INNOVATION

What inno­va­tions are moving rail freight trans­port? The VAP pro­mo­tes the auto­ma­ti­on of rail freight trans­port and is repre­sen­ted in the pro­ject manage­ment of the migra­ti­on of the DAC (digi­tal auto­ma­tic coupling).

Thanks to the DAC, rail freight trans­port is beco­ming more effi­ci­ent, more pro­duc­ti­ve and empowered to inte­gra­te into the mul­ti­mo­dal logi­stics chains of the eco­no­my. With his moti­on 20.3221 “Trans­port­ing goods by rail more effi­ci­ent­ly through auto­ma­ti­on”, VAP Pre­si­dent and Coun­cil­lor of Sta­tes Josef Ditt­li pro­vi­ded the impe­tus for an imple­men­ta­ti­on and finan­cing con­cept for the auto­ma­ti­on and digi­ta­li­sa­ti­on of rail freight trans­port. Tog­e­ther with the Fede­ral Office of Trans­port (FOT) and the Asso­cia­ti­on of Public Trans­port (VÖV), the VAP has signed a decla­ra­ti­on of intent for the digi­ta­li­sa­ti­on and auto­ma­ti­on of Swiss rail freight trans­port. Num­e­rous com­pa­nies in the sec­tor have also declared their cooperation.

 

Media report:

Report by Zeit Online of 26.10.2021:

to the pro­ject page Auto­ma­ti­on Rail Freight Transport
Data platforms: Better cooperation, more competition

Data platforms: Better cooperation, more competition

13.09.2021 | Inno­va­ti­on, Mem­ber

In the Year of Rail 2021, we are focu­sing our atten­ti­on on the deve­lo­p­ment of so-cal­led data plat­forms in Ger­ma­ny. A first neu­tral data plat­form for com­bi­ned trans­port is to go live as early as 2022. All play­ers in com­bi­ned trans­port are to be invol­ved. The pro­ject is sup­port­ed by the Ger­man Fede­ral Minis­try of Trans­port and Digi­tal Infra­struc­tu­re (BMVI).

Aiming for opening to all providers

Under the aegis of the Asso­cia­ti­on of Ger­man Trans­port Com­pa­nies (VDV), a com­pa­ra­ble plat­form for wagon­load trans­port is curr­ent­ly being set up. The VDV has the sup­port of the Ger­man Che­mi­cal Indus­try Asso­cia­ti­on (VCI) for this pro­ject. In view of the deve­lo­p­ments in wagon­load traf­fic in Ger­ma­ny, the VCI, too, no lon­ger seems con­vin­ced of the per­for­mance of the lar­gest pro­vi­der. Just like us, the VCI does not seek sub­si­dies, but sees the solu­ti­on in ope­ning the mar­shalling yards and nodal sta­ti­ons to all pro­vi­ders. This is the only way to make stron­ger com­pe­ti­ti­on pos­si­ble in wagon­load traf­fic as well. With a neu­tral data plat­form, a net­work open to the mar­ket could be uti­li­sed much bet­ter and faster.

Goodbye to narrow-minded thinking

The sepa­ra­ti­on of rail trans­port into com­bi­ned trans­port and con­ven­tio­nal trans­port has never real­ly been com­pre­hen­si­ble. Gar­den-varie­ty thin­king is coun­ter­pro­duc­ti­ve and com­pli­ca­tes the over­all sys­tem. Sepa­ra­te boo­king plat­forms are an indi­ca­ti­on that the focus is not on an over­all sys­tem with an over­all bene­fit for the enti­re rail freight indus­try. Sus­tainable, com­pe­ti­ti­ve and end-cus­to­mer-ori­en­ted (rail) freight trans­port can only be achie­ved through the inter­ac­tion of all players.

That is why we are working inten­si­ve­ly on the idea of a plat­form for rail freight trans­port. In this con­text, we are in close cont­act with the VDV and its part­ner com­pa­nies for a plat­form for cross-bor­der com­bi­ned trans­port. Becau­se we are con­vin­ced that only plat­forms that are com­pa­ti­ble across Euro­pe will be successful.

Progress for automation in rail freight transport

Progress for automation in rail freight transport

23.03.2021 | Inno­va­ti­on, Inter­ope­ra­bi­li­ty, Poli­tics

The Coun­cils adopted the moti­on «Trans­port­ing more effi­ci­ent­ly by rail through auto­ma­ti­on» by VAP Pre­si­dent and Coun­cil­lor of Sta­tes Josef Ditt­li in the autumn or win­ter ses­si­on 2020. The Euro­pe-wide intro­duc­tion of digi­tal auto­ma­tic cou­pling, auto­ma­tic train pre­pa­ra­ti­on and other digi­tal plat­forms is a main prio­ri­ty. By 2022, the mem­ber sta­tes want to agree on a pan-Euro­pean imple­men­ta­ti­on strategy.

