The €18 million European joint project "IN²RAIL" lays the foundation for solutions for a cost-effective, energy-efficient and highly available European railway network. It is one of the first projects within the "SHIFT²RAIL" Joint Undertaking, an initiative of the European Union and the European railway industry. Major infrastructure operators such as Deutsche Bahn, Network Rail (UK) and SNCF as well as manufacturers such as Alstom, Bombardier and Siemens are participating in the project. The IZT focussed on investigating and identifying future user requirements as well as the economic, social and ecological framework conditions for the desired innovations.

IZT was involved in the development of future power supply subsystems with minimised energy losses as well as optimised energy management systems that allow the diverse energy flows in the railway system to be understood, energy consumption to be reduced and energy subsystems to be optimally managed. Specifically, the IZT investigated the needs of the various actors in the railway system (rail transport companies, railway infrastructure operators, energy suppliers) and bundled these into requirement catalogues for the solutions to be developed. Energy price sensitivities and future energy market developments with an influence on the solutions developed rounded off the task area.