The rail freight sector is facing a multitude of challenges such as lack of network capacity and productivity. Manual processes still entail worker’s safety risks. Rail must adopt the emerging digital technologies to meet the customer needs. FP5-TRANS4M-R brings together 71 partners from end-users, large industry, railway undertakings – operators and wagon keepers, SMEs, academia and research, delivering on the rail freight sector’s commitment to increase of the modal split share to 50% by 2030 revoking the causality between economic growth in Europe and pollution as well as congestions, positively impacting Europe’s citizens quality of life. FP5-TRANS4M-R’s overall goal is to establish rail freight as backbone of the lowest emission and most resilient logistics chain in Europe fulfilling the end customer requirements to their full satisfaction. Two technology clusters “Full Digital Freight Train Operation (FDFTO)” and “Seamless Freight Operation” will develop, validate and demonstrate the FP5-TRANS4M-R technologies following an integrated systemic approach across the sector, in a competitive manner - as only then the expected automation benefits can be fully realised. Integrating DAC-enabled solutions at non- arguable interoperability with software defined systems and digital rail services will lead to increased capacity, higher throughput and shorter transportation duration. It will strengthen the cross-border coordination and cooperation between rail infrastructure managers and finally deliver optimised overall management of the rail network. FP5-TRANS4M-R's credo is: seamless, integrated, interoperable, validated and EU-wide authorised solutions, to achieve a single EU rail freight technology framework with strictly managed interfaces for an effective system integration and seamless operation across countries, actors and modes. These objectives set the foundation, frame, and ambition for the project with an impact on the overall transport and logistics sector in EU.

FP5-DACtiVate project brings together 21 European partners from end-users, large industry, railway undertakings – operators and wagon keepers, unions, SMEs, and research, thus, covering the entire value chain. The FP5-DACtiVate project is set to advance the full digitalization of freight train operations in Europe, building on prior initiatives such as S2R's IP5, the EDDP, and EURail’s FP5-TRANS4M-R. The project aims to enable the pre-deployment of pilot trains with Digital Automatic Coupling (DAC) by executing required additional tests to the complementary project FP5-TRANS4M-R, thus establishing confidence before full implementation, while enabling DAC-authorization processes. The project aims to test the interchangeability of DAC components,expand the number of Wagon Onboard Units in line with FP5-TRANS4M-R's system architecture, and enable thorough validation of the pre-deployment trains by additional locomotives able to integrate hybrid couplers. Collaboration with FP5-TRANS4M-R is vital to align with its functional specifications and technical architecture, ensuring the project's contribution is significant and supports the related DAC authorization process.