Overview
Intermodal transport lies at the heart of the Europe transport policy. In the 2011 White Paper on transport, the European Commission (EC) has stressed the relevance of intermodal transport.
In the past, intermodality has mainly been understood as related to the transfer of passengers between vehicles. Efforts have been undertaken in order to develop an intermodal infrastructure like railway stations at airports and transfer points with optimised transfer ways. Nevertheless fully integrated infrastructure has been an exception so far.
In addition, it is still unclear which level of intermodality is nowadays achieved. No proper measurement of intermodal behaviour exist, and no integrated statistical demand database exist. Transport statistics or surveys focus mainly on single modes and do not consider intermodality. So, user requirements in terms of intermodality, remain unknown.
HERMES project will provide development and analysis of new mobility schemes and associated organisational patterns at the interface and interconnection between long distance transport networks and local/regional transport network. Although these are conceptually simple operations, requiring only some real-time telecommunication, there are organisational and contractual difficulties in its realisation.
The first part concentrated on identification of the key requirements of the travellers, the corresponding services and necessary underlying company agreements to provide them, followed by a business plan for the operation. The second part of the project provided demonstrations in the selected corridors for a period of at least six months of field experience. The final product of the project is a handbook of recommendations based on the analytical part and on the demonstration part of the project.
Prototypes for the business model of the innovative services were developed and further tested in case studies for validation of its functional, economic and organisational aspects aiming to provide recommendations regarding enhanced co-ordination between decision-making levels on issues related to the interconnection of transport networks of different scales and modes, addressing institutional, legal, design, planning, technical and deployment aspects.
Various case studies supported the business models prototype designs. The case studies refer to long and short-distance transport examples. All modes of transport have been covered in different combinations, and can be grouped in three categories based on the type of the transfer terminal: airports, sea terminals and road terminals. The barriers for improved intermodality identified in the case studies either occurred within the terminal or were related with the intermodal links.
Two business model prototypes have been developed, for tackling the barriers at the terminal and at the intermodal links. These prototypes have been designed from the perspective of an agent interested in promoting the intermodal transport. These prototypes aim to improve the passenger’s transport quality or reduce the price. Furthermore, they aim to achieve benefits to the society through a better intermodality promoted by intermediary agents (e.g. private operators, public institutions).
Funding
Results
The main output of the HERMES project is the handbook of recommended practices for cross modal transport arrangements. The purpose of this handbook is to provide the reader with the necessary knowledge and tools when developing a business model for an improved intermodality. In particular, the handbook offers ready-to-use prototypes of business models for real world practitioners (including: transport operators, terminal managers, public authorities). The handbook blends theory with practice, thus offering a balanced piece of text that any practitioner could use in their daily operations.
Furthermore, the HERMES project developed several case studies. Three types of intermodal transfer points have been analysed: airports, maritime ports and stations. In terms of combinations of transport modes, these case studies have covered the majority of situations: e.g. air and road, air and rail, sea and rail, etc. In this way, the case studies provide an accurate and reliable picture of the current state of intermodality and interconnectivity across the EU.
Technical Implications
The HERMES handbook provides guidance to stakeholders (for instance, transport operators, terminal managers and transport authorities) to implement stable intermodal transport arrangements.
Other results
The project delivered interesting results. The state of the art on the interconnectivity between transport networks provides an interesting starting point for further studies, as well as serve as a reference guidebook. In addition key barriers, challenges to intermodality and provided solutions to overcome them, have been identified. This information can be useful to guide local, national and European authorities when developing policies and actions on this matter.