A human-centric, sustainable and resilient future for European rail freight, with safety, reliability and efficiency at its core.
THE CHALLENGE
Industry 5.0 is now a well-defined concept at EU level, but rail freight still lacks a way to apply it and to measure it. There is no coherent, decision-oriented framework that turns human-centric, sustainable and resilient principles into concrete guidance for operators, infrastructure managers and policymakers.
At the same time, rail freight is a complex socio-technical system. It combines high automation, distributed operations, cross-border coordination and many actors with different interests. Worker acceptance, skills, organisational readiness, regulation and data sharing often determine whether an innovation succeeds, more than the technology itself.
WHAT WE AIM FOR
OBJECTIVE 1
Lay the foundations of Rail Industry 5.0. Translate Industry 5.0 concepts and enabling technologies into analytical dimensions for rail freight, establish a harmonised baseline of how safety, reliability and efficiency are measured today, and align the project with the EU-Rail strategy and Flagship Areas.
OBJECTIVE 2
Understand the rail freight ecosystem. Map the actors, interfaces, dependencies and friction points along the Atlantic Corridor through technical visits, interviews and co-creation with stakeholders.
OBJECTIVE 3
Identify what enables and what blocks adoption. Prioritise the drivers, barriers and risks of Industry 5.0 adoption through a Delphi expert panel, and define the key success factors and implementation indicators.
OBJECTIVE 4
Lay the foundations of Rail Industry 5.0. Translate Industry 5.0 concepts and enabling technologies into analytical dimensions for rail freight, establish a harmonised baseline of how safety, reliability and efficiency are measured today, and align the project with the EU-Rail strategy and Flagship Areas.
OBJECTIVE 5
Turn evidence into action. Design blueprints for future pilot projects and formulate policy and regulatory recommendations to accelerate the uptake of Rail Industry 5.0 across Europe.