NETWORK MANAGEMENT PLANNING AND CONTROL & MOBILITY MANAGEMENT IN A MULTIMODAL ENVIRONMENT AND DIGITAL ENABLERS

The EU grant opportunity, identified as HORIZON-JU, falls under the Horizon Europe program and is specifically a HORIZON JU Innovation Action aimed at enhancing network management planning and control, mobility management in a multimodal environment, and digital enablers within the rail sector. The total indicative budget for this initiative is €22.4 million, with a planned opening date of October 30, 2025, and a submission deadline of February 11, 2026. Only one project will be funded, making this a highly competitive call. The project consists of two work streams. Work Stream 1 focuses on developing capabilities for network management, including strategic and tactical planning, real-time traffic management, and integrating rail into door-to-door mobility solutions. Innovations will enhance cross-border scheduling, automate responses to disruptions, and improve accessibility for persons with reduced mobility. Work Stream 2 addresses the foundational digital infrastructure required for advanced railway systems, developing digital twins, data spaces, and cybersecurity measures. A consortium is required, comprising rail infrastructure managers, railway undertakings, rail suppliers, research institutes, and academia, with a focus on including small and medium-sized enterprises. Funding will cover 60% of eligible costs, with the requirement for participants to provide 40% co-funding, primarily through in-kind contributions, along with a specific ratio of support from private EU-Rail members. The application process is single-stage, requiring a detailed proposal submission, with a maximum of 120 pages. The project must demonstrate strong capabilities in technology readiness levels 6 to 8 by 2028. The overarching goal is to transform the European rail network into a resilient, integrated system capable of optimizing operations and enhancing user experience while contributing to the broader objectives of the European Green Deal and Sustainable Mobility Strategy. Successful applicants should be well-established consortia demonstrating technical excellence and European geographical coverage, with the capacity to manage a complex flagship project. The competitive nature of the call, alongside the significance of the funding and the breadth of the initiative, indicates a challenging application process with estimated success rates likely below 10%.

This EU grant opportunity, HORIZON-JU, falls under the Horizon Europe program and is specifically a HORIZON JU Innovation Action. It aims to improve network management planning and control, mobility management in a multimodal environment, and digital enablers within the rail sector. The total indicative budget for this topic is €22.4 million, and it is expected that only one project will be funded. The project duration is approximately 30 months. The call is a single-stage process, with a planned opening date of 30 October 2025 and a deadline of 11 February 2026, 17:00:00 Brussels time.

The action to be funded is divided into two work streams:

Work Stream 1 (WS1):Network management planning and control & Mobility Management in a multimodal environment. This work stream focuses on enhancing capabilities to achieve the following outcomes:

Improving strategic and tactical planning of the rail network through innovative planning and simulation functionalities, considering the impact of ERTMS (European Rail Traffic Management System) and ATO (Automatic Train Operation) evolution. This includes addressing cross-border planning, yard and station processes, traffic management, and ETCS/ATO modelling. The innovations should integrate with state-of-the-art systems for production use.

Increasing the resilience of a connected ‘real time’ rail network by developing European real-time railway traffic management and operations. The goal is to provide a more agile, optimized, and automated response to unplanned situations, especially in cross-border traffic. The solution should optimize cross-border train paths and adapt to different constraints in the decision-making process.

Integrating rail traffic within door-to-door mobility by developing and integrating enablers for improved real-time offer planning and management. This includes better information exchange between operators, demand predictions, systems for dynamic best offers, and improved accessibility for Persons with Reduced Mobility (PRM).

The Flagship Project should deliver innovative solutions by 2028, including:

Functional system for strategic, tactical, and short-term planning considering ERTMS and ATO evolvement.

TMS at regional and global areas with decision support, automation, and real-time traffic plan.

Improved long-term demand-driven predictions considering short-term demand forecast and disruption management.

Use of Digital Twins for visualizing and modelling movements at train stations.

