VEL-WAGON · Versatile, Efficient and Longer Wagon for European Transportation

Project VEL-Wagon will be a key milestone for the efficiency of intermodal freight wagons since it will demonstrate that fewer elements and less dead weight can result in the same or even more transport output. Coherently, the project will design a versatile platform element for a multipurpose function and intermodal use that will bring about an important gain of flexibility, accessibility and efficiency of railway services. The project will investigate the current status of the European freight railway market and, more importantly, it will look at the trend thereof and its associated logistics. In synchronisation, a wagon engineering activity will be launched for determining the final costs of a solution matching the market requirements. The basic working paradigm is the markets need for longer and lighter wagons with fewer axles. This has already been corroborated in a recent study commissioned by FERRMED and corresponds with the intermodal market trend of using increasingly longer intermodal loading units. Indeed, in advanced and modern logistics, due to the transportation of finished and semi-finished products, the value of the cargo has increased and its density has decreased. The project will examine the limits of light wagon construction and the future infrastructure response to the everyday-more-challenging railway traffic. The investigation will be initiated with concrete wagon concepts to be examined, namely, 4-axle rigid platforms of 80 to 90 feet length. The outcome will be a compromised solution between economic aspects and technical constraints. Intentionally, the result will pave the way for further investigations of max allowable axle load in Europe, since, in respect to infrastructure solicitation, fewer axles with somewhat higher load may be equivalent to more axles with regular load. The research intention of VEL-Wagon is necessary for understanding and paving the way for the future European transportation sustainability.