Currently European Train Control System (ETCS) rollout is a major concern for the railway sector. Equipment for ETCS level 1 and 2 typically follows a long process before being put into service due to interpretation variations in the specification and certification procedures requiring long and expensive field-testing. On the other hand, migration from ETCS level 2 to 3 has not been yet foreseen due to the technical.EATS has the objective to address these two situations:1. EATS will propose innovative lab. tools providing a model of the on-board ERTMS system, and including the dynamic behaviour of the air-gap comm. and fault injection for the safety assessment. This will lead to reduced laboratory and field-testing certification process time and cost. In the current economic situation, this is crucial to keep the ETCS deployment speed.2. EATS will propose a novel positioning system based on the combination of different techniques proved useful for other industrial sectors and exploit unique features of the railway and the train. Moreover, RAMS analysis and laboratory testing are foreseen to verify the proposed technical solution. This will be a step forward towards ETCS level 3 that minimizes trackside costs and maximizes track capacity.The consortium is clearly concerned about the return to the society of the funding obtained. Dissemination will be done by a web site with open forum, 2 workshops for industry, 2 courses for engineering students, 8 scientific papers, an Advisory Board and contribution to standards.The consortium presents 3 key characteristics to overcome these challenges: world class organizations with successful previous experiences (e.g. CEIT coordinates [TREND], NSL participated in [GRAIL]); it involves technology providers (CEIT, FhG), subsystem integrator (INT), service providers (NSL, ESOL) and Notified Body (CETREN). Finally, the consortium has a small size to eliminate inefficiencies and work redundancies typical from large IP projects.