Overview
The project Smart Transport Corridor (STC) between Helsinki and St. Petersburg aims to improve sustainable mobility and effective flows of goods by systematically utilising advanced ITS services. The Smart Transport Corridor covers all modes: road, rail, sea and air and addresses both personal and freight transport including also ports and terminals and border crossings.
The main objectives of the Smart Transport Corridor development are:
- To enable smooth, safe, secure and sustainable mobility and transport on the
- corridor and to improve border crossing operations effectiveness.
- To introduce smart services and solutions based on advanced measures and
- technology in problem solving for the fulfilment of various user group
- requirements and needs.
- To define an infrastructure for collecting and managing the data as an open
- platform for all stakeholders and users to enhance the take-up of intelligent
- services and advanced traffic management.
- To enhance cooperation between public and private stakeholders in both countries in solving the transport problems in the corridor and utilising the emerging business opportunities and fostering the growth of economies.
- To increase competences, skills and know-how of Intelligent Transport Systems
- deployment in both countries.
The project has three different methodological sections:
Analyses of economic development, and studies of freight and passenger transport. Economic analyses were done using a macroeconomic simulation model of ETLA, which was used to analyse a baseline scenario and alternative scenarios of economic development in the Russian Federation. The results were utilised to construct the level of export and import of goods for 2020 and 2030. These flows were further analysed by the Frisbee-model through presentation of the flows on a transport network according to cost optimization principles.
For passenger transport the cross-border traffic was analysed using a model of
interaction, where two types of travelling zones were identified.
Funding
Results
The project reulted in following conclusions:
The project teams have agreed that the Smart Transport Corridor Concept should include all modes of transport and ultimately integrate them into a seamless, sustainable and well-functioning system, consisting of all relevant services to different user groups. However, the development should start with road transport, which has major opportunities to deliver fast benefits to many users and operators.
Both Finnish and Russian relevant public and private organisations should obviously be involved in this cooperation to ensure success. In the starting phase the involvement of the public sector is of utmost importance because of its leading role in transport and ability to cater for prerequisites to business and other necessary operations. Experience has shown that the cooperation models should be developed both within countries and in-between countries.
There are several ITS services available in Finland and Russia, however, they are mainly implemented in national languages only and it is currently very challenging to find an appropriate services across and on the other side of the border.
The STC Concept should be dynamic and adaptive, so that new needs and opportunities can be integrated into the system when they are identified.
The development and implementation of the STC Concept has to be a step-by-step process, starting from the most urgent needs and areas where the prerequisites are identified and agreed upon by all of major stakeholders.
An open data approach is still in its early phases in both countries and cross-border data sharing needs common agreement. Hence, step-by-step access considerations and actions should be started from the most potential data sources owned by the authorities and the scope should then gradually be widened for service development in the corridor.