UNIFE: EU Investments for Innovation in Rail Transport By Tommaso Spanevello, Public Affairs Manager, UNIFE innovation is absolutely essential for Europe’s rail supply industry to maintain its technological leadership.
Tommaso Spanevello-UNIFE Public Affairs Manager
Research and innovation (“R&I”) represent a vital area of activity that is widely recognised as a strategic priority for the European rail supply industry, which employs approximately 400,000 people all over Europe. According to data compiled by the OECD, our industry currently invests around 2.7% of its annual turnover in R&I activities. With international competition getting ever fiercer, and suppliers in other parts of the world catching up fast, staying at the forefront of research and
R&I and innovative technologies have contributed to the continuing growth of the rail passenger market in Europe (including light rail, tram and metro lines). As the association representing Europe’s rail supply industry, UNIFE made a major contribution to the ‘Rail 2050 Vision’, which was published in 2017 by ERRAC1 – the European Rail Research Advisory Council. This publication stresses that, in order to fully realise the opportunities offered by new technologies, the level of EU and national investment in rail-related R&I activities must be increased. Accordingly, the total amount of funding (from both public and private sources) required for railrelated R&I investments in Europe over the next thirty years could be greater than 250 billion euros. UNIFE is convinced that railrelated research and technological progress, led by the rail supply industry, would offer the possibility to transform the sector dramatically. Moreover, as ERRAC points out, the future of the rail sector depends to a great extent 26
Driverless metro train on Line 1, Paris