The IDEALCAREL project is focused on the education of railway engineers at universities. This project consortium envisages three universities that offer bachelor's and master's degree study programs including courses in the railway laboratory. So, the project partners are linked by the usage of special practical training in railway laboratories. These specially equipped educational rooms are at different technical levels, but providing training for students is a common feature of education. Railway laboratories, as an important educational and research base of the university, serve also for cooperation in the education of railway experts for practical purposes, i.e. for staff of infrastructure managers and railway undertakings. The need for an innovative approach to education within the transition to digital formulates a unique opportunity to create new methodological procedures in training by creating a unified curriculum, despite various national differences in traffic management. At the same time, the project contributes to meeting the objectives of EU transport policy, which includes the creation of a single European railway area and the establishment of an interoperable railway system.

The solution of the project is divided into four phases, within which three Intellectual Outputs (IO) are planned. The first IO1 is focused on a comprehensive analysis of the railway sector at the level of the EU for investigating educational needs and innovations. The second IO2 is oriented to work out the relevant study materials that are suitable for distance education in special conditions of railway laboratory training. The main objective is to support practical exercises in the railway laboratory through innovative approaches, in particular software support and multimedia teaching tool support in digital education. The third IO3 is aimed to develop a concept for digital teaching of the laboratory content, so this material can be used internationally. The content of the curriculum i.e. training scheme in specialized subjects included in the university study plan, especially in the bachelor's degree, means to create conditions for full support of students in the development of practical skills in connection with the theoretical knowledge.

As the IDEALCAREL project team consists of universities from different countries with different levels of knowledge and experiences with laboratory training education, the methodology of “knowledge exchange” will be applied throughout the whole project (between teaching staff as well as students). Achieving the planned outputs is guaranteed by the set out of project implementation schedule, project management and division of responsibilities for individual intellectual tasks, budget as well the rules of communication between the partners.

The planned results of the project are the creation of learning materials and training concepts for the railway traffic operation, which indicates the nature of the research task. As a part of the task, the project partners will develop and apply the knowledge gained in basic research projects. Every university educated in the railway sector will benefit from the project results. By using the developed teaching material, they will be able to set up generic lectures regardless of specific national railway operating rules.
The impact of the project is the achievement of the education process on a higher quality level for the railway market. With this effort, engineering students benefit from a general understanding of the system without focusing on national operational rules. This leads to promoting higher flexibility, tailored contents, and operational and practical subjects for educational courses in the rail sector, and in the more general transport domain.