F4 (NRP 41) - Technical perspectives of rail transport
Overview
Background & policy context:
The NRP 41 was launched by the Federal Council at the end of 1995 to improve the scientific basis on which Switzerland's traffic problems might be solved, taking into account the growing interconnection with Europe, ecological limits, and economic and social needs. <?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = 'urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office' />
The NRP 41 aimed to become a think-tank for sustainable transport policy. Each one of the 54 projects belongs to one of the following six modules:
- A Mobility: Socio-institutional Aspects
- B Mobility: Socio-economical Aspects
- C Environment: Tools and Models for Impact Assessments
- D Political and Economic Strategies and Prerequisites
- E Traffic Management: Potentials and Impacts
- F Technologies: Potentials and Impacts
- M Materials
- S Synthesis Projects
Objectives:
The strong growth of mobility (in the sense of physical transport of passengers and goods) in the recent decades produced an intense increase of traffic-caused pollution, while the acceptance of this pollution has decreased. Even though railways appear as a powerful and ecologically solution. <?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = 'urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office' />
Hard competition between rail, road and air transport has decreased the railways importance in the passenger traffic market severely.
An increase of the railways market share is necessary and is under way by introducing high-speed trains. But to increase the importance of railways overall Europe further efforts are necessary and are partly under way. Current progresses are based on intense research in different branches.
An overview and the identification of possible combinations of these developments is hardly possible and complicated due to the very long life of the elements in the railway system. Often, the benefit for the whole railway system is not in the foreground.
Priority must be a customer orientated and demand based offer of the whole public transport service.
The current research has to focus on the needs and demands of the potential future traffic market and a corresponding position of the railways in the whole public transport chain.
Methodology:
This study is split into two main parts: <?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = 'urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office' />
- The first part analyses today's traffic market in the long distance passenger transport. The future developing of this market is being elaborated with scenarios over two steps up to 2017. The results are being summarised in a catalogue of requirements with the main goals 'competitiveness' and 'ecological friendliness'.
- The second part contains the analysis and assessment of technical developments till 2017 in view of the requirements elaborated in the first part. The variety of possible developments is being outlined and the market opportunities and environmental impacts considered.
The aim of the overall view and prospective study is to analyse the technical developments of rail transport (especially in the long distance passenger traffic) in the next 20 years.
For that, the application and its market effects should be examined not only in Switzerland, but also in the whole European rail transport market. Technical contributions to the general demand of a better market position of rail transport should be shown.
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