With this Research and Innovation Action, the Europe’s Rail Joint Undertaking intends further extend the rail research and innovation “community” (cooperation/network/alliance) of scientific research entities (cooperation/network) that was initiated with the recent award of the EU-Rail project Academics4Rail (GA 101121842).

The expected outcome is also the realisation of 6-10 PhD positions, teaming up with the industry.

To apply under this Call topic, the related entities are requested to establish a Consortia with the aim to promote fruitful collaboration and share of knowledge on any topics in the area of works related to the EU-Rail Programme^[1]or relevant in the context of other European rail research and innovation activities. In doing so, exchanges should also be identified with the linked project.

In order to achieve the expected outcomes described above, proposals shall consist of the creation of at least 6 – 10 PhDs positions. It is expected that the PhD programmes stemming from this topic will have the possibility to interact with the Funding Members of the Europe’s Rail JU.

The PhD researchers are expected regularly to liaise with the Europe’s Rail JU and to present their research findings to the Europe’s Rail JU events and submit scientific papers to relevant conferences (e.g. TRA, WCRR, etc. but also non-rail related). This action may be requested to provide relevant inputs to the Europe’s Rail Scientific Steering Group and ERRAC. The Europe’s Rail Joint Undertaking expects to finance successful proposals from universities or similar high-level institutes covering each at least one PhD student in the following proposed areas or additional or different scientific areas to be proposed, always in relation to the EU-Rail Programme:

PhD Topic – Measures and mechanisms to support implementation of rail technical innovations supporting the decarbonisation of transport

Innovations in the transport domain.

Innovation will only contribute to the future of rail if they are implemented. Sometimes good R&I outputs encounter barriers that hinder their possibility to become innovations implemented into the market. Those barriers may be linked to market factors, standards, regulations, etc. The barriers may become greater when dealing with seamless integration with other modes of transport.

Proposals addressing this PhD topic should research and identify possible measures and mechanisms that would help the promotion of such innovations and overcome the identified barriers. Case studies may also be part of the work.

The work should take into account the CERRE^[2] Report: The Future of Rail: Regulation and Competition for an Innovative Industry.

PhD Topic - Change Making for Gender Equality in Rail

The main aim of this topic is to research on the gender gap in rail companies with the focus on how to improve the experience of women in rail, both as users of rail services and as members of the workforce.

Proposals addressing this PhD topic should contribute through research activities to one or more of the following (or similar) non exhaustive list (more than one PhD can be proposed on this topic addressing different subjects as well):

• Knowledge-based approach regarding the role of the women as rail passengers, understanding their travel behaviours and patterns and identifying potential specific needs.
• Effective practices and solutions that could attract more female workers across the different departments of rail companies as well as training plans/solutions for Human resources department regarding recruitment, training, spreading excellence, technical cooperation, and promotions of women.
• A study on the current challenges for women in rail, including literature review, data collection focusing on disaggregated data on women (both as workers and as passengers), and stakeholder mapping.

PhD Topic – Education and training in rail

Education and training are critical to ensuring a highly skilled and competent rail workforce. ERASMUS+ funded projects have provided valuable feedback on the current state of rail education and training and identified areas for improvement.

In the last two decades, the European rail sector has undergone major changes. European rail mobility is sustained by a skilled workforce, that daily delivers maintenance, operations, planning, and services. Nevertheless, major changes are affecting this workforce: on one hand, about 30% is expected to retire in the next decade; on the other hand, the major transformation process driven by research and innovation, with special reference to digitalisation and automation, requires bringing in suitable skills and competencies. Digitalisation is progressing rapidly and is leading to an increased demand for more ICT and broad technical skills, as well as for soft skills. Moreover, there is a growing need for skills related to modernisation of rail infrastructure, traffic management and rolling stock. In such a framework, a major challenge to face is the difficulty to recruit suitably educated people. The transformation related to digital and high-tech technologies creates mismatches between available and demanded skills, which results in enterprises reporting difficulties to find staff with the needed competencies.

The above-described changes represents also a challenge for the education and training in rail. On one side there is the need of providing potential rail staff with the needed skills, but on the other there is the necessity of educating people capable to provide such skills to (graduated) students, using suitable teaching and training methodologies. More important, such methodologies should become the same over all Europe in a near future.

