The project provides solutions for common infrastructure problems encountered in diverse regions of Europe, e.g. deterioration and scour damage to bridges, slope instability, damage to switches and crossings and track performance. Whilst similar failure modes are seen around the EU, the triggers (precipitation, earthquake loading etc.) are regional. The DESTination RAIL project will develop management tools based on scientific principles for risk assessment using real performance measurements and other vital data stored in an Information Management System. This will allow for a step-change in the management of European rail infrastructure. The objectives will be achieved through a holistic management tool based on the FACT (Find, Analyse, Classify, Treat) principle. Find - Improved techniques for the assessment of existing assets will be developed. Analyse- Advanced probabilistic models fed by performance statistics and using databases controlled by an information management system. Classify- The performance models will allow a step-change in risk assessment, moving from the current subjective (qualitative) basis to become fundamentally based on quantifiable data. Treat - The impact of proposed remediation or reconstruction will be assessed using the a probabilistic whole life cycle model which includes financial and environmental costs and the impact of work on traffic flow. The FACT principles will be implemented in a holistic decision support tool for infrastructure managers. DESTination RAIL will result significant impact in relation to the objectives of the work programme. It will reduce the cost of investment by using the IMS to manage the network, (ii) Monitoring and real-times analyses will prevent unnecessary line restrictions and closures. (iii) Lower maintenance costs by optimisimg interventions in the life cycle of the asset and (iv) optimise traffic flow in the network.

Europe is the second world producer of pulp and paper, manufacturing 130 million tonnes in 2014 and representing 23% of world production. The EU pulp and paper manufacturing and converting industries generate an annual turnover of €180 billion, representing 1,26% of the European GDP. In particular, the Pulp and Paper industry (PPI) has a turnover of €75 billion, comprises 920 plants and provides 180,000 jobs in Europe directly, and 1.5 million in the value chain. This sector is resource intensive and produces 11 million tonnes of waste yearly . It has been found that 25-40% of municipal solid waste generated each year worldwide is paper-related. Furthermore, Europe is nowadays facing the challenge of resource scarcity and more efficient use. If managed in a sustainable manner, PPI waste can become a valuable raw material for other resource intensive industries such as the construction (i.e 5,4 billion tonnes of raw material consumption) or the chemical industry (1 billion tonnes). Mining industry waste generation is estimated at up to 20.000 million tons of solid waste yearly, and relevant part of this waste needs to be kept in environmental safety conditions, which in turn implies additional use of resources (e.g borrow materials). New widespread markets are needed to extend the valorisation operations, reduce the landfilling rates and increase the competitiveness of the PPIs creating new added value markets for their inorganic waste. The overall objective of PAPERCHAIN is to deploy five novel circular economy models centred in the valorisation of the waste streams generated by the PPI as secondary raw material for a number of resource intensive sectors: construction sector, mining sector and chemical industry. PAPERCHAIN aims to unlock the potential of a resource efficient model based on industrial symbiosis which will demonstrate the potential of the major non-hazardous waste streams generated by the PPI as valuable secondary raw material.

The Needs Tailored Interoperable Railway project (NeTIRail-INFRA) focuses on infrastructure challenges affecting the large number of people and the large geographical proportion of Europe (especially recent accession countries) that are served by conventional rail lines. These lines have huge potential for a step change in productivity which must be addressed to ensure economic viability. The work will address growing demand for already busy services, and future growth of under utilised lines, with technical solutions for track, power supply and support of new smart services. Technical developments in NeTIRail-INFRA will focus on modular infrastructure, i.e. standard designs with multiple application in different locations, thereby reducing planning cycles, enabling a lean design process for new installation and retro-fit. Accompanying economic and social impact research is packaged as decision support tools to implement the findings in management of the rail network. Holistic treatment of the economy of operation will be developed, including societal impacts of rail investment decisions, to increase attractiveness of rail for all passenger categories. This focus differentiates NeTIRail-INFRA from purely technical development projects and will ensure its outputs have a real market, and achieve genuine impact. The project targets the Shift2Rail priorities of enhancing capacity, increasing the reliability and quality of services, and significantly reducing life cycle costs, and supports the Transport White Paper ‘Roadmap to a Single European Transport Area’ target that by 2050 the majority of medium-distance passenger transport should be by rail. The project targets reliability/availability up ~20%, capacity utilisation of 70-90%, and recurrent costs down 25-45%. Alongside its impact on transport, the skills developed in the project will allow European businesses and researchers to export their knowledge to wider markets, supporting EU competitiveness and growth.

An efficient asset management process is needed to ensure cost-effectiveness, in planning, delivery, operation and maintenance of large infrastructures or infrastructures network. Infrastructure asset management generally focuses on the later stages of a facility’s life cycle, specifically maintenance, rehabilitation, and replacement. However, a process of efficient asset management must define methods and tools for asset tracking, management of maintenance activity, determine the life cycle and replacement costs of the assets, assistance in determining funding strategies, optimizing capital investments in operation and maintenance, and help with the replacement of assets. Currently, the procurement, design, construction, exploitation and public communication to the final users and society regarding to the land transport infrastructures are: • not multimodal, not cross-assets, but focused on individual assets. • not correctly linked, not being able to exchange information by different stakeholders. • lack of a common risk based approach and the implementation of resilient concepts throughout the whole life cycle The aim of the proposal is to establish a common framework for governance, management and finance of transport infrastructure projects in order to ensure the best possible return from limited investment funds in transport infrastructures The main objective of RAGTIME is to develop, demonstrate and validate an innovative management approach and to lay out a whole system planning software platform, based on standard multiscale data models, able to facilitate a holistic management throughout the entire lifecycle of the infrastructure, providing an integrated view of risk based approach, implementing risk based models, resilient concepts and mitigation actions, with specific reference to climate change related threats perspective, and monitored with smart systems, in order to optimize ROI, management, guarantee LOS and improve resilience through maintaining the service.