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Project duration:  01/12/1998 – 31/03/2000
Report date:  May 2000

Project funded by the European Commission under the
Transport RTD Programme of the 4th Framework Programme

RECONNECT was a task of the 4th Call in the 4th Framework RTD Programme.

All documents with the status "public" have been subsequently made available via the project homepage, which is accessible at
www.etsu.com/reconnect/reconnect.html

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Background

Congestion on road and in the air is, at present, possibly the greatest single problem of transport policy in Europe. The economy is growing and transport is in parallel growing even faster. This has consequences for the volume and the quality of transport, is threatening the environment and entailing risks for safety. In addition, the European Union is one of the most densely populated areas in the world and a lack of space is emerging. Congestion is producing intolerable costs and problems. This situation is calling for a reflection on possibilities to find new ways of transportation, using less surface space, enhancing safety, being more environmentally friendly, consuming less energy and being more efficient. Modern society is requiring high tech solutions characterised by a high degree of reliability. Industry and research are developing new ways of transportation which respond to most of the requirements mentioned.

Objectives

The strategic research study RECONNECT - "Reducing Congestion by Introducing New Concepts of Transport" - aimed to identify, analyse and assess new means of transport in different generic categories with particular respect to their potential to ease congestion and promote sustainable mobility. Particular objectives have been:

• to describe and analyse the potential of new means of transport to ease congestion in Europe's transport systems and also to contribute to the objectives of sustainable mobility;
• to show the new concepts technical and financial feasibility;
• to identify suitable geographical areas/corridors for optimal function;
• to assess the impacts of the new concepts on the environment, safety, reliability, efficiency, acceptability and employment;
• to identify the technical, legal and financial requirements for realisation, and the opportunities for adaptation of existing laws and standards.

Key results

This final report presents a concise overview of the potential of selected new transport concepts to overcome ground level congestion. In particular, it summarises the project's findings regarding expected improvements in the relevant areas of congestion as well as the applicability and feasibility of the new concepts in the European transport system.

Congestion areas

Several new transport concepts for passenger and/or freight service have the potential to reduce congestion and promote sustainable mobility. These concepts aim at different traffic problem or "congestion areas", characterised by geographical, infrastructure or organisational levels and reflecting a considerable range of overall importance. RECONNECT introduced the definition of "congestion areas" to allow for clustering of new means of transport, independent of the vehicle type, mode or transport concept, as shown in the table below.

Key contributing concepts

Apart from important improvements in road and rail based ground transportation systems, considerable leaps forward can be expected from three principal modes of transport:

• elevated public transport of all sizes;
• underground systems, but not the microtunnel concepts in particular; and
• lighter-than-air vehicles that offer unique transport capabilities and serve medium priority areas at improved efficiency and environmental performance.

The RECONNECT assessment methodology, building on experience from the strategic FANTASIE project and structuring transport systems in 19 generic classes, allows for transfer of singular findings to a wider context. To make best use of available resources, this study focused on key representatives of transport concepts, based on the pre-selection of 21 "most promising" new means of transport.
The main conclusions of the assessment work regarding the key representatives of new transport concepts are:

• High capacity elevated passenger transport systems such as the H-Bahn Dortmund and the Wuppertaler Schwebebahn (combined with new technologies) offer good congestion reduction potential in urban and inter-urban environments, where they are suited to become the backbone of public transport systems. Smaller concepts such as the Cable Liner are better suited for feeder and shuttle services.
• Underground concepts such as the Underground Logistics System (ULS) provide an efficient means of freight distribution and intermodal freight handling. They rely on automated and driverless electric vehicles that run in tunnels, and require moderately expensive new infrastructure.
• Airships naturally target niche applications and allow for point-to-point operations in freight and passenger transport. Here, the CargoLifter (CL 160) is a prominent example of an innovative logistic solution in bulky and heavy cargo transport, aiming at replacing a whole shipment chain. Other versatile airship vehicles such as the Rigid Airship Design (RA-180) may also contribute to improved traveller intermodality in remote regions.