Automation of the last mile

VAP Pre­si­dent and Mem­ber of the Coun­cil of Sta­tes Josef Ditt­li had sub­mit­ted the moti­on 20.3221 «Trans­port­ing goods by rail more effi­ci­ent­ly through auto­ma­ti­on» on 4 May 2025. It calls for a con­cept for the finan­cing and coor­di­na­ted imple­men­ta­ti­on of tech­ni­cal inno­va­tions that in par­ti­cu­lar enable (par­ti­al) auto­ma­ti­on of the last mile in rail freight trans­port and sim­pli­fy the manage­ment of the road/rail inter­face in mul­ti­mo­dal logi­stics chains.

Based on Art. 10 of the Freight Trans­port Act (GüTG), the Con­fe­de­ra­ti­on can pro­mo­te invest­ments in tech­ni­cal inno­va­tions. In order to ensu­re inter­ope­ra­bi­li­ty, the finan­cing and coor­di­na­ti­on of a large-scale intro­duc­tion of new tech­no­lo­gies, coor­di­na­ted with Euro­pe, is indis­pensable, espe­ci­al­ly in sys­tem trans­port for the bund­ling of large quan­ti­ties. Howe­ver, this requi­res an indus­try-wide and inter­na­tio­nal­ly coor­di­na­ted concept.

Digital Automatic Coupling (DAK)

At Euro­pean level, a com­pa­ra­ble initia­ti­ve was taken with the «Digi­tal Auto­ma­tic Cou­pling Char­ter». On 29 June 2020, the final report for the crea­ti­on of a con­cept for the migra­ti­on of a digi­tal auto­ma­tic cou­pling sys­tem (DAK) for rail freight trans­port (SGV) was pre­sen­ted. The Ger­man Fede­ral Minis­try of Trans­port and Digi­tal Infra­struc­tu­re (BMVI) com­mis­si­ons and finan­ces the crea­ti­on of a con­cept for the migra­ti­on of a DAK in rail freight transport.

The DAK in rail freight trans­port is seen as a cen­tral ele­ment to increase the com­pe­ti­ti­ve­ness of rail freight trans­port com­pared to road freight trans­port. The big­gest chall­enge in intro­du­cing a DAK is to deve­lop and imple­ment a migra­ti­on stra­tegy that is sup­port­ed by all. The fol­lo­wing key data were used for the study:

  • Affec­ted by the migra­ti­on are: 432’000 to 485’000 exis­ting freight wagons and 17’000 trac­tion units
  • Pro­cu­re­ment costs of EUR 4’000 to 5’000 for a DAK
  • Con­ver­si­on costs of EUR 2,500 per freight wagon and EUR 5,300 per trac­tion unit
  • Pro­cu­re­ment and instal­la­ti­on of auto­ma­ti­on com­pon­ents per freight wagon: EUR 5’000
  • Total costs of an EU-wide migra­ti­on, inclu­ding auto­ma­ti­on com­pon­ents: EUR 6.4 to 8.6 bn.
  • Mone­ti­sa­ti­on of the bene­fits for the EU-27, incl. Switz­er­land, Great Bri­tain and Nor­way: annu­al bene­fit poten­ti­al of approx. EUR 760 million.
  • Pay­back peri­od in the base­line sce­na­rio: 18 years

Curr­ent­ly, four cou­pler manu­fac­tu­r­ers (CAF, Wab­tec, Voith, Dell­ner) are deve­lo­ping pro­to­ty­pes of a DAK. These will be instal­led in DB and GATX test wagons and tes­ted throug­hout Euro­pe by spring 2021. The aim is to agree on the cou­pler type in 2021 and to start with a migra­ti­on of the DAK in 2023/2024 at the latest. It is assu­med that a migra­ti­on should take six to eight years and be com­ple­ted by 2030.

Committed to technical innovation

The VAP has also signed the DAK Char­ter. It is com­mit­ted to the rapid and com­pre­hen­si­ve auto­ma­ti­on and digi­ta­li­sa­ti­on of rail freight trans­port as part of the 2017 «Memo­ran­dum of Under­stan­ding on the Pro­mo­ti­on and Imple­men­ta­ti­on of Tech­ni­cal Inno­va­tions in Swiss Rail Freight Trans­port» bet­ween the Con­fe­de­ra­ti­on, VöV and Cargo Forum Switz­er­land. SBB’s pilot pro­jects, which are made pos­si­ble and sup­port­ed within the frame­work of this agree­ment, should soon be brought to imple­men­ta­ti­on matu­ri­ty. In doing so, it is important to avoid half-hear­ted indi­vi­du­al solu­ti­ons and to trig­ger a coor­di­na­ted nati­on­wi­de auto­ma­ti­on initiative.

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