO PER I TRASPORTI E LA LOGISTICA

Italy

UNION DES INDUSTRIES FERROVIAIRES EUROPEENNES

Belgium

UNION INTERNATIONALE DES CHEMINS DE FER - UIC

France

UNION INTERNATIONALE DES TRANSPORTS PUBLICS - UITP

Belgium

BRANDENBURGISCHE TECHNISCHE UNIVERSITAT COTTBUS

Germany

FRAUNHOFER-GESELLSCHAFT ZUR FOERDERUNG DER ANGEWANDTEN FORSCHUNG E.V.

Germany

RHEINISCH-WESTFAELISCHE TECHNISCHE HOCHSCHULE AACHEN

Germany

TECHNISCHE UNIVERSITAET BERLIN

Germany

TECHNISCHE UNIVERSITAET CAROLO-WILHELMINA ZU BRAUNSCHWEIG

Germany

IAS - INSTITUT FUER ARBEITS- UND SOZIALHYGIENE STIFTUNG

Germany

DEUTSCHES ZENTRUM FUER LUFT UND RAUMFAHRT E.V.

Germany

TECHNISCHE UNIVERSITAET MUENCHEN

Germany

UNIVERSITAET KARLSRUHE (TECHNISCHE HOCHSCHULE)

Germany

RTA RAIL TEC ARSENAL FAHRZEUGVERSUCHSANLAGE GMBH

Austria

TECHNISCHE UNIVERSITAET GRAZ

Austria

TECHNISCHE UNIVERSITAET WIEN

Austria

CESKE VYSOKE UCENI TECHNIKE V PRAZE

Czechia

VYZKUMNEHO USTAVU ZELEZNICNIHO PRAHA

Czechia

MOSCOW STATE UNIVERSITY OF RAILWAY ENGINEERING

Russia

CENTRUM NAUKOWO - TECHNICZNE KOLEJNICTWA

Poland

BUDAPESTI MUSZAKI ES GAZDASAGTUDOMANYI EGYETEM

Hungary

ZILINSKA UNIVERZITA

Slovakia

POLITECHNIKA SLASKA

Poland

UNIVERZITE PARDUBICE

Czechia

UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHAMPTON

United Kingdom

UNIVERSITY OF LEEDS

United Kingdom

THE UNIVERSITY OF NOTTINGHAM

United Kingdom

THE MANCHESTER METROPOLITAN UNIVERSITY

United Kingdom

LOUGHBOROUGH UNIVERSITY

United Kingdom

IMPERIAL COLLEGE OF SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY AND MEDICINE

United Kingdom

TECHNISCHE UNIVERSITEIT DELFT

Netherlands

UNIVERSITE DES SCIENCES ET TECHNOLOGIES DE LILLE

France

UNIVERSITE DE TECHNOLOGIE DE COMPIEGNE

France

UNIVERSITE DE TECHNOLOGIE DE BELFORT-MONTBELIARD

France

ECOLE CENTRALE DE LILLE

France

INSTITUT NATIONAL POLYTECHNIQUE DE GRENOBLE

France

UNIVERSITE DE VALENCIENNES ET DU HAINAUT-CAMBRESIS

France

MULTITEL ASBL

Belgium

CENTRE FOR RESEARCH AND TECHNOLOGY HELLAS

Greece

INSTITUTO DE ENGENHARIA MECANICA

Portugal

UNIVERSIDAD POLITECNICA DE MADRID

Spain

UNIVERSIDAD POLITECNICA DE CATALUNYA

Spain

CENTER D INNOVACIO DEL TRANSPORT

Spain

TECNOLOGIA INVESTIGACION FERROVIARIA SA

Spain

UNIVERSIDAD DEL PAIS VASCO/EUSKAL HERRIKO UNIBERTSITATEA

Spain

CHALMERS TEKNISKA HOGSKOLA AB

Sweden

ANSERI-KONSULTIT OY

Finland

LINKOEPINGS UNIVERSITET

Sweden

KUNGLIGA TEKNISKA HOEGSKOLAN

Sweden

DANMARKS TRANSPORTFORSKNING

Denmark

STATENS VAG- OCH TRANSPORTFORSKNINGSINSTITUTET

Sweden

UPPSALA UNIVERSITET

Sweden

LULEA TEKNISKA UNIVERSITET

Sweden

VTT VALTION TEKNILLINEN TUTKIMUSKESKUS

Finland

UNIVERSITA DEGLI STUDI DI ROMA "LA SAPIENZA"