Cross-border travel within Europe and the connection of rural areas to create an inclusive mobility network, with focus on PRM guidance based on real-time data.

The proposal should also cover preparatory works for future demonstrations, including:

Automated solutions for improved strategic and tactical planning supporting cross-border scheduling and TTR planning process.

TMS including real-time effect of ATO and the resulting service quality.

Using output from disruption management and demand-driven predictions and integrating and adjusting long-term predictions and the digital twin approach to improve rail capacities.

This action also needs to provide TMS functionality for serving autonomous path allocation [TRL6] for Destination 2 demonstrations and a list of enablers for Destination 5 and Destination 6 demonstrations.

Work Stream 2 (WS2):Digital Enablers. This work stream focuses on supporting operational processes and activities of all Destinations through digitalization, taking into account the System Pillar (SP) CONOPS. The action should analyze requirements for interlinking layers of common European Mobility Data Spaces (EMDS) against the architecture delivered by FP1-MOTIONAL and ensure their implementation.

This work stream will support this by three aspects:

Digital Twin Support Environment:For operational processes of the Destinations by composition of reusable, black-boxed, compiled, digital interoperable model units (FMU) of components, subsystems and super-systems.

Digital Twins Design Environment:To facilitate the integration at interface level (FMI) as well as validation, verification, and test, including model registry and discovery services and interoperability validation tools.

Run-Time Environment:Based on a Federated dataspace to feed an execute Digital Twins to ensure a common Ontology and associated Federation Services such as: Identity and Trust management, Data Assets registry and discovery services, Data Distribution Services, Data stream management, Cyber security etc.

The expected outcomes of this work stream include:

Development of data federation, access, and processing services through standardized interfaces.

Development of a common machine-readable domain ontology to structure data unambiguously across all systems participating in data sharing.

Ensuring a powerful, secure, and reliable data and communication infrastructure.

The action should research, develop, and deliver capabilities based on the public deliveries of FP1-MOTIONAL, including:

Connectors for Federated Data Spaces, TRL7 by 2028.

Common Domain Ontology, building upon S2R works on Conceptual Data Model (CDM) and ERA Ontology, TRL 7 by 2028.

Digital Twin support, development and execution environment, TRL6 by 2028.

Cybersecurity, TRL 6 by 2028.

Key Performance Indicators (KPIs):The action shall actively contribute to measure and monitor the specific quantitative KPIs defined in the Destination description above, including its contribution to the Europe’s Rail Master Plan impacts.

Collaboration:The action requires collaboration with other Destinations included in this call, including common activities related to the review of system specifications and integration and pilot tests of technical enablers.

Interaction with the System Pillar:The proposal should allocate resources to areas linked to the System Pillar conceptual and architecture works, particularly addressing specification development and demonstration activities following architectural aspects, stemming from the work of System Pillar.

Applicants should ensure that their proposals and consortium reflect the aggregated expertise to perform the activities and achieve the objectives set by the Destination, including:

Expertise from rail infrastructure managers and railway undertakings.

Expertise from rail suppliers (system integrators, manufacturers and/or technology providers).

Expertise from research institutes and academia.

Complementary expertise from other sectors and parties, with particular attention to SMEs and Start-ups.

The funding rate is 60% of the eligible costs, and eligible costs will take the form of a lump sum. Applicant Private Members of the EU-Rail part of consortia should provide in-kind contributions to additional activities.

In summary, this grant opportunity seeks to fund a flagship project that will significantly advance the digitalization and integration of European rail traffic management. It aims to create a dynamic, resilient, and customer-centric rail network by developing innovative solutions for network planning, real-time traffic management, and door-to-door mobility. The project will involve a wide range of stakeholders, including rail infrastructure managers, railway undertakings, suppliers, research institutes, and SMEs, to ensure a comprehensive and impactful approach. The project will also contribute to the development of European standards and policies for the rail sector.

Eligible Applicant Types:The eligible applicant types include rail infrastructure managers, railway undertakings, rail suppliers (system integrators, manufacturers, and/or technology providers), research institutes, academia, SMEs, and Start-ups. The call specifies that consortia should reflect aggregated expertise from these various types of organizations. Applicant Private Members of the EU-Rail are also specifically mentioned with regards to in-kind contributions.

Funding Type:The funding type is a grant, specifically a HORIZON JU Innovation Action (HORIZON-JU-IA) and HORIZON JU Research and Innovation Actions (HORIZON-JU-RIA) and HORIZON JU Coordination and Support Actions (HORIZON-JU-CSA). The Model Grant Agreement (MGA) is a HORIZON Lump Sum Grant [HORIZON-AG-LS].

Consortium Requirement:The opportunity requires a consortium of multiple applicants to ensure the aggregated expertise to perform the activities and achieve the objectives.

Beneficiary Scope (Geographic Eligibility):The primary geographic eligibility appears to be focused on EU member states and associated countries, as it falls under the Horizon Europe program. The text mentions that non-EU/non-Associated Countries may have specific provisions for funding their participants, referencing the Horizon Europe Programme Guide for more details.

Target Sector:The primary target sector is transport, specifically focusing on the rail industry. This includes network management, mobility management, digital technologies, cybersecurity, and the development of digital twins for rail systems. The program also touches on related sectors such as ICT, with a focus on data spaces, artificial intelligence, and cybersecurity.

Mentioned Countries:No specific countries are mentioned, but the focus is on a European Traffic Management layer, implying that EU member states are the primary beneficiaries. The text refers to European cross-border scenarios and a pan-European level B2B service platform.

Project Stage:The project stage ranges from research and development to demonstration, with a focus on achieving Technology Readiness Levels (TRL) of 6, 7, and 8 by 2028. The call emphasizes "large scale demonstrations" and the delivery of innovative solutions to be demonstrated and monitored.

Funding Amount:The total indicative budget for the topic is €22.4 million. However, there are also smaller Research and Innovation Actions with budgets of €600,000 or €1,000,000, and Coordination and Support Actions with a budget of €700,000.

Application Type:The application type is a single-stage call for proposals.

Nature of Support:Beneficiaries will receive money in the form of a lump sum grant. Private members of EU-Rail are also expected to provide in-kind contributions.

Application Stages:The application process is a single-stage process.

Success Rates:The indicative number of grants for the Innovation Action is 1, while for the Research and Innovation Actions and Coordination and Support Actions, the number of grants varies from 1 to 3. This suggests a relatively competitive process, but without specific success rates, it is difficult to estimate the exact chances of success.

Co-funding Requirement:The funding rate is 60% of the eligible costs. Applicant Private Members of EU-Rail are expected to provide in-kind contributions to additional activities, with the total in-kind contributions being no less than 1.263 times the funding request. This indicates a co-funding requirement, primarily through in-kind contributions from private members.

Summary:This opportunity is a call for proposals under the Horizon Europe program, specifically targeting the rail sector. It aims to fund a Flagship Project focused on "Network management planning and control & Mobility Management in a multimodal environment and Digital Enablers." The project seeks to improve European rail traffic management through research, development, and demonstration of innovative solutions, including digital twins, AI-based optimization, and enhanced cybersecurity. The call is structured around two work streams: one focused on network and mobility management, and the other on digital enablers. Consortia applying for this opportunity must include a diverse range of expertise, including rail infrastructure managers, railway undertakings, rail suppliers, research institutes, academia, SMEs, and start-ups. The total indicative budget for the topic is €22.4 million, and the funding rate is 60% of eligible costs, with a co-funding requirement primarily through in-kind contributions from private members of EU-Rail. The application process is a single-stage process, with the submission deadline on 11 February 2026. The selected project is expected to contribute to the Europe’s Rail Master Plan and deliver innovative solutions to be demonstrated and monitored to achieve specific levels by 2030. The project duration is 30 months.