EPFL strengthens cooperation with Swiss Federal Railways
© CFF
CFF (Swiss Federal Railways) are extending their collaboration with the University of St. Gallen, to EPFL and ETHZ. The goal is to stimulate research and innovation in the railway sector.
New discoveries and innovative technologies have always been behind the development of the Swiss railway system. That’s why today CFF are reinforcing their collaboration with institutions of higher education. They have signed a cooperation agreement for research with EPFL and ETHZ. Moreover, they are extending research agreements established with the University of St. Gallen in 2009 for five more years.
As part of this collaboration, planned for 5 years, CFF will pay each university an annual amount of 150’000 CHF. A research committee of scientists coming from different Swiss universities together with members of the CFF will define the topics that the scientists will be addressing. The chosen topics will be submitted for tender and researchers from all over Switzerland will be able to apply. Then, the research committee will select the most suitable projects and will determine how much funding to grant them. To this end, CFF have a fund of 300’000 extra Swiss francs a year.
At EPFL a coordinator will be appointed and will integrate EPFL's Transportation Center’s team (TraCE). Since 2009, TraCE has carried out more than 70 transport and mobility research projects, some in partnership with CFF. EPFL’s expertise is particularly relevant in areas such as energy efficiency, modeling, simulation and optimization of transport infrastructures including railway.