Railway is of high societal value. It is the cleanest, fastest and most sustainable transport mode that provides mass mobility and an excellent means to travel from city centre to city centre. The fast growth of passenger and freight transport in the past decade has led to severe pressure on infrastructures and operations. The pressure will further increase by continuing urbanisation, causing a clear urgency to develop smart multidisciplinary solutions.

DelftRail is initiated to increase the value of advanced research in railway engineering and operations, ensuring a sustainable, robust and future proof railway system. DelftRail contributes to enabling railway as the backbone of Europe’s sustainable mobility, attract more funding for research and catalyse the education of new railway experts with inter-disciplinary profiles so urgently needed in the coming decades.

Three key research themes in DelftRail can be found below:

Five research subjects run as a common thread through all research themes of DelftRail: