Periodic Reporting for period 1 - RAIL4CITIES (Railway stations for green and socially inclusive cities)
Reporting period: 2023-07-01 to 2024-06-30
Railway stations hold a unique position in the urban landscape: they not only act as complex nodes of mobility and transport, but also as public places that can be seen as integral elements of the city. Consequently, stations have a decisive impact on their urban surroundings as places of everyday life, affecting all stakeholders including citizens and the environment.
The central ambition of RAIL4CITIES is to develop a new operational, readily available and highly applicable model of stations (SCP model), combined with a common European methodology and tool for its effective implementation. The project takes inter-dependent impediments (profit-orientated business model, complex web of agents and stakeholders, policy gaps) into account and provides decision makers with the tools to transform stations into promoters of sustainable cities.
The model will be applied to 5 living labs addressing the stations’ transformation into hubs of green and active mobility (FR), energy hubs (IT), towards Transit Oriented Development (DE), into a socially-inclusive services hub with using Nature Based Solutions (PL) and services hubs enabling the 15-minute city and circular economy (BE). This will be enhanced by 3 case-studies from the high-speed rail line from Lisbon to Oporto (PT) to study the resilience of infrastructures for both adaptation of spaces to new future uses, and adaptation to climate-change issues and health crises.
The RAIL4CITIES consortium aims at addressing EU-wide issues that railways and cities are facing, and at helping railways in the achievement of their strategy and industrial plans, while helping city administrations in achieving societal and environmental goals related especially to sustainability, smart city, and mobility. The project will demonstrate how stations in terms of number of users, of metropolitan connectivity, and being a node of urban development, can be strengthened in their key role in the urban dynamics. The living labs will open up this approach into a wide field of possible applications. Understanding interactions, impacts and implications of the development of the station as a game changer from an economic, social and environmental point of view, its consequences on business and social practices, and on urban land use and how this can improve urban mobility patterns, contributes in this way to a better urban accessibility and connectivity in a sustainable way. In fact, the RAIL4CITIES outcomes will benefit to several target groups simultaneously:
• The development of the new model of stations through the identification of new economic and business drivers that, fully aligned with sustainability objectives, will generate value for railway companies, cities and citizens.
• Using impact analysis tools to create shared values for stakeholders and citizens while aligning sustainability with stakeholders’ business goals will help cities and policy makers to develop policies for supporting the model’s development and implementation, while also create synergies of investments among stakeholders (railway companies, cities, regional economy), and attract investors.
• Developing stations as mobility hubs facilitates an adequate level of interoperability of the transportation networks (international, regional and local) as the EU legislation promotes, finally positively impacting transportation efficiency for citizen and mobility users. This will be demonstrated throughout the five living labs and the open publication of the SCP model will support policy makers in the design of new policies, respectively cities to evaluate impact of the new model and develop replication strategies.
• We aim at designing a concept of a station and a EU-wide methodology that, as a public space and multi-services hub, can support the spreading of other green transport modes by an effective coordination between energy use and production. While providing added value for citizens and mobility users, it will support regional economy and social innovation sectors to identify and ramp-up new solutions.
• The engagement of a multi-stakeholder dialogue will help in developing new business models, and in studying their governance, regulations and policies, while shaping a model of the station operating as “social infrastructure”, rather than simply as a mobility infrastructure.
The central ambition of RAIL4CITIES is to develop a new operational, readily available and highly applicable model of stations (SCP model), combined with a common European methodology and tool for its effective implementation. The project takes inter-dependent impediments (profit-orientated business model, complex web of agents and stakeholders, policy gaps) into account and provides decision makers with the tools to transform stations into promoters of sustainable cities.
The model will be applied to 5 living labs addressing the stations’ transformation into hubs of green and active mobility (FR), energy hubs (IT), towards Transit Oriented Development (DE), into a socially-inclusive services hub with using Nature Based Solutions (PL) and services hubs enabling the 15-minute city and circular economy (BE). This will be enhanced by 3 case-studies from the high-speed rail line from Lisbon to Oporto (PT) to study the resilience of infrastructures for both adaptation of spaces to new future uses, and adaptation to climate-change issues and health crises.
The RAIL4CITIES consortium aims at addressing EU-wide issues that railways and cities are facing, and at helping railways in the achievement of their strategy and industrial plans, while helping city administrations in achieving societal and environmental goals related especially to sustainability, smart city, and mobility. The project will demonstrate how stations in terms of number of users, of metropolitan connectivity, and being a node of urban development, can be strengthened in their key role in the urban dynamics. The living labs will open up this approach into a wide field of possible applications. Understanding interactions, impacts and implications of the development of the station as a game changer from an economic, social and environmental point of view, its consequences on business and social practices, and on urban land use and how this can improve urban mobility patterns, contributes in this way to a better urban accessibility and connectivity in a sustainable way. In fact, the RAIL4CITIES outcomes will benefit to several target groups simultaneously:
• The development of the new model of stations through the identification of new economic and business drivers that, fully aligned with sustainability objectives, will generate value for railway companies, cities and citizens.