Starting from the public outputs of the EU-funded project STAFFER^[3], proposals addressing this PhD topic should further developed relevant research subjects that would allow addressing the above challenge.

PhD Topic – Rail enabled urban logistics

Logistics City Hubs aiming at zero-emission freight transport at city level are a new concept. Transport currently accounts for about a third of all climate emissions in Europe. Without significant measures, transport will be the largest source of climate gas emissions by 2030. It is expected that passenger and freight transport will grow by more than 40% and 60%, respectively by 2050^[4] , connects urban systems in an integrated approach and addresses both goods and passenger transport. The aim is to improve efficiency, capacity utilisation of existing vehicles and transport related infrastructure, accessibility, and innovation capacity in urban transport.

These Logistic City Hubs should integrate with freight rail and future rail freight multimodal terminals that could interchange with any local last mile clean mean of transport (electric delivery vans, electric motorbikes, cargo-bikes, even local mass transit bus, etc. ). This topic should look at freight rail and how can freight rail multimodal terminals and rail freight traffic integrate in smart cities and implement efficient and cost-effective integration with sustainable last mile solutions.

Proposals addressing this PhD topic should contribute through the following or similar research activities :

• Conduct a comprehensive study analysing ongoing initiatives that European cities are already initiating, (for example Amsterdam Logistics City hub ) and how /what are the condition for rail services to fit into those. This study should not only look into infrastructure needs but also new production rail freight models. Expected rail freight traffic and routes within the city should comply with all environmental (noise, etc) and timetable (operations that are compatible with passenger trains ) requirements.
• Look into different case scenario, with a short / medium- and long-term look taking appropriate consideration of the technological evolution in the rail sector (see S2R IMPACT-2 D7.2 Use-Cases for advanced Freight operation ^[5]and FR8HUB Rail Freight Technologies evolution D1.2_Migration_Plan.pdf^[6]).
• Lay out the conditions and recommendations for such services to be successfully deployed, making the necessary investigation on the regulatory and business model side.

PhD Topic – Fast Night Train Operations

Night trains are an important mode of transportation for passengers traveling long distances overnight. These services will help balancing CO2 footprint offering other alternative that delivers better environmental profile. The main issue is still the long travel times which raise a growing demand for faster night trains, which can reduce travel times and improve the overall passenger experience. To achieve this, there is a need to address several technical, operational, and market-related challenges.

Proposals addressing this PhD topic should contribute through research activities to one or more of the following (or similar) non exhaustive list:

• Feasibility study: Conduct a comprehensive study to determine the feasibility of fast and high-speed night trains in Europe, including technical, financial, and logistical considerations.
• Market analysis: Analyse the potential market for high-speed night trains in Europe, based on the experience of established high-speed rail networks, including customer preferences, demand, and potential revenue streams.
• Route analysis: Identify the most viable routes for high-speed night trains in Europe, based on international travel available statistics, taking into account factors such as distance, connectivity, and existing infrastructure.
• Fleet assessment: Evaluate the existing fleet of trains and assess their suitability for use as high-speed night trains, including modifications and upgrades needed to meet the required services and performance.

Other and different PhD subjects can be proposed by the applicants.

Research results are expected to contribute to the Europe’s Rail Programme and explore new possibilities and ideas. At the same time, the PhD researchers who are part of the Europe’s Rail JU activities, are expected to become European ambassadors of the possible bright and innovative future that the rail sector has in the years to come.

Interactions with other EU-RAIL projects and EU-Missions:

The action to be funded under this topic shall interact with Academics4Rail (GA 101121842) in order to exchange within the community of scientific research and to growth the PhD subjects and interaction with industrial partners.

[1] https://rail-research.europa.eu/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/EURAIL_MAWP_final.pdf

[2] htps://cerre.eu/publications/future-rail-regulation-competition-innovative-industry/

[3] https://www.railstaffer.eu/

[4] H2020 funded MOVE21 project https://move21.eu/

[5] https://projects.shift2rail.org/download.aspx?id=48cdc377-e4cd-485a-b32f-dea77f354a31

[6] https://projects.shift2rail.org/download.aspx?id=cdef064b-9b51-47e9-a55c-fae90ccd76dd