Overview
SELF PROP RAIL will bring to the market self-propelled bulk carriage designed for resource-efficient (re)construction of railway infrastructure.
SELF PROP RAIL contributes to enhancing resource-efficient (re)construction of railway infrastructure. The project will bring to the market a new, innovative self-propelled bulk carriage that does not need a locomotive for shuffling and moving during cargo unloading processes and at the same time can discharge required amounts of construction materials precisely where needed.
The objectives of the project are as follows:
- To reduce resource needs (deployment of locomotives) in railway construction and reconstruction by up to 20% in the project area in the next 5 years
- To reduce energy consumption related to railway construction and reconstruction by up to 20% in the next 5 years
- To reduce carbon footprint and pollutant emission during railway construction and reconstruction by up to 20% over the period of the next 5 years
- Environmental impact (incl. energy consumption, CO2 emissions, acidification, eutrophication, photochemical oxidant formation) will be reduced by 20%, and by 60% 2-years after the end of the project. The table summarizes the environmental impacts of using self-propelled carriage vs. current methods during and 2 years after the project.
WP 1: Management
The first work package relates to management and coordination of project.
WP 2: Product verification and life-cycle assessment
The second work package is related to conducting all necessary testing of the self-propelled bulk carriage for obtaining TSI (Technical Specification for Interoperability) certificates and conducting a life cycle assessment (LCA).
WP 3: Obtaining TSI certificates, the EPD, and maintaining the patent
In order to overcome the biggest markets barriers facing the self-propelled carriage, through this WP, there will be used the results of the previous WP to apply for the TSIs (Technical Specification for Interoperability) and the environmental product declaration (EPD).
WP 4: Marketing and Communication Activities
In work package 4 external environmental analysis will be done in order to understand product's external environment. This will be followed by marketing plan and action plan (communication activities).
WP 5: Business Plan and Exploitation
Work package 5 includes preparation of business plan.
WP 6: Dissemination Activities
Work package 6 will be done by all project partners and this WP cover resources to contribute, upon request by EACI, to common dissemination activities and a final evaluation with the goal to increase synergies between projects supported by eco-innovation initiative and to increase their visibility. This WP also includes project specific dissemination activities among target groups and general public.
Results
In project SELF PROP RAIL, the consortium brought a new, innovative self-propelled bulk carriage to the market that does not need the locomotive for shuffling/moving during the process of cargo unloading.
The self-propelled bulk carriage is a resource efficient way of (re)construction of railways. The carriage saves energy, human resources and shortens the time of transportation and unloading. It is cost and time efficient, it enables point-to-point transportation, and there is no need for cost-intensive cargo manipulation machinery for freight handling or time-intensive coupling and reloading processes.
The physical location of this production will be in Railway Carriages Factory Cakovec (RZV) in Croatia. The business is located on one of the most important railway routes in Europe which is an advantage for marketing since the accessibility is increased. RZV is a medium-sized company with a production capacity of 100 units/year. It is possible to raise capacity to 500 units/year via a production cluster.