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

Projektinformationen

Pods4Rail

ID Finanzhilfevereinbarung: 101121853

DOI

10.3030/101121853

Projekt abgeschlossen

EK-Unterschriftsdatum 28 Juli 2023

Startdatum 1 September 2023

Enddatum 30 Juni 2026

Finanziert unter

• Climate, Energy and Mobility

Gesamtkosten

Keine Daten

EU-Beitrag

€ 2 999 983,10

Koordiniert durch

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)

Berichtszeitraum: 2023-09-01 bis 2024-12-31

Zusammenfassung vom Kontext und den Gesamtzielen des Projekts

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.

Arbeit, die ab Beginn des Projekts bis zum Ende des durch den Bericht erfassten Berichtszeitraums geleistet wurde, und die wichtigsten bis dahin erzielten Ergebnisse

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.

Fortschritte, die über den aktuellen Stand der Technik hinausgehen und voraussichtliche potenzielle Auswirkungen (einschließlich der bis dato erzielten sozioökonomischen Auswirkungen und weiter gefassten gesellschaftlichen Auswirkungen des Projekts)

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.