Page 3 - Research and innovation In advanced materials with application to the railway sector

I. INTRODUCTION

The great challenges and future objectives of the European railway industry will be
reflected in the vision defined by Europe's Rail Joint Undertaking (the Shift2rail successor
programme), promoted by the sector itself, together with the European Commission in
order to boost R+D+I in the railway sector within the Horizon Europe Research Framework
Program for the period 2021-2027. This mission is summarized in the introduction of better
trains on the market (quieter, more comfortable, more reliable, etc.), which operate on a
reliable and innovative infrastructure, at a lower life cycle cost and with a greater capacity
to face the growing demands for passenger and freight mobility.

In this context of research and innovation, it is indisputable that new developments in the
field of materials have played, play and will play a fundamental role. This document aims to
summarize the situation and perspectives around research and innovation activities in the
field of materials with application to the railway sector.

This document arises thanks to the collaboration between the Spanish Railways
Technological Platform (PTFE) and the Spanish Advanced Materials and Nanomaterials
Technological Platform (MATERPLAT), following the collaboration guidelines between the
agents of the R+D+I system promoted by the State Research Agency, AEI, of the Ministry of
Science and Innovation. It is a result of the permanent detection of disruptive developments
and technologies applied to railways in the field of materials, whose presentation took place
in the Conference "Research and innovation in advanced materials with application to the
railway sector" held on October 28, 2020 and organized by both platforms. This is not an
unprecedented initiative, since both platforms have a long history of collaboration. In 2020,
the second edition of the document "Advanced materials for the railway sector" was
published as well, as a tool for companies seeking alternatives and new solutions to learn
about new materials and innovative solutions.

This is the context in which this "Position Paper: Research and innovation in advanced
materials with application to the railway sector" is framed, which aims to gather the pulse
of innovation by reviewing, renewing and updating the one delivered in 2015 "Research
and innovation in materials with application in the railway field”. Again, under the
coordination of TECNALIA's Industry and Transportation Division, and with the
participation of the industry, technology centres, and research groups from different
universities, the document is divided into three sections: rolling stock, platform and track,
and facilities that, in turn, are broken down into different vectors of innovation. The
document concludes with a series of challenges and recommendations from which it is
extracted that the development and improvement of materials is, and will continue to be, a
fundamental chapter in railway R+D+I focused on contributing to the competitiveness of
the sector, to validate its sustainability component and thereby contribute to consolidating
the railway mode as the backbone of mobility.

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Position paper: Research and innovation in advanced materials with application to the railway sector
1