Rail Open Lab honoured by the Transport Innovation Agency

PRESS RELEASE Rail Open Lab honoured by the Transport Innovation Agency (AIT), as part of the Propulse programme, in the 'Data Sharing' category 9 February 2023 On Wednesday 8 February 2023, at the forum of the Transport Innovation Agency (AIT) held at the Cité des Sciences et de l'Industrie, in La Villette (Paris 19), the association 'Rail Open Lab' received the jury's award at the 2nd edition of the Propulse programme, in the 'Data Sharing' category. The winner was praised for the quality and the great richness of the solutions deployed in service of the French railway industry. Photo* : Credit - ©ArnaudBouissou-TERRA Thanks to this award, the Rail Open Lab, whose four founding partners and members are the French Railway Industry Association (FIF), SERCE, RATP and SNCF Réseau, will thus be able to benefit from support from the Transport Innovation Agency starting in February 2023, for a period of nine months. This recognition confirms the lasting nature of the Rail Open Lab's mission, and the support that follows will enable it to continue its development and the implementation of its trials. Specifically, the AIT will support the Rail Open Lab with the backing of a dedicated team to enable it to: Build its technical and technological expertise, Raise the association's profile among the various players in the industry and regions, Improve the functioning of the association (legal support, intellectual property,…). Emmanuel Cox, Chairman of the Rail Open Lab, states: 'It is an honour to receive this award, which highlights the relevance of the solutions deployed and the richness of our collaboration within the Rail Open Lab in service of the French railway industry. This is a genuine recognition of our work, and it will enable us to continue our development, bring even more projects to fruition and forge new partnerships.' Rail Open Lab: an accelerator factory for digital projects in the French railway industry Combining modern technologies and processes, notably the Internet of Things (IoT), artificial intelligence and the circular economy, the Rail Open Lab develops economically viable, connected solutions. They are then deployed at scale across the various networks, maximising compliance with eco-design and recyclability rules. Since it was founded in 2018, the Rail Open Lab has already enabled: 35 trials of innovative technical solutions in real-world conditions, over 4 months, across 20 themes (rail temperature, asset geolocation – wagons, tools – route information, protection of lone workers, etc.); 16 solutions with strong potential for industrialisation, in various areas (rail temperature, water level monitoring, worksite geolocation, route safety, etc.). A few examples: The Rail Open Lab notably helped find a solution for monitoring smoke extraction fans by developing predictive maintenance technologies. The 343 fans on the RATP network are essential to the safety of everyone. The Rail Open Lab made it possible to identify and test, in 4 months, a solution to obtain a fan's real-time health record, improve connectivity in tunnels, and anticipate potential failures. On the SNCF Réseau side, the Rail Open Lab has helped find solutions such as the design of connected anti-flood devices, the development of a digitalised system (tablet, smartwatch) to strengthen the safety of engineering-work train movements, as well as sensors measuring the geometry of the track in real time. Governance At the end of 2022, the founding members of the Rail Open Lab - the French Railway Industry Association (FIF), SERCE, RATP and SNCF Réseau - voted to change their partnership into a French non-profit association (loi 1901), with a rotating chairmanship held each year by one of the members. In 2023, the chairmanship is held by Emmanuel Cox, Director of Strategy and Digital Transformation at SNCF Réseau, Raphaël Blanchard, Technical and Industrial Director at RATP Infrastructures, is appointed vice-chairman, and Philippe Hunault, Director of Technical Affairs at SERCE, treasurer. Discover the Rail Open Lab website: www.railopenlab.com About the Rail Open Lab Promoting open innovation across the entire industry, the Rail Open Lab is a 'factory' for accelerating and delivering digital projects designed to transform the maintenance and operating practices of infrastructure managers. It enables the very rapid co-development and testing, in real or near-real conditions, of new solutions and technologies. These solutions contribute to the ambition of having high-performance rail networks in France, whether in dense urban areas or on fine-mesh regional lines. The Rail Open Lab also has the following ambitions: to strengthen cross-industry collaboration by embedding in its DNA a collaboration based on transparency, fairness, learning and partnership, to encourage the development of digital solutions that incorporate, from the design phase, the principles of the circular economy and the sustainable development of these solutions. * From left to right: Louis NEGRE, Chairman of the French Railway Industry Association (FIF), Emmanuel COX, Director of Strategy and Digital Transformation - SNCF Réseau, Raphaël BLANCHARD, Technical and Industrial Director – RATP Infrastructures. Press contacts: French Railway Industry Association: Marine Latombe - mlatombe@fif.asso.fr SERCE: Marielle Mourgues - 01 47 20 69 45 - m.mourgues@serce.fr RATP: Agathe Nougué - 06 61 91 08 40 - agathe.nougue@ratp.fr SNCF Réseau: Cécilia Vichot - 06 16 21 36 35 - cecilia.vichot@reseau.sncf.fr