On 30 January 2025, UIC and UNIFE jointly organised the first of a series of workshops planned for 2025 regarding Europe’s Rail Joint Undertaking (ER JU) “System Pillar Task 1: Railway System”. The event was held at the UIC headquarters in Paris.
The primary goal of Task 1 is to ensure a highly integrated capacity on the existing European railway network by developing a modern, technology-neutral future architecture for the European railway system through layered functional architecture (known as “To-Be” architecture). This approach, which has been in use for several decades in industries such as automotive, aerospace, defence, energy, IT, and telecommunications, will help to develop a framework for developing the railway system and standardising system architecture at European level.
The ER JU’s System Pillar work, in general, focuses on creating a more harmonised railway system that aligns with the Common Business Objectives, with the aim of achieving widespread implementation across the EU.
Based on the current architecture of the European railway system (‘AS-IS’ architecture), mapped as a result of in-depth research carried out by SP Task 1 in recent years, the workshop mainly focused on analysing the scope for further development work on To-Be architecture solutions in:
- Operational train capabilities
- Energy management capabilities
- Infrastructure maintenance and monitoring
General consultation within the European rail sector on the proposed solutions is also planned for 2025.
Experts from major railway operators (SNCF, Infrabel, PKP, DB, ÖBB), suppliers (Siemens, CAF, Hitachi Rail, Mermec, Knorr-Bremse), representatives from the ER JU System Pillar Core Group and the UIC Railway Institute in Poland contributed to the discussions, with CESAMES providing expertise in complex systems architecture.
The next SP Task 1 meeting is scheduled online for 13 February 2025, while the next SP Task 1 workshop will be held in Brussels on 3 April 2025.
More information on Europe’s Rail System Pillar can be found at About System Pillar - Europe’s Rail.
