MOVINGRAIL News flash: two deliverables submitted
The MOVINGRAIL deliverable D4.1 “Market Potential and Operational Scenarios for Virtual Coupling” evaluates the attractiveness of Virtual Coupling (VC) for different market segments (high-speed, main line, regional, urban/suburban, freight) and defines operational scenarios for each of them. A SWOT analysis identifies main strengths and weaknesses of the Virtual Coupling concept and corresponding opportunities and threats to each specific railway market segment. The research relies on a Delphi method with an extensive survey of expert opinions and stated travel preferences assuming VC has been implemented. The survey involved subject matter experts of the wide European railway industry including infrastructure managers, railway undertakings, system suppliers, transport authorities, railway institutions, private consultants and academics.
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MOVINGRAIL deliverable D4.2 Submitted
The MOVINGRAIL deliverable D4.2 “Cost-effectiveness Analysis for Virtual Coupling” introduces a Multi-Criteria Analysis framework for assessing impacts of train-centric signalling in the operational, technological and business domains. Specifically Virtual Coupling (VC) and Moving Block (MB) signalling are compared in terms of eight key criteria and benchmarked with respect to the current state of practice for the different rail market segments identified by the S2R MAAP (i.e. high-speed, main-line, regional, urban and freight). Quantitative criteria include total costs, infrastructure capacity, system stability, travel demand and energy consumption. Qualitative criteria instead relate to public acceptance, regulatory approval and safety. The MCA shows that in the case that VC and MB reached the same technological maturity and safety levels, then Virtual Coupling would outperform MB for all market segments and especially for freight and regional, given that the provided train service flexibility would facilitate larger modal shifts of the customer demand.
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