In March 2020, shortly before the current Coronavirus crisis, the European Commission announced that 2021 would be the “Year of Rail”, in recognition of its potential to be a driving contributor to this mandate’s commitment to achieving its hallmark objective: the EU Green Deal. Europe now finds itself dealing with the ramifications of a widespread public health emergency and its associated economic effects, and rail will be part of the Union’s future recovery and allow it to continue on track towards carbon neutrality. To do so, it is essential that decision-makers at the EU and National levels remain committed to implementing smart, sustainable rail solutions and investing in the development of green technologies that enable them.
The success of any solution relies on its popularity and mobility options are no exception. In recent years, society and individual customers have become increasingly aware of the growing threat of climate change and now seek environmentally friendly solutions. The railway sector needs to continue to prioritise offerings that cater seamlessly to multimodal end-user needs. Providing passengers and freight end-users with more expansive rail mobility services and fostering widespread adoption of digital solutions will be key to creating a future sustainable transport paradigm. The fact that these preconditions must be enacted to create a greener network was given voice by European Commissioner for Transport Adina-Ioana Vălean at the 2020 European Rail Award when she explained that “decarbonizing transport will depend strongly on rail increasing its market share”.
To encourage customers to shift to rail, it is important that rail gives them the tools to tailor it to their needs. Fortunately, our sector is already easily accessible to communities across the EU. Its physical presence in towns and cities positions it as the most natural backbone of a future green mobility paradigm, as it already interacts with other modes of transport offering multimodal services. This infrastructure makes rail most capable of contributing to a sustainable multimodal network by improving ease of travel and implementing systems that facilitate connections. Placing rail as a connective element in the mobility chain will require the implementation of more digital solutions like intuitive ticketing systems and information services across systems. Investing in these technologies allows existing networks to becoming driving forces in the EU’s green transformation.
For the European Rail Supply Industry, continued development of more sustainable and efficient products that keeps rail competitive while contributing to EU Green Deal goals is essential. UNIFE’s Key Enablers, specific research topics deemed potentially most impactful, provide us with areas of focus that will optimise our contribution to this green mobility transformation. Amongst others, these initiatives include digitalisation, new propulsion systems, big data and more. These tools will make rail cleaner and more efficient while increasing capacity and reliability of rail transport. These goals can be achieved through the deployment of existing technologies, such as ERTMS, alongside future technologies delivered by future R&I programmes, like 5G, FRMCS, Digital Twins, and AI. The extension of the Shift2Rail Joint Undertaking (S2R JU) as Shift2Rail2 is essential to fostering and coordinating these efforts going forward as the European Union prepares for a post-COVID world.
The EU Green Deal is an ambitious project that requires a whole-of-society approach to complete. It will only be accomplished with adequate contributions from both the private and public sector, at both the EU and National levels. Strong allocations are needed for HorizonEurope – with sufficient budget for the anticipated extension of S2R JU – as well as the Connecting Europe Facility and Cohesion Fund, to generate and implement sustainable rail technologies and projects that will spur employment following this unprecedented outbreak.
COVID-19 has disrupted public life in ways not seen for decades. As many look forward to a return to their normal routine, the rail sector has an opportunity to anticipate its role as a driver of a cleaner, new mobility paradigm. By partnering the private and public sectors, the European Rail Supply Industry can develop the technologies that will allow us to decarbonize transport and reach carbon neutrality by 2050. Together, the European Union and its rail sector can exit this crisis on a competitive footing while addressing climate change.
India is a vast country, not only in terms of its diverse cultural landscape but also the length, the breadth and the various topographies one encounters while travelling. Indian Railways, though a legacy of its colonial past, has evolved to become the lifeline of the country, catering to its needs for large scale movement of traffic, both freight and passenger, thereby contributing to economic growth and promoting national integration. In fact, railways constitute the backbone of the surface transport system in India. Today, Indian Railways are the fourth largest railway network in the world, operated by the Ministry of Railways, the Government of India, and one of the largest public sector undertakings.
Rail has several strengths such as being safe, more environmentally friendly and less polluting than other modes of transport — a significant advantage at a time of increasing congestion on roads and growing public concern about environmental issues.
However, the railways need to become more efficient, integrated, modern and responsive to customer demand. Building a modern, competitive railway network is indeed a top priority for India, both for smooth operation and for the development of a sustainable transport system. In line with this commitment to sustainability, the government has committed to electrify its entire rail network by 2023 and become a “net-zero carbon emitter railway” by 2030.
The high speed, modern rail services will be riding on new technology such as signalling, communication and other IT tools. It is therefore imperative at this stage that we understand the importance and role of standards, and the need to harmonise standards with the International and/or regional standardisation bodies.
What Global/Regional Standards should be chosen, harmonisation, and why it is necessary
Taking a leaf from the European Standardisation bodies CEN-CENELEC, in Europe, harmonisation means 1 standardised solution instead of 34 and whenever possible, Europe’s preference is to go for 1 global solution developed by ISO/IEC.
The objective behind adoption of harmonised or global standards is to avoid duplication of work, both at the International as well as at the European level. This also essentially means that having ISO/IEC standards-based solutions encourages competitiveness amongst manufacturers, opens global markets for trade and exchange of services, and brings economies of scales.
Harmonisation of standards is beneficial not only for the country, but it is advantageous for all the stakeholders around the world as it ensures the quality and safety of products & services, thereby increasing the reliability, safety and satisfaction of customers’ expectations and requirements. Harmonised standards also result in reduced costs, by eliminating waste and improving efficiency, thereby saving government/private spending.
Harmonised standards help in opening global markets, ensuring compliance with national and international legislations/regulations, as well as providing knowledge about new technologies and innovation.
Due to its global competitiveness, European standards are adopted in 15 countries beyond CEN and CENELEC membership, as well as at the regional level in the Gulf. China, Mongolia, Kazakhstan, Georgia, Ukraine, Moldova, Belarus, Egypt, Tunisia, Morocco, Albania, Montenegro, Bosnia & Herzegovina, South Africa and Botswana have also adopted many European rail standards as well.
In India, the railway standards and specifications for all the important verticals like communications, signalling, electric power system, rolling stock, etc. are aligned/referred/implemented 70% – 100% with European or Global standards.
As we progress towards the modernisation of the Indian Railways, integration with global standards / European standards is the most desirable way forward for Indian Railways to be at a par with its International counterparts.
A copy of Mr Sharma’s presentation delivered at the 8th International Railway Summit is available here
About SESEI:
The Seconded European Standardisation Expert for India (SESEI) project is supported and operated by the European Committee for Standardisation (CEN), the European Committee for Electrotechnical Standardisation (CENELEC) and the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI), as well as by the European Commission (EC) and by the European Free Trade Association (EFTA). Its general objective is to raise awareness on the European Standardisation System, values and assets in India.
SESEI’s mission is to enhance the visibility of European standardisation activities, increase the cooperation between Indian and European standardisation bodies and support European companies facing standardisation related issues hampering market access to India. The project also supports India in standardisation related aspects of its integration in the WTO trading system, by identifying all potential opportunities for enhanced international cooperation and global harmonization of standards. Ultimately, the SESEI project aims at reducing the Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT) both between EU and India and globally, thus supporting European and Indian industries by facilitating international trade.