Transport Research and Innovation Portal

9 Apr 2013: 

After the Open Day in 2011 with more than 10,000 participants, the JRC site in Ispra will once again open its doors to the public.

This year's theme of 'Science for You' is in line with the European Year of Citizens 2013. The day's programme will give an insight into the laboratories and provide interactive experiments and activities to demonstrate what takes place at the European Commission's Joint Research Centre.

8 Mar 2013: 

The 5 th Transport Research Arena TRA 2014 will be held on 14-17 April, 2014, in Paris-la-Defense, France. Road, rail, and waterborne modes of transport, as well as cross-modality will be addressed including the following topics:

• Environment and Energy
• Industry Competitiveness
• Logistics and Mobility Systems and Services
• Safety and Security
• Transport Infrastructures
• Transport Policy Research / Socio-economic / Human sciences
• Vehicles & Vessels Technologies

More information can be found on the Conference website. Authors are invited to submit abstracts or apply for invited sessions on the submission website by 30 April, 2013.

8 Mar 2013: 

A new report, published by the European Environment Agency, indicates that some progress towards meeting key sustainable transport targets has been made, while some challenges still remain.

The report evaluates progress towards targets set by the Roadmap to a Single European Transport Area based on greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, energy efficiency and uptake of cleaner fuels. The report considers the impacts of transport use. Progress is achieved by avoiding use of transport, shifting towards more sustainable forms of transport and improving its efficiency. The report shows that improvements were mainly due to the latter (more efficient transport), rather than the former two.

View the full report.

8 Mar 2013: 

The EC has announced the fourth Railway Package, a proposal for far-reaching measures to provide higher quality and more choice in railway services in Europe. The measures encourage more innovation both through the introduction of competition into EU domestic passenger markets and through technical and structural reforms. They focus on standards and approvals, competition, structure, and a skilled and motivated workforce.

According to Vice-President Kallas "Europe's railways are approaching a very important junction. Faced with stagnation or decline in rail in many markets across Europe, we have a simple choice. We can take the tough decisions now that are needed to restructure Europe's railway market to encourage innovation and the provision of better services. Rail will be able to grow again to the benefit of citizens, business and the environment. [….]"

The Commission's proposals will be discussed by the European Parliament and Member State Governments, before being adopted.

Please find more information on the EC website.

8 Mar 2013: 

On 20 February, DG RTD/Transport of the European Commission hosted a workshop aimed at presenting TRIP to the EC officers. The Seminar was very well received and provided an opportunity to learn how to make the best use of TRIP, and create synergies in daily efforts towards advancing transport research. Attendees included EC officers from DG RTD, including the newly appointed Director-General of the Directorate H ‘Transport', Manuela Soares.

12 Feb 2013: 

The European Commission launched on 24 January 2013 the Clean Power for Transport Package, to ensure the build-up of alternative fuel stations across Europe with common standards for their design and use. The clean fuels addressed are electricity, hydrogen and natural gas.
Vice-President Kallas said: "Developing innovative and alternative fuels is an obvious way to make Europe's economy more resource efficient, to reduce our overdependence on oil and develop a transport industry which is ready to respond to the demands of the 21st century. Between them, China and the US plan to have more than 6 million electric vehicles on the road by 2020. This is major opportunity for Europe to establish a strong position in a fast growing global market."
The Clean Power for Transport Package consists of a Communication on a European alternative fuels strategy, a Directive focusing on infrastructure and standards and an accompanying document describing an action plan for the development of Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) in shipping.

To read the full press release click here.

5 Feb 2013: 

The TEN-T project HIT -Hydrogen Infrastructure for Transport-addresses the issue of how local hydrogen 'hotspots‘ in four countries (France, Sweden, Denmark and the Netherlands) can be turned into local markets for Hydrogen Refuelling Stations (HRS) with a sufficient critical mass of users and vehicles. It also looks at how this can be further integrated into the TEN-T road network for long distance transport and mobility. The project will put forward recommendations to allow policymakers and infrastructure managers to develop and use effective support schemes for a viable hydrogen infrastructure roll-out in the European Union. The project is set to be completed by the end of 2014.
For more information, please consult the HIT project's page.