The NEXUS project reaches its final stop
The NEXUS project, Next-Generation Technologies for Enhanced Metro Operations, will present its results at its Final Event organised on 28 September 2026 in Brussels, closing two years of research and innovation.
Funded through Europe’s Rail Joint Undertaking and coordinated by STAM, NEXUS brought together twelve organisations from across Europe, including metro operators, manufacturers, universities, research institutes and associations.
The project has run since October 2024, and it set out to answer the following question: as metro networks face rising demand and evolving passenger needs, which emerging technologies will shape the metro of the future?
Keeping operators in the conversation
Often, research projects can drift in their focus toward what is technically elegant rather than what a control room can use on a Monday morning.
Throughout the project, UITP worked to close that gap, connecting the consortium’s technical partners with the wider metro community and channelling operator input into the project’s thinking on automation, demand forecasting and system performance.
That included convening the project’s External Advisory Board (EAB), whose meetings, most recently in Budapest in May 2026 (during the TRA), gave external experts a structured way to challenge and sharpen the work while there was still time to act on it.
Alongside that, UITP led much of the project’s outward-facing communication. Over the past year this has meant the production of an upcoming podcast series taking listeners inside the research through conversations with the people doing it, and a video interview series capturing both the perspectives of the External Advisory Board and project consortium members.
This was complemented by a visible NEXUS presence at TRA 2026 in Budapest, including a presentation at UITP’s stand. The aim throughout was to move results beyond the consortium and into the hands of the operators and authorities who might one day deploy them.
What’s going on in Brussels
At the Final Event, the consortium will present the project’s main results, including:
- Demand modelling and simulation tools
- Impact assessment of fully automated metro operations (GoA4), with insights from the use cases in Genoa and Sofia
- Future vehicle concepts
- Future train control systems
- AI tools for enhanced metro operations
The day brings together metro operators, transport authorities, researchers, policymakers and industry representatives, with time set aside to exchange on the future of urban rail and on how research and innovation translate into practical solutions for metro systems.
For UITP members, it is a chance to see what two years of work has produced and to ask questions relevant to their own networks and needs.
Practical information
The event will take place on 28 September 2026 at the Hôtel NH Brussels Carrefour de l’Europe, Rue Marché aux Herbes, Grasmarkt Straat 110, 1000 Brussels, Belgium.
The detailed agenda, speakers and further practical information can be found on the NEXUS website here. Please also refer to the website for updates concerning the agenda ahead of the event.
Join us in Brussels to discover the results of NEXUS and to discuss how technology and innovation can help shape more efficient, sustainable and resilient metro systems.