SUSTRAIL – The sustainable freight railway: designing the freight vehicle – track system for higher delivered tonnage with improved availability at reduced cost – is a European research project and aims to contribute to a new era in increased competitiveness of the rail freight sector by adopting a holistic approach, implementing a clear methodology and viable procedures for a combined improvement in both freight vehicles and track components.
This deliberate approach has been conceived and will be developed to achieve innovations in both vehicles and rail infrastructures. New design (including aerodynamics) models and novel lightweight materials with a targeted increased in speed and axle-load will be implemented for freight vehicles, as well as optimised geometry, ground stabilisation and novel monitoring techniques will be adopted for higher reliability and reduced maintenance of the track components.
The benefit will be an increased performance of the whole rail freight system (vehicle plus track), which will be assessed and quantified through the implementation of appropriate life cycle and costs analyses.
Finally, business cases will be produced to demonstrate that the contributions, solutions and innovations that SUSTRAIL aims to introduce in the railway sector are viable on real route