Impressions of the publication of the declaration of intent on automation

Next Stop: Container Terminal Basel Wolf

On 28 Sep­tem­ber 2021, the signa­to­ries publicly pre­sen­ted the decla­ra­ti­on of intent for the auto­ma­ti­on of Swiss rail freight trans­port. The occa­si­on was a stop of the “Con­nec­ting Euro­pe Express” – a spe­cial train of the EU for the “Year of Rail” – at the con­tai­ner ter­mi­nal Basel Wolf. This spe­cial train con­vin­ces the tran­sit count­ries in Euro­pe of the fea­si­bi­li­ty of auto­ma­tic coupling.

Click here for the video with the com­ple­te inter­views.

Joining forces for the future

Tog­e­ther with the Fede­ral Office of Trans­port (FOT) and the Asso­cia­ti­on of Public Trans­port (VöV), we at the VAP have signed a decla­ra­ti­on of intent for the auto­ma­ti­on of Swiss rail freight trans­port. The long-term major pro­ject star­ted on 1 Octo­ber 2021 with the pre­pa­ra­ti­on and imple­men­ta­ti­on of the migra­ti­on of the screw cou­pler to the digi­tal auto­ma­tic cou­pler (DAC). Back­ground infor­ma­ti­on on the decla­ra­ti­on of intent can be found here.

Revolutionary technology

At the event at the Basel Wolf con­tai­ner ter­mi­nal, BAV Direc­tor Peter Füg­lis­ta­ler, VAP/UIP Board Mem­ber Per-Anders Ben­thin (CEO TRANSWAGGON AG), Dési­rée Baer (CEO SBB Cargo AG) and Dirk Stahl (CEO BLS Cargo AG) from VöV pre­sen­ted the decla­ra­ti­on of intent to their guests and the media. They empha­sis­ed that the DAC will revo­lu­tio­ni­se rail freight trans­port. Espe­ci­al­ly for the actors in the logi­stics chain, it pro­vi­des indis­pensable real-time data for a high-qua­li­ty and thus com­pe­ti­ti­ve per­for­mance. Final­ly, the hosts demons­tra­ted the simp­le cou­pling pro­cess to the inte­res­ted audience.