Europe’s Rail Flagship Project 4 - Sustainable and green rail systems

Project Information

FP4 - Rail4EARTH

Grant agreement ID: 101101917

DOI

10.3030/101101917

EC signature date 15 December 2022

Start date 1 December 2022

End date 30 November 2026

Funded under

• Climate, Energy and Mobility

Total cost

No data

EU contribution

€ 38 386 394,04

Coordinated by

ALSTOM TRANSPORT SA
France

Periodic Reporting for period 2 - FP4 - Rail4EARTH (Europe’s Rail Flagship Project 4 - Sustainable and green rail systems)

Reporting period: 2024-01-01 to 2024-12-31

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

This Project is fully addressing the HORIZON-ER-JU-2022-FA4-01 call for project.
It’s scope of work is covering the Sustainable and green rail systems including rolling stocks, infrastructures, stations
and all of their related sub-systems.
The objectives are to significantly progress on several families of Key Performance Indicators on different fields :
technical ,environmental, economical, standardisation.
The decarbonisation of Diesel trains, noise and vibration reduction, energy savings, circular economy, resource
consumption, resilience to climate change and pandemic attack, attractiveness of passenger trains are at the heart of the
proposed project.
The Project is identifying the precise needs of operators including implicitly the European public policies of sustainable transports, including Climate Neutral Europe for 2050. It provides the needed scientific and technical solutions via the development and demonstrations (up to TRL7) of new solutions increasing drastically the environmental performances of the railway holistic system. These new solutions will be proposed (at the end of the project in 2026) while verifying that they have viable economic models ensuring a rapid commercialization for the benefit of European citizens.
The project will quantify its 5 Project KPIs progress once a year.

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

The work and main achievement realized in calendar year 2024 per sub-project are:
Sub-Project 1: Alternative (to Diesel) energy solutions for the rolling stock
· Energy Storage System (ESS): The technology of the battery cells has been chosen. Batteries modules are assembled. Energy Storage Unit (ESU) and Battery Thermal Management system still under design phase.
· Traction system: components purchased and prototypes assembled.Regional trains powered by batteries have been simulated on standard and specific duty cycles.
· H2 vehicles: H2 locomotive: potential solutions to improve efficiency of H2 power plant (onboard Fuel Cell system providing the electrical energy to the electric locomotive) have been simulated.
Sub-Project 2: Energy in rail infrastructure and stations
· Hydrogen refuelling station: the geographical place where the station will be built is chosen. H2 safety rules studies continued, H2 refueling simulation between the ground and the vehicle is still on going. Refueling norms are studied.
· Several infrastructure demonstrations preparations progressed well:
o Urban infrastructure in Netherland: the Energy Storage System (battery) is delivered and under test on field.
o Polish demonstration on main line trains: substations with local Energy storage is under preparation.
· Railway stations demonstrations:
o Modular small station in Poland: definition of the requirements and of the common environment data are described.
o Malaga large station: energy minimisation thanks to minimization of lighting and air conditioning.

Sub-Project 3: Sustainability and resilience of the rail system
· Pre-standardisation for trains with alternative drives: introduction of battery digital passport; proposal of a standard communication interface for hydrogen refuelling. Work to ensure safe & secure vehicle identification.
· Smart energy management: Pre-standardisation of energy management functions, proposals of modification on existing standards or creation of new ones; study of different optimized charging strategies for batteries.
· Adaptation to climate change: worldwide bibliography analysis of more than 120 documents finished as well as the “Datathon” (consolidation of operators data) in order to characterise the links between the meteorological extreme events and the rolling stock failure/maintenance events.
· Noise reduction: Continuation of noise and vibration characterization during lifetime of the Rolling Stock/Infra; measurements of squealing noise done; continuation of Neoballast lab test in Spain. The methodology for aeroacoustics sources characterization was written.
· Circular economy: a list of criteria enabling the confident exchange of second-hand parts and materials within the railway industry was validated.
Sub-Project 4: Rolling stock on board electro-mechanical components and sub-systems
· Air-less brake (EMB): Two air-less actuator types are tested at static and dynamic test bench.
· Electromechanical pantographs (e-panto): A first air-less pantograph was designed and simulated, while its control system was tested.
· Bogies: The development of high-performance bogies progressed.
o A lightweight wheelset using bolted design with a tubular axle made of an alternative steel material was tested at full scale.
o A lightweight bogie frame was defined.
· Motor-gearbox:
o The development of the independent rotating wheel (IRW) frame is ongoing.
o The design phase of the 275 kW direct drive motor for the high-performance bogie is done.
HVAC: R290 (propane) is validated as new refrigerant for low CO2e HVAC.
· Aerodynamic numerical methods: the wind-tunnel model of the generic train setup was built and equipped with a force measurement system. The numeric simulations which were compared with to the train drag and crosswind forces. The pantograph model, optimized regarding aerodynamic behaviour, was built.


Sub-Project 5: Healthier and safer trains and stations
· Rolling stock air quality:
o Air ventilation in the passengers cars: evaluation of different ventilation concepts regarding contaminant removal effectiveness and thermal comfort quality. Simulations were performed enlarging the experimental data set.
o Assessment of air quality improvement technologies completed.
o Air quality measurement procedure and visualization tools: two levels of protocols were tested.
o Regulations: a review of international regulations and recommendations was undertaken.
o Low-cost sensors network for underground stations air quality: different low-cost sensors are evaluated.
Simulation tools to predict air quality on covered platforms and in tunnels: validation done.

Sub-Project 6: Trains Attractiveness ( via passenger train Interiors components)
· Continuation of the development of interiors designed for circular economy with specific materials, shapes or assemblies able to be re-used.
· Modularity, flexibility, ideation, and pre-concepts:
o Studies on quick fastener.
o Identification of each material’s recycled content potential, identification of issues according to recyclability.
o Biomimicry: investigation continued on lateral celling biostructure and flooring of railway cars.
· Train virtual configurators are under development.
o One configurator which is customer-oriented.
o One which is more design phase-oriented.
· Other studies done:
o Insulation using single-wall extension extrusions with the aim of saving weight.
o Acoustic impact of a modular interior by simulation has been performed.

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

The Project is preparing 38 -high TRLs- demonstrations, expected to be completed at the end of 2026. These demonstrations are realized by major European industrials, from the train & infrastructure industry. The new solutions will fully answer the evolving request of railways in the sustainability domain. The partners are pushing for norms and TSI evolution, to prepare a favorable environment to introduce these new solutions on commercial market.
A matrix of the 38 demonstrations TRL progress is updated once a year.

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