"The purpose of SKILLRAIL is to contribute to the enhancement of the transport sector by fostering a better match between the human resources needs to make railways a more competitive and innovative sector and the offer of skills coming out of the different research based education and training institutions across Europe.Rail transport in Europe is a future-oriented industry and is striving to offer an even more attractive, affordable, safe, clean, competitive and reliable transport mode. Innovation is a key success factor for European Railways and the Supply Industry.By addressing the needs of the sector the European University of Railway- EURail will provide the conditions to disseminate the social and industrial benefits of training and education in the railway sector and to develop, at European level, high quality training and education activities for the railway community of tomorrow.Based on knowledge, experience and people from ""real"" universities in Europe, EURail is virtual in nature and aspires to foster at European level excellence by gathering and networking the different relevant organizations and institutions around an educational project suitable to the needs of the European Rail sector. EURail’s unique feature is this concentration of high-level knowledge and expertise in one single sector/problem-oriented institution.The purpose of the present project is to build up the necessary conditions namely in training programs to develop the appropriate scientific and technological skills for the railway sector of the future taking into account the needs of individual stakeholders.The involvement and commitment of EURNEX, a former Network of Excellence and presently a legal association gathering around 50 European Universities with research expertise in various rail related domains is a critical factor to provide in a structured manner the necessary conditions and relevant experiences in research based training and education activities."