Italy

POLITECNICO DI MILANO

Italy

UNIVERSITA DI CATANIA

Italy

CENTRO INTERUNIVERSITARIO DI RICERCA TRASPORTI

Italy

CENTRO INTERUNIVERSITARIO DI RICERCA PER LO SVILUPPO SOSTENIBILE

Italy

RIGA TECHNICAL UNIVERSITY

Latvia

VILNIUS GEDIMINAS TECHNICAL UNIVERSITY

Lithuania

KAUNAS UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY

Lithuania

UNIVERSITY OF SALZBURG

Austria

CENTRO DE ESTUDIOS E INVESTIGACIONES TECNICAS DE GUIPUZCOA

Spain

UNIVERSITÉ CATHOLIQUE DE LOUVAIN

Belgium

Project information

EURNEX

Grant agreement ID: 506513

Start date

1 January 2004
End date

31 March 2008

Funded under:

FP6-SUSTDEV

Overall budget:

€ 6 000 000
EU contribution

€ 6 000 000

Coordinated by:

TSB INNOVATIONSAGENTUR BERLIN GMBH/FORSCHUNGS- UND ANWENDUNGSVERBUND VERKEHRSSYSTEMTECHNIK BERLIN

Germany

DE EN ES FR IT PL

On track for excellence in rail research

A rail transport–focused initiative has established a Network of Excellence integrating expert research competencies. The project’s successes stand to benefit Europe’s transport sector by contributing to a more sustainable, world-class railway industry.

ENVIRONMENT

The 'European rail research network of excellence' (Eurnex) project focused on ways to integrate Europe’s currently fragmented rail research landscape as part of efforts to leverage regional expertise and boost international standing. The project’s strategic objectives aimed to bring together the critical mass of resources under a comprehensive network and promote the potential of rail to contribute to sustainable transport policy. Eurnex also aimed to improve the railway sector and industry’s competitiveness and economic stability through the creation of a durable integrated Network of Excellence (NoE) in rail research, technology innovation and knowledge management. This was to be supported by academic and other institutions’ research capacities, implementing knowledge from the industry itself, operators and small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Furthermore, the Eurnex mission sought to help EU members realise the goal of a cross-continental interoperable and competitive rail system, thus contributing to major EU industrial and traffic policy aims. Project members emphasised that customer orientation is key to the study’s long-term success and development of a sustainable business case. At the core of this approach was being able to build trusting relations between network researchers and the rail sector calling on the NoE for scientific services. Eurnex’s success in integrating excellent European rail researchers continues to be recognised through top rail research being conducted at an international level. Further supporting this was the launch and further development of the project’s Scientific Poles of Excellence that match the rail sector–driven top-down and scientist-based bottom-up processes. This is evidenced, among others, by the establishment of new and trusting partnerships with colleagues in other countries, advances in knowledge regarding specific challenges and issues predicted to emerge in the future in other rail systems, and European research and development (R&D) projects within the poles, as well as with cross-pole multidisciplinary cooperation. Other project outcomes include the defining and further development of a set of decentralised corporate services dedicated to providing added value to Eurnex members and the European rail sector in general. These services include Eurnex EURail, the virtual rail university which aims at the provision of postgraduate training and short training courses, a rail knowledge library, and activities promoting gender equality to enable women to attain leading positions in rail research. The EU-funded project organised its contribution and the integration of Eurnex expert know-how into future actions of the European Rail Research Advisory Council (ERRAC) and is ready to support the European research roadmaps and offer its competencies as a research advisor.

