Safety and certification guidelines and demonstration of safety components for hyperloop

Overview

Funding for developing safety and certification guidelines for hyperloop technology, including validation of key safety components in a laboratory environment. Targets consortia with expertise in hyperloop systems, safety engineering, certification, and standardisation to support European regulatory and standardisation efforts.

Who Can Apply

Consortia comprising hyperloop technology providers, European research institutes, rail stakeholders, and entities with expertise in system engineering, certification, safety management, risk analysis, and standardisation. Private members of EU-Rail must provide in-kind contributions totalling at least 1.263 times the funding request.

Funding Details

• Maximum grant amount: EUR 3,100,000
• Total indicative budget: EUR 3,000,000
• Funding type: Lump sum
• Project duration: 36 months (indicative)
• Co-funding: Private members of EU-Rail must contribute in-kind resources equivalent to at least 1.263 times their funding request.

What Is Funded

• Work-stream 1: Development of safety and certification guidelines for hyperloop, including:

- Technical safety requirements for infrastructure, design, operational protocols, and system reliability. - Proposals for a common safety method and risk assessment approach, benchmarked against rail and aviation. - Collaboration with CEN/CLC/JTC 20 and other technical committees to support European standardisation (e.g., prEN 18166:2025). - A certification roadmap, including timelines, costs, and designs for certification facilities.

• Work-stream 2: Functional validation of safety-critical hyperloop components in a laboratory environment (TRL 4), including:

- Control command and signalling systems in low-frequency, high-density environments. - At least two key vehicle components (e.g., braking systems, traction bogies) in low-pressure conditions. - Passenger exchange door interfaces and platform screen doors. - Design of test procedures and environments to validate safety requirements and certification processes.

Technology / Maturity Requirements

• TRL 4: Validation of safety components in a laboratory environment.

Key Dates

• Open date: 2026-02-03
• Deadline: 2026-05-06T22:00:00Z
• Query deadline: 2026-04-23T17:00:00 (Brussels local time)

Application Process (High-Level)

• Single-stage submission via the Funding & Tenders Portal.
• Page limit: 70 pages for full Research and Innovation Action applications.
• Evaluation criteria: Standard Horizon Europe criteria (excellence, impact, implementation) with additional EU-Rail-specific conditions.

Post-Award Obligations

• Reporting: Regular deliverables on in-kind contributions for private EU-Rail members.
• Data sharing: Compliance with EU Data Policy 2020, including Open Data Directive and Data Governance Act.
• Dissemination: Alignment with Europe’s Rail Communication and Dissemination Guidelines.
• Standardisation: Inform EU-Rail of contributions to European or international standards for up to four years post-project.
• Monitoring: Provide data for EU-Rail Programme KPIs and policy development.

Geographic Scope & Language

• Eligible countries: As defined in Annex B of the Horizon Europe Work Programme General Annexes (EU Member States and associated countries; specific non-EU/non-associated countries may be eligible under certain conditions).
• Application language: English.

Notes

• Only one project will be funded.
• Proposals must justify any retroactive starting date (costs incurred from the submission date may be eligible).
• Consortia must demonstrate aggregated expertise in hyperloop technology, safety engineering, certification, and standardisation.
• Collaboration with CEN/CLC/JTC 20 and other technical committees is mandatory.
• Compliance with EU-Rail’s governance and process requirements, including data management and interoperability standards.