Perceived barriers for market success

A set of barriers has been investigated to understand the underpinning obstacles for new transport concepts that may delay or ultimately hinder market penetration, namely:

• the information barrier;
• regulatory and legal barriers;
• technical barriers;
• financial and commercial barriers;
• societal barriers; and
• decision-making barriers.

Financial and commercial hurdles pose the biggest obstacle. However, this clearly depends on the area of application. Public transport options typically involve expensive development cycles, and require the financial commitment of local or regional authorities for improved market access. In contrast, tailor-made concepts often attract private investors, therefore generating sufficient funds for costly ventures. The story of the CargoLifter is proof for this approach.
Regulatory and legal barriers are also of major concern and often reflect shortfalls in the decision-making process. This is particularly true for radically new designs and hybrid concepts. For example, transport users and regulatory bodies have strong reservations against fully automated and driverless operation.
Finally, the technical realisation of new ideas is found to be an obstacle for entirely new concepts, especially telematics based applications and collective transport systems.

Recommended actions to overcome barriers

To overcome the barriers for market penetration, the necessary measures and actions need to involve all stakeholders. The recommended actions are (by barrier and in order of concern):

• Financial and commercial barriers: initial "seed" funding (e.g. government, private sector with vested interests); wide-spread introduction of public-private partnerships (PPP); improved commercial marketing of new systems;
• Regulatory and legal barriers: early involvement of all possible stakeholders; improved co-operation between different modes of transport; creation of low emission zones in sensitive areas; properly addressing the quality aspect in transport service; speeding up of legal procedures by installing a special government agency for legal aspects of new transport concepts (e.g. strategic rail authority);
• Decision-making barriers: co-operation and exchange of information; active participation of all decision-makers in pilot and demonstration projects to show the potential of a new system;
• Information barrier: using new media such as the Internet and utilising existing European information channels to enhance dissemination; involving potential users in pilot and demonstration projects involving new transport concepts;
• Technical barriers: continued research, development and demonstration of innovations; consensus-building amongst industry and technical certification bodies in terms of standardisation;
• Societal barriers: better marketing by showing the benefits (service level improvements, comfort, safety); fair and open-minded assessment of effects, early involvement of transport users (in particular fleet operators, passengers).

Key RTD needs

A principal field for European RTD is to advance the market introduction of the most promising concepts by increasing certainty and reducing production costs. The relevant areas of research are:

• vehicle drive-lines (electric propulsion, hybrid propulsion, person-powered propulsion);
• lateral and longitudinal vehicle guidance;
• construction of vehicle bodies of new concepts to current and future legislative standards (e.g. recycling);
• vehicle equipment (e.g. Information Technology and Communication);
• operations control and Telematics;
• automated road and rail infrastructure;
• environmental costs and benefits of new concepts;
• noise and safety effects of new concepts.

In addition, further research work is necessary for underground infrastructure technologies, namely:

• ground exploration;
• tunnel driving;
• mucking;
• tunnel lining;
• standardisation of dimensions.

On a more generic level, note that RTD work is mainly necessary to overcome technical barriers, especially for concepts that are up to now in an early stage of development. Furthermore, research work can help to spread the application of promising concepts that are fairly well developed or even fully operational by cutting down their high investment costs and ensuring proper marketing.

Recommended EC research studies

From the experience of this study, the following activities are proposed:

• An in-depth research study on the new means of transport identified in RECONNECT, FANTASIE and other technology assessment studies. This should focus on a refined class characterisation, detailed technology assessment as well as cost-benefit analysis of the most promising classes, based on the sophisticated framework of RECONNECT (which in turn is based on FANTASIE).
• Targeted (exploratory) assessment studies and thematic networks on:
• small underground tube systems for freight transport;
• elevated automated guided passenger transport of various cabin sizes;
• airship technology based concepts with new and unique transport capabilities for people and goods.
• Targeted pilot and demonstration projects of the most promising ground level concepts ready for market introduction in the near future:
• road based people movers;
• individual public transport;
• automated vehicle guidance;
• man-wide cars.

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