EUROPE: Supply industry association UNIFE has called for the EU budget to include a dedicated €3bn rail research programme as the successor to the Europe’s Rail Joint Undertaking, saying this would help to ’keep the European rail supply industry number one in the world, amid the global race to challenge its position’.
UNIFE says focus would be on developing new technologies and building on existing work on ERTMS, FRMCS and the digital automatic coupling.
‘We are ahead — but we need to stay ahead’, said UNIFE Director General Enno Wiebe on April 8. ‘We need to ensure leading technologies are developed by European-based companies and implemented worldwide. We are a strategic asset, and an industry with a trade surplus for the European Union. Many have spoken a big game about making European industry more innovative, and we’ve got a ready-to-go plan to make this happen.’
