GEIE DES UTILISATEURS D'ERTMS

Their core work

EUG (ERTMS Users Group) is a European Economic Interest Grouping that represents railway operators and infrastructure managers who deploy and use the European Rail Traffic Management System (ERTMS). They bring end-user operational requirements into the development of next-generation railway signalling, automation, and train control systems. Within the Shift2Rail programme, they served as a third-party contributor across the entire X2Rail project series, ensuring that new technologies like automatic train operation, moving block, and cybersecurity features meet the real-world needs of railway networks across Europe.

What they specialise in

How they've shifted over time

In the early period (2016–2018), EUG focused on foundational signalling work: defining specifications for IP communication, control systems, ETCS/CBTC interoperability, and basic automatic train operation within X2Rail-1 and X2Rail-2. From 2018 onward, the emphasis shifted decisively toward demonstrators, prototypes, and operational validation — including zero on-site testing, cybersecurity hardening, fail-safe positioning, and virtually coupled trains. This mirrors the Shift2Rail programme's own progression from R&D to near-deployment readiness.

EUG is moving from defining requirements to validating deployment-ready railway automation technologies, positioning them at the bridge between R&D output and operational rollout.

How they like to work

EUG participates exclusively as a third party — they are brought in by consortium partners to represent end-user interests rather than leading or co-developing technology themselves. With 55 unique partners across 12 countries, they sit at the center of the Shift2Rail signalling ecosystem and maintain relationships with virtually all major rail technology players in Europe. This makes them a valuable "voice of the operator" that consortia invite to ensure research outputs align with deployment realities.

EUG connects with 55 unique partners across 12 European countries, concentrated within the Shift2Rail signalling community. Their network spans the major railway infrastructure managers, signalling manufacturers, and rail research institutes across Western and Central Europe.

What sets them apart

EUG occupies a rare position as the collective voice of ERTMS end-users — the railway operators and infrastructure managers who actually deploy these systems on live networks. While technology suppliers develop components, EUG ensures operational requirements, interoperability needs, and migration constraints are addressed from day one. For any consortium developing railway signalling or automation technology, EUG provides direct access to the organizations that will ultimately purchase and operate the results.

Highlights from their portfolio

• X2Rail-5
  The culmination project of the X2Rail series, bringing together adaptable communication, moving block, fail-safe positioning, and cybersecurity into integrated technology demonstrators.
• LINX4RAIL2
  A departure from signalling-specific work into system-of-systems architecture and digital twin concepts, signalling EUG's expansion toward whole-railway digital transformation.
• X2Rail-3
  Introduced virtually coupled train sets and ATO over ETCS GoA2 — among the most ambitious automation concepts in European rail research.