Context
This Project is framed within the Horizon 2020 programme, the biggest EU research and innovation programme with nearly €80 billion of funding available over 7 years (2014 to 2020). Divided in three main branches: excellence science, Industrial leadership and social challenges, this project belongs to the smart, green and integrated transport section of the societal challenges. Approximately 7% of the budget of that section (€450 millions) is destined for the Shift2Rail Joint Undertaking.
Shift2Rail is a Joint Undertaking (JU) that putting together EC funding (from Horizon 2020) and from its main railway stakeholders, aims to find market-driven solutions by accelerating the integration of new and advanced technologies into innovative rail product solutions. Shift2Rail projects are divided into five Innovation Programmes (IP), each one addressing each of the main railway areas:
VITE project belongs to the Innovation Programme 2: Advanced traffic management and control systems, being one of its key challenges is to enhance the advanced traffic management and control systems without impacting the ERTMS core.
The projects in IP2 will be organised around 11 Technical Demonstrators (TDs), covering all the R&D areas indicated in the Shift2Rail Master Plan such as: Smart, fail-safe communications and positioning systems; Traffic Management Evolution etc.
VITE project contributes to TD 2.6 that looks to develop a new laboratory test framework, minimising on-site testing, even when systems comprise subcomponents of different suppliers.