BRITAIN’s Rail Safety and Standards Board (RSSB), the rail supply industry and a consortium of eight universities have secured £92m of funding to establish Britain as a global centre of rail excellence.

EAST Japan Railway (JR East) has announced plans to build a 360km/h test train by spring 2019 as the basis for a new fleet of E956 10-car trains to be introduced in time for the opening of the Hokkaido Shinkansen to Sapporo in 2030.

THE European Rail Industry Association (Unife) together with 22 associations representing other European industries such as automotive, aerospace, steel, machine tools, and food, are calling for an ambitious next European Union (EU) Research and Innovation Framework Programme (FP9).

FRANCE’s Institute of Technological Research (IRT) SystemX, together with French National Railways (SNCF) and Alstom, has launched a two-year project to automate the observation functions of train drivers.

EUROPE’s Shift²Rail Joint Undertaking (JU) has received 60 proposals worth €192.8m under its 2017 call for research projects and a funding request of €136.5m, which is more than twice the available funding of €60.8m.

THE European Union’s (EU) Transforming Transport big data research project, which was launched in January and runs through to June 30 2019, is preparing to launch a rail pilot project in Spain as one of 13 pilot schemes in Europe covering all modes of transport.

IN 2015, Japan’s Railway Technical Research Institute (RTRI) published its Vision: Rising which outlined our mid and long-term goals and strategies. The overall aim is to develop the innovative technologies that will help the railway to create “a happier society.”

SPEAKING at the Shift2Rail Lighthouse mid-term event in Brussels on November 17, Mr Michael Baldwin, who was appointed in July as deputy director general of the European Commission’s DG Move, said: “Our ambitions are bold and our expectations are high for Shift2Rail.”

THE Shift2Rail joint undertaking announced on November 8 that the final agreement relating to the 2015-16 call for proposals had been signed.