{
  "url": "https://openlegislation.uk/eu-regulation-2014-642/article-2",
  "json_url": "https://openlegislation.uk/eu-regulation-2014-642/article-2.json",
  "legislation": "eur/2014/642",
  "legislation_title": "Council Regulation (EU) No 642/2014 of 16 June 2014 establishing the Shift2Rail Joint Undertaking",
  "legislation_url": "https://openlegislation.uk/eu-regulation-2014-642",
  "path": "article/2",
  "kind": "article",
  "number": "2",
  "heading": "Objectives",
  "text": "1. The S2R Joint Undertaking shall have the following general objectives:\n(a) to contribute to the implementation of Regulation (EU) No 1291/2013 and in particular part of the Smart, Green and Integrated Transport Challenge under the Societal Challenges pillar of Decision No 2013/743/EU;\n(b) to contribute to the achievement of the Single European Railway Area, to a faster and less costly transition to a more attractive, user-friendly (including for persons with reduced mobility), competitive, efficient and sustainable European rail system, and to the development of a strong and globally competitive European rail industry. That will be achieved through a comprehensive and coordinated approach addressing the research and innovation needs of the rail system and its users facilitating amongst others a modal shift from road and air to rail. That approach shall cover rolling stock, infrastructure and traffic management for the market segments of freight and of long-distance, regional, local and urban passenger traffic, as well as intermodal links between rail and other modes, providing users with an integrated end-to-end solution for their rail travel and transport needs, from transaction support to en-route assistance;\n(c) to establish and develop — and ensure the effective and efficient implementation of — a strategic Master Plan (the ‘S2R Master Plan’), as referred to in Article 1(4) of the Statutes;\n(d) to play a major role in rail-related research and innovation, ensuring coordination among projects and providing all stakeholders with relevant and available information on projects funded across Europe. It shall also manage all rail-focused research and innovation actions co-funded by the Union;\n(e) to actively promote the participation and close involvement of all relevant stakeholders from the full rail value chain and from outside the traditional rail industry, in particular: manufacturers of railway equipment (both rolling stock and train control systems) and their supply chain, infrastructure managers, railway undertakings (both passenger and freight), metro, tram and light rail operators, rail vehicle leasing companies, notified and designated conformity assessment bodies, professional staff associations (including labour representatives), user associations (both passenger and freight), as well as the relevant scientific institutions or the relevant scientific community. In particular, the involvement of small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs), as defined in Commission Recommendation 2003/361/EC, shall be ensured;\n(f) to develop demonstration projects in interested Member States including those that do not currently have a railway system established within their territory.\n2. The S2R Joint Undertaking shall, more specifically, seek to develop, integrate, demonstrate, and validate innovative technologies and solutions that uphold the strictest safety standards and the value of which can be measured against, inter alia, the following key performance indicators:\n(a) a 50 % reduction of the life-cycle cost of the railway transport system, through a reduction of the costs of developing, maintaining, operating and renewing infrastructure and rolling stock, as well as through increased energy efficiency;\n(b) a 100 % increase in the capacity of the railway transport system, to meet increased demand for passenger and freight railway services;\n(c) a 50 % increase in the reliability and punctuality of rail services (measured as a 50 % decrease in unreliability and late arrivals);\n(d) the removal of remaining technical obstacles holding back the rail sector in terms of interoperability and efficiency, in particular by endeavouring to close points which remain open in Technical Specifications for Interoperability (TSIs) due to lack of technological solutions and by ensuring that all relevant systems and solutions developed by the S2R Joint Undertaking are fully interoperable;\n(e) the reduction of negative externalities linked to railway transport, in particular noise, vibrations, emissions and other environmental impacts.",
  "extent": "E+W+S+N.I.",
  "status": null,
  "version": "current",
  "annotations": [
    {
      "type": "footnote",
      "label": "f1",
      "text": "Commission Recommendation 2003/361/EC of 6 May 2003 concerning the definition of micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (OJ L 124, 20.5.2003, p. 36)."
    }
  ],
  "outstanding_effects": [],
  "provenance": {
    "source": "legislation.gov.uk",
    "source_url": "https://www.legislation.gov.uk/eur/2014/642/article/2",
    "retrieved_at": "2026-11-01T14:47:33.975390+00:00"
  },
  "licence": "Open Government Licence v3.0",
  "licence_url": "https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3/",
  "attribution": "Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Source: legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives."
}