Computer-controlled freight 
platforms for a time-tabled 
rail transport system
 

 

FOURTH FRAMEWORK PROGRAMME
TRANSPORT RTD PROGRAMME
COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES
DIRECTORATE GENERAL VII
 

 
 
WHAT'S NEW September 1999, the project has finished. Please, read the deliverables.
BACKGROUND Road freight traffic today accounts for 90% of total domestic tonnage moved in European Countries and for 60% of intra EU-transport, because it is faster and more flexible than rail transport. 

Public authorities will need to modify the market structure to avoid the greater part of the freight transport growth occurring in the existing dominant mode, i.e. road transport, which, together with rail transport, represents the bulk of European freight movements. 

The average distance at which combined transport becomes more competitive with road-only transport is estimated to be in the region of 700 km. 

Given that most freight transport covers shorter distances, the future contribution of combined transport depends critically on increasing so that it can compete effectively on the shorter haul market. 

In the context of intermodality, the role of terminals is particularly important. Terminals are the vital interfaces which to a large degree will determine the competitiveness and utility of the transport system. 

For all the solutions, future rail-road terminals need computer system control in order to organise the transfer programs in advance, and down to the smallest details. Transfer programs thus organised will provide: 

  • time gains; 
  • less standby times; 
  • equalisation of flows; 
  • better use of all equipment in the transport chain. 

 
THE PROJECT PLATFORM will implement a simulation environment for the assessment of impacts produced by the adoption of different technologies and management policies to enhance terminal performances. The simulation environment will be used to analyse how to make combined transport competitive for long- and even medium-distance and thus lead to a substantial reduction of road-based transport. 

PLATFORM will produce a set of appropriate methodologies (including guidelines) and technical tools (agent-based scheduling and simulation) that will make the simulation environment attractive for both end-users and intermediate users concerned with the project. The environment will be modular and thus easily adaptable to different situations. 

The approach will address intermodal terminals for rail-road transfer based on a computerised control and management system. A smooth organisation for pre- and end-haulage, as well as the completely computerised management of terminal services, will be demonstrated through computer simulation of transport flows (modelling input and output streams of both rail and road) and terminal services. 

The simulation environment will be tested and evaluated in selected demo terminals available to industrial Consortium members (ADL, CEMAT, CONTSHIP, DSP, ESL, NOVATRANS). 

 
DELIVERABLES
  • Deliverable 1: User requirements and functions (de1a.zip, de1b.zip,de1c.zip, questionnaires.zip)
  • Deliverable 2: Dynamic order scheduling (d2.zip)
  • Deliverable 3: Design of the PLATFORM simulation environment (d3.zip)
  • Deliverable 4: Report of the implementation of the PLATFORM simulation environment (d4.zip)
  • Deliverable 5: Platform evaluation methodological framework (d5.zip)
THE PARTNERS
ITR Ingegneria dei Trasporti, Italy, Project Co-ordinator
ADL Asociation para el Desarollo de la Logistica, Technical Partner, Spain
CEMAT SpA Industrial Partner, Italy
CONTSHIP Italia Group  Industrial Partner, Italy
DFKI  Deutsches Forschungszentrum für Künstliche Intelligenz GmbH, Technical Partner, Germany (home page)
DSP Data and Systems Planning, Industrial Partner, Switzerland
ETRA Electronic Trafic Investigacion Desarollo, Technical Partner, Spain
ESL Euro-Saar Lor Groupement Logistique sarl, IndustrialPartner, France
FIT CONSULTING S.r.l Finance Investment Transport, Technical Partner, Italy
IDSIA Istituto Dalle Molle di Studi sull'Intelligenza Artificiale,Technical Partner, Switzerland (home page)
MILESTONES
January 1998 Start of the project 
June 1998 Guidelines for a computer-controlled freight platform for a time-tabled railway freight network 
Newsletter no. 1 (downloadable as Word 6 document (zipped), PostScript (gzipped), and Rich Text Format (zipped)).
July 1998  Installation of the PLATFORM WWW site 
December 1998  Terminal simulation module implemented 
Booking simulation module implemented 
Newsletter no. 2 (downloadable as Word 6 document (zipped), PostScript (gzipped), and Rich Text Format (zipped)).
April 1999 Integrated PLATFORM simulation environment implemented 
May 1999  PLATFORM Workshop
June 1999 Evaluation assessment of PLATFORM feasibility 
PLATFORM Final Report 
Newsletter no. 3 (downloadable as Word 6 document (zipped), PostScript (gzipped), and Rich Text Format (zipped))
End of the project 

Page created and maintained by IDSIA (angelo@idsia.ch) - Last Update 30 October 1999.