Concept Development of a System for Pods and Pod-Carriers to be used as Moving Infrastructures mainly for Rail, but as well for Road and Ropeways

Project Information

Pods4Rail

Grant agreement ID: 101121853

DOI

10.3030/101121853

Project closed

EC signature date 28 July 2023

Start date 1 September 2023

End date 30 June 2026

Funded under

• Climate, Energy and Mobility

Total cost

No data

EU contribution

€ 2 999 983,10

Coordinated by

SIEMENS MOBILITY GMBH
Germany

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - Pods4Rail (Concept Development of a System for Pods and Pod-Carriers to be used as Moving Infrastructures mainly for Rail, but as well for Road and Ropeways)

Reporting period: 2023-09-01 to 2024-12-31

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

The Pods4Rail project aims to achieve the vision of a rail based fully automated supermodel mobility system for passengers and goods, which is standardised, scalable and suitable for all transportation modes, as set out in ERRAC's "Rail Strategic Research and Innovation Agenda" of December 2020. The project Pods4Rail, which started in September 2023 with 15 partners form 7 EU countries.

The concept of carriers as “moving infrastructure” being in use most of the time can also help to reduce the number of vehicles and increase the efficiency of the railway system with the objective to make operation more cost-effective and efficient on the one hand through autonomous, lighter vehicles. The challenge for the project lies in developing the appropriate solutions and in addressing the new needs in existing transport regulations. Different use cases for passenger and freight services are addressed considering individual and collective transport.

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

Based on the inspiring idea, the possible system was defined, the normative and regulatory framework as well as the resulting safety aspects were analysed, possible use cases were described, a SWOT analysis was carried out, the economic framework for a possible realisation of such a system was analysed, and a high-level functional requirements specification was developed.

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)

Further research is necessary to implement this new intermodal transport system considered in the Pods4Rail project, particularly given the estimated timeframe of approximately 20 years for its realisation.
Implementing the system concept in the field of public passenger transport is only possible with public national or European funding.