INDIGO+

Ministry of Infrastructure and the Environment, The Netherlands

Assigment

What is the feasibility and impact of three innovations in rail freight transport in the Netherlands: automatic brake control, train monitoring and digital automatic coupling (DAC) on the shunting, loading and unloading process.

Project summary

The INDIGO+ project examines what the impact on rail transport can be when applying the latest ICT technologies, specifically preparing for a "living lab" for intermodal transport on the Rotterdam-Venlo corridor. BCI and TNO examine the feasibility of the INDIGO+ innovations and make a plan for the roll-out of the systems. This feasibility study identifies available and yet-to-be-developed technical solutions, the possibilities and requirements for operational embedding, establishing the business and legal aspects, including business cases and financing possibilities, as well as analyzing the social impact. Reports were compiled containing the results of the various analyses of the feasibility aspects (economic, legal, technical and organizational), on the basis of which the implementation of the Living Lab can be launched seamlessly.

Our approach

The feasibility of the INDIGO+ innovations is examined through seven work packages:

1. Current processes and bottlenecks: analysis on what impact the innovations can have on the operational processes of rail freight transport. Among other things, which time gains can be achieved, what does this mean for rail products and rail markets.

2. Technical feasibility and costs: this examines the current state of all innovations, what developments there are and what the overall costs are.

3. Legal and safety aspects: analysis which legal consequences and/or thresholds exist when implementing the innovations. Also to identify any safety aspects involved in implementation.

4. Organizational feasibility: analysis of the impact on individual organizations in the logistics (rail) chains.

5. Added value per stakeholder: the innovations have a different impact on each chain party. This work package examines the impact per chain party

6. Social impact: analysis of the social costs and benefits generated by these three innovations

7. Setting up a living lab: working out how the innovations can be tested in a living lab in the Netherlands

The work packages are elaborated on the basis of results of previous studies conducted in European programs such as Europe's rail, DAC4U and on studies of individual components and on the basis of various working sessions with a large number of market parties.

Result

This research shows what contribution innovations in the rail freight process can make to improving competitiveness, to what extent new markets can be captured, and how the innovations can be tested on a small scale in actual rail operations to demonstrate the expected impact.