Project information

EURNEX

Grant agreement ID: 506513

Start date

1 January 2004
End date

31 March 2008

Funded under:

FP6-SUSTDEV

Overall budget:

€ 6 000 000
EU contribution

€ 6 000 000

Coordinated by:

TSB INNOVATIONSAGENTUR BERLIN GMBH/FORSCHUNGS- UND ANWENDUNGSVERBUND VERKEHRSSYSTEMTECHNIK BERLIN

Final Report Summary - EURNEX (European rail research network of excellence)

The mission of the EURNEX was to create an excellent European network of rail research institutes as world class player that shall support the railway sector and assist the members of the European Union (EU) to operate an interoperable and competitive rail system across the continent. EURNEX was therefore dedicated to contribute to major industrial and traffic policy aims of the EU. The main objectives of EURNEX were:
- to integrate the fragmented European rail research landscape to provide European leadership and world class excellence in that sector;
- to promote the railway contribution to the sustainable transport policy in Europe;
- to improve the competitiveness and the economic stability of the railway sector by creating a customer oriented and durable network; promoting technological innovations and knowledge management; implementing knowledge not only from scientific institutes but also from rail operators, infrastructure managers, supply industry including SME's; focussing on the priorities given by ERRAC's Strategic Rail Research Agenda 2020 (SRRA), but prepared to cover new critical items which might come up in the future.

The customer-orientation of EURNEX is the essential key factor for its long-term durability beyond the EU granting period. The sustainable business case to be developed has to build on the trusting relation between the researchers organised in the network and the rail sector demanding for scientific services.

With EURNEX, the integration of the excellent European rail researchers has been achieved and EURNEX becomes more and more visible in the top rail research on international level. This includes as well the launch and the further development of EURNEX Scientific Poles of Excellence. With the poles - thoroughly defined by matching of rail sector driven top-down and scientists based bottom-up process - the involved and committed EURNEX scientists profit by:
- internationalisation through establishing new and trusting partnerships with colleagues from other countries, thus complementing the own capabilities to improve the 'individual scientific competitiveness';
- improving the knowledge about the specific challenges and future issues of the rail system in other countries; important contribution to enhance the understanding of the European dimension for the future rail system;
- learning more and discussing about the future issues and the project approaches to cope with these challenges through the direct dialogue with industry's and operator's representatives in the poles;
- initiating and developing research and development (R&D) projects on European scale within in the poles and with cross-pole multidisciplinary cooperation (already done with Seventh Framework Programme (FP7) first call, for instant).

Under the EURNEX umbrella, a set of decentralised corporate services have been defined and further developed. These corporate services are dedicated to provide added value to the members of EURNEX, but also for the European rail sector as a whole. The corporate services are important to improve the position, standing and integrated competence of the EURNEX scientific community to be world class player as well as being visible to the industrial and political decision makers by integrating the European research area for the rail system. Therefore, the specified corporate services:
- EURNEX EURail, the virtual rail university - first step: post graduate training, incl. short training courses;
- rail knowledge library within the EURNEX KMS (knowledge management system) to preserve and to improve the integrated knowledge on the rail system for all stakeholders;
- neutral support for harmonised product qualification methods, railway testing and simulation; i.e. to support the European Rail Agency (ERA);
- gender equality promoting activities to skill women for leading positions in rail research; launch of the mentor-trainee programme;
- EURNEX management, business and acquisition support by secretary general; definition, precision and prioritisation of service items by the network members represent an essential part of EURNEX' sustainability.

Added value is the key ingredient for EURNEX because EURNEX is a network of voluntary members, providing services to its partners in industry and governing / regulating agencies. The existence of EURNEX is not critical for the (short-term) survival of any of its members of partners. EURNEX will only be sustainable if it is providing value added to its members and to its partners.

The part of the research institutions is to make sure those customers funds to the association are better spent than until now:
- by increasing the knowledge basis available to them; and
- the level of quality of the results and of the efficiency of the research process, which is made possible by the structured coalition of the excellent institutions;
- by high level education;
- by new relationship with partners form rail industries, operators and infrastructure manages;
- individual contact locally to integrated European knowledge.
EURNEX role is to state this clearly as the first principle of the business model as an instrument to persuade industry clients that EURNEX can deliver improved results and higher efficiency when acting as a stable network.

EURNEX did organise its contribution and the integration of EURNEX expert know how into the European Rail Research Advisory Council (ERRAC) future actions and is ready to foster ERRAC's scientific research base. Having succeeded in the integration of excellent rail research institutions throughout the EU-27, EURNEX and its pole leaders and members are ready to support the European research roadmaps. It was and still is the European Commission's strong desire to overcome fragmented approaches in the rail research. With EURNEX and its members organised in the association and constituting an integrated ERA, ERRAC is kindly requested to take the opportunity offered by EURNEX members and foster its competencies as a research advisor.

