Call: Smart applications for transport - ERTMS – unit contribution

The Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) for Transport is the funding instrument to realise European transport infrastructure policy. It aims at supporting investments in building new transport infrastructure in Europe or rehabilitating and upgrading the existing one.

Trans-European Networks for Transport (TEN-T) policy objectives foresee:

• completion by 2030 of the Core Network, structured around nine multimodal Core Network Corridors.
• completion by 2050 of the Comprehensive Network in order to facilitate accessibility to all European regions

CEF Transport focuses on cross-border projects and projects aiming at removing bottlenecks or bridging missing links in various sections of the Core Network and on the Comprehensive Network (link), as well as for horizontal priorities such as traffic management systems.

CEF Transport also supports innovation in the transport system in order to improve the use of infrastructure, reduce the environmental impact of transport, enhance energy efficiency and increase safety.

Objective:

The general objective is to modernise transport infrastructure on the Core and Comprehensive Networks of the TEN-T.

Scope:

In accordance with the Article 9(2)(b)(ii) of the CEF Regulation, the following Actions will be supported:

• European Rail Traffic Management Systems (ERTMS) on-board and track-side deployment with a priority to rolling out ERTMS on the entire Core Network. Actions shall be:
  • compliant with Commission Regulation (EU) No 2016/919 (Commission Regulation (EU) 2016/919 of 27 May 2016 on the technical specification for interoperability relating to the ‘control-command and signalling’ subsystems of the rail system in the European Union (OJ L 158, 15.6.2016, p. 1)) as amended by Commission Implementing Regulation 2019/776(Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2019/776 of 16 May 2019 amending Commission Regulations (EU) No 321/2013, (EU) No 1299/2014, (EU) No 1301/2014, (EU) No 1302/2014, (EU) No 1303/2014 and (EU) 2016/919 and Commission Implementing Decision 2011/665/EU as regards the alignment with Directive (EU) 2016/797 of the European Parliament and of the Council and the implementation of specific objectives set out in Commission Delegated Decision (EU) 2017/1474 (OJ L 139 I, 27.5.2019, p. 108)), or subsequent versions, and with Directive (EC) No 2008/57 (Directive 2008/57/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 17 June 2008 on the interoperability of the rail system within the Community (Recast) (OJ L 191, 18.7.2008, p. 1)) and Directive (EC) No 2004/49 (Directive 2004/49/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 29 April 2004 on safety on the Community's railways and amending Council Directive 95/18/EC on the licensing of railway undertakings and Directive 2001/14/EC on the allocation of railway infrastructure capacity and the levying of charges for the use of railway infrastructure and safety certification (Railway Safety Directive) (OJ L 164, 30.4.2004, p. 44)), or Directive (EU) No 2016/797 (Directive (EU) 2016/797 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 May 2016 on the interoperability of the rail system within the European Union (OJ L 138, 26.5.2016, p. 44)) and Directive (EU) No 2016/798 (Directive (EU) 2016/798 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 May 2016 on railway safety (OJ L 138, 26.5.2016, p. 102)) or subsequent versions;
  • baseline 3 (B3) compliant - the set of specifications #2 or #3 in table A2.2 or A2.3 of the Annex of Commission Regulation (EU) No 2016/919 as amended by Commission Implementing Regulation 2019/776 (Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2019/776 of 16 May 2019 amending Commission Regulations (EU) No 321/2013, (EU) No 1299/2014, (EU) No 1301/2014, (EU) No 1302/2014, (EU) No 1303/2014 and (EU) 2016/919 and Commission Implementing Decision 2011/665/EU as regards the alignment with Directive (EU) 2016/797 of the European Parliament and of the Council and the implementation of specific objectives set out in Commission Delegated Decision (EU) 2017/1474 (OJ L 139 I, 27.5.2019, p. 108)), or subsequent versions;
  • supported in the form of unit contributions as defined in the Commission Decision authorising the use of unit costs to support the deployment of ERTMS under the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) - Transport (https://ec.europa.eu/transport/sites/default/files/2021-07-22-ertms-af-noise.pdf).

Where relevant, ERTMS actions will be coordinated with 5G corridors deployment.

Where relevant, the above mentioned actions shall take into account the innovative new technologies and solutions in the fields of smart applications for transport resulting from Horizon Europe activities.

Digital platforms supported under CEF must be accessible for use by all operators on a non-discriminatory basis.

The foreseen duration of the action should be 4-5 years maximum.

• one or more EU Member States 
• by international organisations, joint undertakings, or public or private undertakings or bodies established in Member States  (with the agreement of the Member States concerned).

In order to be eligible, the applicants (beneficiaries and affiliated entities) must:

• be legal entities (public or private bodies)
• be established in one of the eligible countries, i.e.:
  • EU Member States (including overseas countries and territories (OCTs))
  • third countries associated to the CEF.

Specific cases:

• Entities from other countries are exceptionally eligible for projects of common interest in the field of transport, energyand digital and for cross-border projects in the field of renewable energy, if the granting authority considers their participation essential for the implementation of the action.
• Natural persons are NOT eligible (with the exception of self-employed persons, i.e. sole traders, where the company does not have legalpersonality separate from that of the natural person).
• International organisations are eligible. The rules on eligible countries do not apply to them.
• Entities without legal personality under their national law may exceptionally participate, provided that their representatives have the capacity to undertake legal obligations on their behalf, and offer guaranteesfor the protection of the EU financial interests equivalent to that offered by legal persons.
• EU bodies (with the exception of the European Commission Joint Research Centre) can NOT be part of the consortium.

Proposal page limits and layout:

• Part A to be filled in directly online  (administrative information, summarised budget, call-specific questions, etc.)
• Part B to be downloaded from the Portal submission system, completed and re-uploaded as a PDF in the system
• mandatory annexes and supporting documents (to be uploaded):
  • detailed budget table per WP (template available in the Submission System)
  • activity reports of last year
  • list of previous projects (key projects for the last 4 years) (template available in Part B)
  • timetable/Gantt chart
  • agreement by the concerned Member States (letters of support)
  • environmental compliance file (for works and for studies with physical interventions)

The available call budget for Actions related to smart and interoperable mobility – General envelope (CEF-T-2021-SIMOBGEN) is EUR 400,000,000.

In order to ensure efficiency in EU funding interventions, applicants are strongly encouraged to submit applications for projects with a total requested EU contribution to the eligible costs of no less than EUR 1,000,000. Where possible, related projects should be grouped and submitted as one proposal.

The grant will be a unit grant. This means that it will reimburse a fixed amount per unit, based on unit costs, unit contributions or financing not linked to costs.