The European railway industry faces great challenges in need for increased network capacity. Ageing infrastructure assets require efficient and sustainable interventions to maintain and improve current levels of performance. To meet these demands and increase the operational performance of the railway infrastructure assets, innovation is needed to enable a step-change in reliability, availability, maintainability and safety (RAMS) and also to optimise asset capital and LCC. The IN2TRACK3 proposal addresses the topic of “Research into optimised and future railway Infrastructure” of the 2020 Horizon 2020 SHIFT2RIL call. The project is a continuation of IN2TRACK and IN2TRACK2 and aims to further develop and demonstrate research results and innovations developed. IN2TRACK3 will develop physical as well as digital technology and methodology demonstrators for the Track, Switches & Crossings and Bridge & Tunnel assets and the project is aligned to the SHIFT2RAIL overall aims. The project structure is designed around three technical sub-projects aiming at both improving the operational performance of existing infrastructure assets and providing radical new system solutions delivering a step-change in performance, improving methods and repair techniques, improve quality, reduce costs and extend the service life of assets and structures. The project is led by Trafikverket, the Swedish Transport Administration Agency, the consortium consists of 27 expert partners originating from 11 European countries and the partners involved are infrastructure managers, research partners, technology developers and industry partners. IN2TRACK3 will further develop and demonstrate a number of innovative solutions based upon the two previous projects and the work will build upon already ongoing mutually beneficial collaboration, established communication paths and a considerable amount of mutual trust built upon years of collaboration in international project environments.

The trend in navigational accidents no longer appears to decrease. In a Formal Safety Assessment (IMO NAV59-6, Annex 1) 5.544 navigational and 7.275 other accidents resulted in the loss of 6.264 lives (2001-2010). The coincide of EU policies on safer and more efficient waterborne operations and in particular the e-maritime initiative with IMO’s strategy for e-navigation opens a unique window of opportunity to influence the maritime sector and make substantial impact. Funding of EfficienSea 2 will enable the consortium to exploit this window of opportunity, supporting EU policies and marine traffic management through services to: 1. Improve navigational safety and efficiency 2. Improve Arctic navigation and emergency response 3. Decrease administrative burdens 4. Improve environmental monitoring & enforcement Lasting impact will be ensured by five enabling actions: 1. Development of the Maritime Cloud – a communication framework for both e-maritime and e-navigation - enabling efficient sharing of information between all maritime stakeholders 2. Maturing emerging communication technologies, improving ships connectivity 3. Proactive facilitation of standardisation to maximize adoption and impact 4. Showcasing solutions in two very different geographic areas. Web-based initial implementation of the services will be done in the Arctic and the Baltic 5. Ensure an ambitious upgrade of international maritime safety regimes through a strong participation in regulatory bodies including EU and IMO EfficienSea 2 has gathered a unique level of competence in a consortium of 32 partners from 10 countries representing authorities, academia, international organisations as well as equipment manufacturers combining all the right capacities for effectively achieving these ambitious objectives.

The overall objective of the project is to prepare for and provide support to the Transport Research Arena Conference (TRA) to be organised in 2020 in Helsinki, Finland. TRA is the European Transport Research conference which brings together representatives of transport stakeholders from all over Europe and beyond around research and innovation results and policy. The conference theme: "Enabling the transformation - transport and mobility (r)evolution for smart, green and integrated society" will be reflected in scoping keynote speech, sessions and demonstrations featuring the red thread of the TRA2020. To be successful, this foremost European transport event calls for seamless coordination and cooperation of various areas of expertise across borders to realise and implement the conference. Furthermore, numerous stakeholders have been invited to contribute to TRA2020 conference contents . In the host country, The Ministry of Transport and Communications and its administrative branch organisations aim to create a favourable operating environment for services and new business models in the transport. The active participation of the ministry in the promotion of The TRA2020 serves as an excellent platform to pursuit these aims. The proposal presents an action plan how to ensure the success of TRA 2020 as well as suggests an 'architecture' and organisation for future TRA conferences 2022 and beyond.

infra4Dfuture will develop a demand-driven overarching strategy and coordination mechanism for the modernization of transport infrastructure including a shared strategic vision on future infrastructure capabilities and common pathways for innovation development and implementation. Facing a variety of emerging challenges, such as climate change, resilience, ageing infrastructure, maintenance, digitalisation, automation, energy and electrification, the National Transport Infrastructure Authorities (NTIA) have urgent requirements for infrastructure innovation. In view of the long cycle times in infrastructure management and the rapid mounting pressure from these challenges, there is a need for fast delivery of ready-to-implement, cost-effective innovative solutions matching the requirements of the NTIA that jointly build the TEN-T network. The infra4Dfuture consortium encompasses 20 partners from 17 countries, 19 of them being NTIA, joining forces to develop: • a strategic coordination mechanism aiming to deliver a concerted cooperation and collaboration across a portfolio of relevant European and national innovation programmes and initiatives; • a shared strategic vision on future infrastructure capabilities, each capability encompassing a series of innovation focus areas for innovation. infra4Dfuture is based on a sound and coherent consultation and dialogue process with relevant stakeholders. This process will be structured in a sequence of strategic, decision-making conferences and a supporting, tactical sequence of expert workshops and regional events. These will culminate in the founding of the infra4Dfuture Stakeholder Platform for Infrastructure Innovation and Implementation (ISPIII) at the TRA 2020. ISPIII will ensure a continuance of the coordination mechanism and shared vision beyond the duration of the action. Follow-up ISPIII events will take place at the consecutive biannual TRA conferences.

Research into Enhanced Track, Switches and Structure The railway of the future needs to meet the predicted growth in societal demand in terms of capacity and service, address the environmental challenges of the 21st century, and enable the political objectives of the European Union. IN2TRACK is to set the foundations for a resilient, consistent, cost-efficient, high capacity European network by delivering important building blocks that unlock the innovation potential that have been identified as part of the Shift2Rail Innovation Programme 3. Overall objectives of IN2TRACK are divided into three parts; Enhancing and optimising the switch & crossings and track systems in order to ensure the optimal line usage and capacity; Investigating novel ways of extending the life of bridges and tunnel assets through new approaches to maintaining, repairing and upgrading these structures; Development and adoption of a holistic, whole system-approach. A whole-system approach ,which is defined as the system boundaries extending from dynamic wheel-rail interaction (loading input) through to degradation of the S&C system, sub-systems, individual components, and underlying track foundation, will also be at the heart of IN2TRACK on how to reach the objectives. This IN2TRACK proposal addresses each of the areas identified in the H2020-S2RJU-2016-01 call. IN2TRACK is fully aligned with Shift2Rail IP3 in its objectives, approach, and ambition; addressing early enhancements and innovation opportunities.