Project information

EURNEX

Grant agreement ID: 506513

Start date

1 January 2004
End date

31 March 2008

Funded under:

FP6-SUSTDEV

Overall budget:

€ 6 000 000
EU contribution

€ 6 000 000

Coordinated by:

TSB INNOVATIONSAGENTUR BERLIN GMBH/FORSCHUNGS- UND ANWENDUNGSVERBUND VERKEHRSSYSTEMTECHNIK BERLIN

Deliverables

Deliverables not available

Publications

Publications not available

Exploitable Results

Added value services for European rail network

Eurnex has been founded as an association in line with German law at the TSB-FAV premises in Berlin. As a consequence the objective of creating a durable, integrated network of excellence in rail research, technology innovation and knowledge management has been attained, and the Eurnex Network of Excellence comprises some 70 scientific institutes in the area of transport with particular expertise in rail research all over Europe. As direct docking points to the research customers, the international associations UIC, UNIFE and UITP are also members of Eurnex and integrated in the Advisory Board. With Eurnex, the integration of the excellent European rail researchers has been achieved and Eurnex becomes more and more visible in the top rail research on international level. This includes as well the launch and the further development of Eurnex Scientific Poles of Excellence, which provide the involved and committed Eurnex scientists with a number of opportunities: - internationalisation through establishing new and trusting partnerships with colleagues from other countries, thus complementing the own capabilities to improve the "individual scientific competitiveness"; -improving the knowledge about the specific challenges and future issues of the rail system in other countries (an important contribution to enhance the understanding of the European dimension for the future rail system); - learning more and discussing about the future issues and the project approaches to cope with these challenges through the direct dialogue with industry's and operator's representatives in the Poles; - initiating and developing R&D projects on European scale within in the Poles and with cross-pole multidisciplinary cooperation. Under the Eurnex umbrella a set of decentralised corporate services have been defined and further developed: - Eurnex EURail, the virtual rail university (first step: post graduate training, incl. short training courses); - rail knowledge library within the Eurnex KMS (knowledge management system) to preserve and to improve the integrated knowledge on the rail system for all stakeholders; - neutral support for harmonised product qualification methods, railway testing and simulation; i.e. to support the European Rail Agency (ERA); - gender equality promoting activities to skill women for leading positions in rail research, and launch of the mentor-trainee programme; - Eurnex management, business and acquisition support by secretary general, and definition, precision and prioritisation of service items by the network members. These corporate services are dedicated to provide added value to the members of Eurnex, but also for the European rail sector as a whole. The corporate services are important to improve the position, standing and integrated competence of the Eurnex scientific community to be world class player as well as being visible to the industrial and political decision makers by integrating the European research area for the rail system. Eurnex can contribute to improve the competitiveness and economic stability of the railway sector and industry, as well as promoting the railway contribution to a sustainable transport policy.

Project information

EURNEX

Grant agreement ID: 506513

Start date

1 January 2004
End date

31 March 2008

Funded under:

FP6-SUSTDEV

Overall budget:

€ 6 000 000
EU contribution

€ 6 000 000

Coordinated by:

TSB INNOVATIONSAGENTUR BERLIN GMBH/FORSCHUNGS- UND ANWENDUNGSVERBUND VERKEHRSSYSTEMTECHNIK BERLIN

Project information

EURNEX

Grant agreement ID: 506513

Start date

1 January 2004
End date

31 March 2008

Funded under:

FP6-SUSTDEV

Overall budget:

€ 6 000 000
EU contribution

€ 6 000 000

Coordinated by:

TSB INNOVATIONSAGENTUR BERLIN GMBH/FORSCHUNGS- UND ANWENDUNGSVERBUND VERKEHRSSYSTEMTECHNIK BERLIN

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Last update: 4 January 2010

Record number: 73953

CORDIS

Objective

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Participants (69)

Project information

On track for excellence in rail research

Project information

Final Report Summary - EURNEX (European rail research network of excellence)

Project information

Deliverables

Publications

Exploitable Results

Project information

Project information

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