INNOTRACK Objectives

The INNOTRACK project is a joint response of the major stakeholders in the rail sector – IMs and the railway supply industry – for the development of cost effective high performance track infrastructure, aiming at providing innovative solutions towards significant reduction of both investments and maintenance of infrastructure costs. INNOTRACK is a unique opportunity to bring together rail infrastructure managers (IM) and industry suppliers, the two major players in the rail industry, and to concentrate on the research issues that will contribute to the reduction of rail infrastructure Life Cycle Cost (LCC).

The EC White paper on Sustainable Transport calls for rail operators to double passenger traffic & triple freight traffic by 2020 and reduce LCC by 30%.

The Railway Business Scenario 2020 also calls for railways to capture 15% of freight & 12% of the passenger market.

To achieve these objectives, investment alone is not sufficient, significant innovation and technology transfer is essential. This can only be achieved with very close cooperation between IMs and industry suppliers. It is essential that the IMs, as the end users, set out their priorities and needs, at a European Level, to solve the necessary problems for achieving the white paper objectives.

This will be done by performing research on four key topics:

• Track support structure
• Switches and Crossings
• Rails and welding
• Logistics for track maintenance and renewal

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