Priority 1.6.2 Sustainable Surface Transport

• FP6 Information Day - 21 September 2005
• FP6 Information Day - 17 June 2005
• Fourth Call for Proposals [FP6-2005-TREN-4]
• Work Programme, Call Text, etc for FP6-2005-TREN-4

Surface transport plays a key role in people's everyday lives and is a decisive factor in economic competitiveness and employment. The promotion of its sustainable development without sacrificing either economic growth or the freedom of movement has become a central objective of the European Union policy.

Surface transport has to face the challenge of supporting future economic development and subsequent traffic increase without degrading the quality of transport services and protecting the environment. Research and technology developments have an important role to play and are providing the European Transport System with innovative vehicle and vessel technology and new forms of transport organisation and infrastructure.

The sustainable surface transport work programme proposes a set of research objectives which implement the content of the Gothenburg declaration of June 2001 and the Commission White Paper on European Transport Policy "European transport policy for 2010: time to decide".

The realisation of ERA across the entire surface transport chain of stakeholders and the different research schemes proposed at national level will be essential to achieve the aims for an Integrated and Sustainable Surface Transport System in Europe. The work programme implementation will, where appropriate, strengthen and complement research carried out under non-EU initiatives such as PREDIT, Mobilität und Verkehr, (LOGCHAIN, DEUFRAKO) Foresight Vehicle, EUREKA etc in order to maximise the impact of research within ERA. Also, participation of organisations from Candidate Countries in ERA instruments will ensure a sustainable development and security of transport in an enlarged Union.

The creation of Technology Platforms for the different industrial sectors of surface transport, such as ERRAC (European Rail Research Advisory Council) in rail transport, is an important element to reach the main objectives of the priority and to achieve a higher degree of integration in research. Technology Platforms provide a mechanism to develop a long-term vision for research and a strategic research agenda for its implementation.

The complexity of the transport system is addressed in an integrated and comprehensive way, through two complementary approaches, that are identified in this work programme as Research to support the European Transport Policy and Research, technological development and integration.

Research to support the European Transport Policy addresses research for transport policy with emphasis on short-term implementation and exploitation of results. Research, technological development and integration focuses on the development of new technologies specific to surface transport and on their integration into future transport systems and products with a short, medium and long term perspective.