• Using impact analysis tools to create shared values for stakeholders and citizens while aligning sustainability with stakeholders’ business goals will help cities and policy makers to develop policies for supporting the model’s development and implementation, while also create synergies of investments among stakeholders (railway companies, cities, regional economy), and attract investors.
• Developing stations as mobility hubs facilitates an adequate level of interoperability of the transportation networks (international, regional and local) as the EU legislation promotes, finally positively impacting transportation efficiency for citizen and mobility users. This will be demonstrated throughout the five living labs and the open publication of the SCP model will support policy makers in the design of new policies, respectively cities to evaluate impact of the new model and develop replication strategies.
• We aim at designing a concept of a station and a EU-wide methodology that, as a public space and multi-services hub, can support the spreading of other green transport modes by an effective coordination between energy use and production. While providing added value for citizens and mobility users, it will support regional economy and social innovation sectors to identify and ramp-up new solutions.
• The engagement of a multi-stakeholder dialogue will help in developing new business models, and in studying their governance, regulations and policies, while shaping a model of the station operating as “social infrastructure”, rather than simply as a mobility infrastructure.
The activities during the first project period were focused on the first draft of the methodology and the ramp-up of the living labs. The following achievements can be reported at project mid-term
• Delivery of a first draft of a station model definition supporting the systematic characterization of railway stations
• Delivery of an approach and preliminary tool for Sustainable Return of Investment (S-ROI) enabling the quantification of benefits looking at economic, environmental, and social aspects in both the station and its urban surroundings
• Delivery of a methodology to deploy the different methodologies at railway stations
• Ramp-up of five living labs from 5 different European countries
• Delivery of a first draft of a station model definition supporting the systematic characterization of railway stations
• Delivery of an approach and preliminary tool for Sustainable Return of Investment (S-ROI) enabling the quantification of benefits looking at economic, environmental, and social aspects in both the station and its urban surroundings
• Delivery of a methodology to deploy the different methodologies at railway stations
• Ramp-up of five living labs from 5 different European countries
RAIL4CITIES is organized around the following 10 project results, clustered around the 3 project objectives:
1. (O1.1) Deployment of 5 LLs and 3 case-studies
2. (O1.2) Impact analysis for the 5 LLs and 3 case-studies
3. (O2.1) Station model definition (SCP model)
4. (O2.2) Impact analysis tool
5. (O2.3) Evidence of impact creation for at least 5 UN’ SDGs
6. (O2.4) SCP model and EU-wide methodology
7. (O3.1) Summer school on urban planning
8. (O3.2) Open contest for solutions
9. (O3.3) European ecosystem application
10. (O3.4) 5 Roadshows
The expected impacts are
• Scientific: EU-wide model, methodology and tool for the effective and sustainable transformation of railway stations.
• Economic / Technological: Deployment of the LL in 5 railway stations beneficiating the regional economy and citizens commuting throught the mentioned railway station, accounting for >25 million passengers/year.
• Social: Significant improvement in the integration of sustainability related aspects in the planing of future railway stations and associated services.
Key aspect for further uptake and success will be the publication of the methodology and acceptance by key stakeholders, acting as ambassador to replicate the approach in different railway station and promote the methodology as de-facto industrial standard.
1. (O1.1) Deployment of 5 LLs and 3 case-studies
2. (O1.2) Impact analysis for the 5 LLs and 3 case-studies
3. (O2.1) Station model definition (SCP model)
4. (O2.2) Impact analysis tool
5. (O2.3) Evidence of impact creation for at least 5 UN’ SDGs
6. (O2.4) SCP model and EU-wide methodology
7. (O3.1) Summer school on urban planning
8. (O3.2) Open contest for solutions
9. (O3.3) European ecosystem application
10. (O3.4) 5 Roadshows
The expected impacts are
• Scientific: EU-wide model, methodology and tool for the effective and sustainable transformation of railway stations.
• Economic / Technological: Deployment of the LL in 5 railway stations beneficiating the regional economy and citizens commuting throught the mentioned railway station, accounting for >25 million passengers/year.
• Social: Significant improvement in the integration of sustainability related aspects in the planing of future railway stations and associated services.
Key aspect for further uptake and success will be the publication of the methodology and acceptance by key stakeholders, acting as ambassador to replicate the approach in different railway station and promote the methodology as de-facto industrial standard.