Strasbourg, 17/04/2014 (Agence Europe) - During its final plenary session, the European Parliament adopted two initiatives that are expected to change perspectives for research and development in the transport sector. On Tuesday 15 April, MEPs approved the proposal to set up a public-private partnership, Shift2Rail and earmark €450 million for investing in rail research and innovation during the 2014-2020 period. By 638 votes in favour, 29 against, with 7 abstentions, MEPs adopted the report on this subject by Josefa Andres Barea (S&D, Spain). On the same day, MEPs also confirmed that they would extend a similar initiative to aviation, SESAR, which is the technical arm of the European Single Sky. A sum of €570 million will be available for the 2014-2020 period. MEPs adopted the report by Britta Thomsen (S&D, Denmark) on the subject by 613 votes in favour, 45 against, with 8 abstentions. (MD)