In the evolution of urban transport, NEXUS seeks to establish an innovation benchmark, addressing crucial challenges and guiding European metros toward transformative futures. The collaborative effort unfolds through three interconnected workstreams, each contributing to overall progress. - WS1's core is the mission to redefine metro adaptability to demand fluctuations. Meticulous analysis and feasibility studies elevate adaptability, showcased through simulation tools. The focus remains on user-centered optimization aligned with evolving passenger needs. - WS2 focuses on train control systems of tomorrow. A comprehensive feasibility study paves the way for fully automated systems. Sustainability, safety, and seamless integration characterize the exploration, addressing challenges in infrastructure and system complexities. - WS3 delves into the innovative realms of AI and data science in metro transport. In collaboration with WS1 and WS2, this workstream explores promising AI applications. Rigorous evaluation ensures these digital innovations resonate practically in metro system implementations. Together, these workstreams harmonize in a holistic approach, envisioning a future where technology enhances operations responsibly and sustainably. NEXUS accentuates societal needs, weaving a narrative where metros become living, adaptable entities. Stakeholder involvement, including metro operators and passenger representatives, deepens the project's impact. Their participation resonates the results of NEXUS not only locally but also on the international level. Through optimization, analysis, energy and service efficiency, NEXUS aspires to pioneer innovative solutions for the urban and metro transport of the future, where the journey is as significant as the destination.

The proposed project aims for the development to market (TRL8-9) of EGNSS-based integrated low-cost sensor technologies and artificial-intelligence-driven open-architecture software solution (machine learning (ML) and machine vision (MV)), for the detection, classification, and georeferencing of roadway pavement surface anomalies and for the low-cost assessment of roadway pavements using participatory sensing. The proposed system is of practical importance since it provides continuous information about roadway pavement surface anomalies which are valuable for efficiently monitoring the transport infrastructure and for public safety. The vision for roadway condition assessment by utilization of smartphone-like technology is set in parallel with the hypothesis that such technology can be used for crowd-sourced data collection and analysis in GIS-based pavement management systems (PMS), and that the developed technology and related transport informatics are disruptive technologies that have the potential to reshape the transport and infrastructure O&M industries through the project objectives discussed in the proposal.

With the emergence of the digitization of information, ICT infrastructure and communications gave an unprecedented push towards the realization of truly interconnected passenger transport ecosystems at city-level. The emerging notion of multimodality supports a plethora of diverse transport services, typically offered from a central location. There however, the complex interconnected infrastructures ease the cyber-threats propagation while the underlying mosaic of fleets, personal hand-held devices and non-standardized data types increase the system's attack surface and require the authorities collaboration to proactively handle severe incidents. CitySCAPE leverages the skills and mature technology of its 15-partner consortium to systematically explore all different cybersecurity dimensions of multimodal transport. These dimensions will drive a characterization of the cyber-threats in the ICT multimodal transport, extended to the close-by power and financial sector. Innovative software tools will be introduced to estimate the threats propagation in the system. Then, CitySCAPE will realize a modular software toolkit enabled to be seamlessly integrated into any multimodal transport system to: a)detect suspicious traffic-data values and identify persistent threats; b)evaluate an attack's impact in technical and notably in financial terms; c)combine external knowledge and internally-observed activities to enhance the predictability of zero-day attacks; d)instantiate a networked overlay to circulate informative notifications to CERT authorities and support their interplay. The CitySCAPE solution will be tested over a timely set of use-cases involving ticketing applications, cyber-fraud and location data in the regional transport system of two European cities, where extensive experiments will showcase its effectiveness. The findings will steer training sessions of expert/non-expert audience and shape a strong standardization contribution to security (labelling) protocols.

The global aim of PREVENT Pre-Commercial Procurement is to augment the security in public transport through innovative procurement of technology solutions. The proposed technologies will endow Public Transport Operators with solutions enhancing security situational awareness through: i) Timely automatic detection of potentially dangerous unattended items in Public Transport Infrastructure and in public areas in the vicinity; ii) Identification and tracking of perpetrators; and iii) Advanced crisis management system. The PREVENT PCP project builds on the outcomes of its predecessor PREVENT, and it continues the top-down approach that allowed consolidating commonly agreed scenarios, covering the critical security issues down to a detailed identification of the complete set of innovation needs, both at process and technology levels, to ease coordination across the full chain of stakeholders, from transport operators to security forces and public authorities. Therefore, the need for innovative solutions stems from a longer collaboration and is driven by commonly identified internal needs to improve the quality and efficiency of pre-empting terrorist attacks. The project will conduct a phased Pre-Commercial Procurement composed of: Phase 1: To finalise the tendering documents package already prepared under PREVENT CAS; Phase 2: To implement the call for tenders for research and development services; Phase 3: To conduct the competitive development of the prototypes following the PCP principles (design stage, integration & technical verification stage and validation in real environment stage); Phase 4: To consolidate the results of the evaluation of the developed prototypes, extract conclusions and recommendations from the validation process, and to define a clear strategy for the further uptake of solutions. PREVENT PCP involve 13 public buyers coming from 6 different EU countries and will validate 2 different prototypes in 4 pilots: France, Spain, Portugal and Italy.