Selected Sources of Research Funding in Railway Transport

Abstract

In Horizon 2020, funding for research and innovation in the railway area was entirely channeled through the Shift2Rail Joint Undertaking (Shift2Rail). Shift2Rail was founded in 2014 as a Public-Private Partnership between the European Union (EU) and the rail industry and aimed to coordinate and manage EU research and investment in the rail sector. From the current financial perspective - Horizon Europe - the successor to Shift2Rail, is Europe's Rail Joint Undertaking (EU-Rail). The new rail partnership aims to enable the European rail network to play a vital role in the Green Deal policy for environmentally friendly and energy-efficient mobility. In 2017, the National Centre for Research and Development (NCBR) and PKP Polskie Linie Kolejowe (PLK S.A.) established a Joint Undertaking, Research and Development of Railway Infrastructure, with the acronym BRIK. The program supports research and development (R&D) work in railway infrastructure and aims at increasing the Polish railway potential. The article provides a critical-cognitive analysis of selected joint R&D projects in the railway sector at both European and national levels. The activity of the Railway Research Institute (IK) in international and national projects is also presented. The article attempts to answer the research question: Are European and national programs supporting research in the railway area an appropriate and sufficient funding source? The research methods used included source material analysis, comparative approach, data analysis of the EU, Railway Research Institute, National Centre for Development Research (NCBR), and case study.