The mission of the Shift2Rail Joint Undertaking is to coordinate and manage the Union R&I investments in the European rail sector.

The S2R JU is a public-private partnership in the rail sector established under Article 187 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, providing a platform for the rail sector as a whole to work together with a view to driving innovation in the years to come. The primary task of the S2R JU is to establish the priority research and innovation activities to accelerate the penetration of integrated, interoperable, and standardised technological innovations to support the Single European Area and to achieve operational excellence of the railway system.