(ANSA) - PISA, APRIL 24 - The goal is to monitor all the elements which are considered essential for railway traffic, such as the position of trains, the state of the track, electric traction, and other elements which are not crucial but equally essential, such as passenger information and weather forecast, by using a software platform able to integrate different information systems.

This is the focus of the Horizon 2020 European project 'Optima' financed with almost 2 million euros by the EU as part of the Shift2Rail Joint Research Unit. The Sant'Anna School of Advanced Studies based in Pisa underlined in a press release that the project is a 3-year "innovative action" involving teachers and researchers from the Networks and Services Area of ;;the Institute for Information, Communication and Perception Technologies (TeCIP) of the School. The department, which is the Technical Leader of the project, will receive about 15 percent of the whole funding. The platform will be validated thanks to the participation of three operators: Rfi (Italy), Adif (Spain), Szdc (Czech Republic). The administrative coordinator of the project is the Union of Railway Industries (Unife, Union des Industries Ferroviaires) based in Belgium. (ANSA).