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.

Efforts to reduce CO2 emissions require innovative and technologically viable solutions to be developed. Technology holds the greatest potential to help society address the challenges of designing energy efficient concepts at affordable prices. Among the wide envelope of factors, one core characteristic relevant to this proposal is the occurrence of multiphase flows, which are ubiquitous in nature and industry. For example, hydraulic turbomachines, ship propeller systems, and e-fuel injectors are compromised by the occurrence of catastrophic cavitation. In the field of power generation, boiling heat transfer is the predominant energy conversion method. Multiphase flows for immiscible fluids seem to hold the key to the efficient design of emerging electrification technologies of the transport sector, such as battery thermal management systems and Proton Exchange Membrane fuel cells for innovative aviation propulsion systems, as well as in the design of energy efficient marine vessels. Optimisation methods for designing efficient systems are largely missing from the relevant technological sectors. MFLOPS aspires to develop coupled multiphase flow and optimisation methods, including adjoint methods, and apply them to cases specified by MFLOPS’s non-academic beneficiaries and partners. This coupling of research with industry makes MFLOPS a truly innovative network for Doctoral researchers to start their career. A holistic training is provided by scientists and industry leaders to facilitate the accomplishment of the scientific tasks and to apply them to industrial practice. Additional networking, transferable skills and rigorous scientific training on the relevant topics make MFLOPS a well-connected cohort of future leaders with the ability to communicate across disciplines, aiming to support European industries, while been heavily involved in the public mandate for global CO2 reduction.

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.