freightwise.info NEWS

Freightwise Online Survey

noreply@blogger.com (tzunder) — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 12:15:00 +0000

We are writing to ask for your assistance with the FREIGHTWISE research project, which is part-funded by the European Commission. This aims to promote the modal shift of cargo flows from road to intermodal transport. It will do this by improved management of intermodal transport chains and better information access and exchange between organisations across all business sectors and transport modes.

This short survey is for decision-making tools for transport planning. This will help us to develop configuration guidelines for a decision support tool for effective and efficient planning of the supply chain. There is a survey for Transport Users and one for Transport Service Providers.

Your contribution to our surveys will help to ensure that the results of the FREIGHTWISE project, and future European Commission policy, fully reflect the needs of the freight industry.

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=VnVRlJ_2bd6TnfU6GmhucqJw_3d_3d

http://tinyurl.com/mjqmej

Lords European Committee Report gives strong support for full liberalisation of the rail freight market.

noreply@blogger.com (tzunder) — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 12:26:00 +0000

Full separation of infrascture manager from train operators, effective independent regulation with requirements for cross-border co-operation, mandatory rules and multi-annual contracts for infrastructure managers, full open access to sidings and facilities with a regulatory appeal mechanism are among the recommendations in this hard hitting Report on the failure of European railways to achieve the single market in rail freight for which legislation was first introduced in 1994.

The Report urges the European Commission to ‘pursue infraction proceedings vigorously’ against member states who have failed to implement the First Railway Package (2001) so that ‘the aim of an open and competitive rail market can be achieved and international rail freight can be encouraged further’.

RFG Chairman Tony Berkeley gave evidence to the Committee and commented ‘The Committee’s Report, based on a wide range of evidence from those involved in international rail freight, must add pressure on the European Commission to progress much faster to complete the process of creating a single market for rail freight across Europe.’

Specifically, the Report states that the European Commission must:

- move forward urgently on the infractions proceedings against those member states who are still not complying with the First Railway Package, which dates from 2001.

- Publish their proposed Recast of the First Railway Package to put right those issues which are seen to be ineffective and incomplete.’

In addition, RFG calls on the UK Government, whose evidence largely supports the findings of the Committee, to press hard for the faster progress on these issues. In his evidence to the Lords Committee, Transport Minister Lord Adonis said ‘We are at the forefront…of the measures to strengthen the liberalisation of the European markets. We have been arguing strongly for this at the European level…and we will engage intensively to see that any proposals that the Commission wishes to make, which will strengthen the process of achieving liberalisation of the European freight markets, are carried into being’.

Tony Berkeley commented: ‘this is a great commitment by our Government to enable UK businesses to operate and invest across Europe; we urge the Government to engage on these issues right now. No doubt the Select Committee will wish to examine progress by the Government in this regard when this Report is debated in the Lords in due course.’

Further information – RFG Chairman Tony Berkeley 07710 431 542

Report by House of Lords European Union Committee – Recast of t he First Rail Freight Package, 2 June 2009.

Copy of Report:

http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/ld200809/ldselect/ldeucom/90/90i.pdf

2009-06: High Speed Trains in South Eastern Europe

noreply@blogger.com (tzunder) — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 14:02:00 +0000

www.sofiaecho.com/2009/06/01/728376_high-speed-trains-in-southeastern-europe

2009-06: UK rail sector looks to the future

noreply@blogger.com (tzunder) — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 11:23:00 +0000

Planning ahead’, a paper published by Network Rail, the Association of Train Operating Companies (Atoc) and the Rail Freight Operators’ Association (RFOA), laid out goals to increase rail’s freight share by 20% by 2030, while doubling the available capacity on the network.

Page: http://bit.ly/2W8mzw

Document: http://bit.ly/Fo3fs

2009-05: Railway Gazette: SNCB reforms intermodal freight (link)

noreply@blogger.com (tzunder) — Fri, 01 May 2009 09:52:00 +0000

http://bit.ly/19YsYe

2009-05: NS may lose its stations

noreply@blogger.com (tzunder) — Fri, 01 May 2009 09:39:00 +0000

NETHERLANDS: Further reforms are needed to open up the rail market, according to a review commissioned by Transport Minister Camiel Eurlings.

A committee chaired by former minister Winnie Sorgdrager was asked to consider the relationship between NS, ProRail and the state. Its report, Over 't Spor, was published on April 4. This found that NS retained too much control, and new operators such as Veolia and Syntus were too dependent on the state-owned company. NS has a protected monopoly of domestic passenger services on the core network until 2015, and its subsidiary NedTrain still maintains most trains for smaller operators.

Despite the fact that NS is itself competing in other European markets, Sordrager felt that ProRail and NS were too firmly rooted in an inherited government mindset, and had ‘cultural problems’ accepting new entrants at home. As NS was not genuinely independent, its operational and strategic objectives would inevitably influence its relationships with other operators. She believed that NS at least needed ‘a complete change of business practice’.

http://bit.ly/16cnIU

2009-05: Business Case H: South West

noreply@blogger.com (jki) — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 08:55:00 +0000

Ignacio Marín, Fundación CTIC

Partners in Business Case H have defined an information system which is now being developed, in order to fulfill the needs of ArcelorMittal for the transport of containers across the European Atlantic and the Mediterranean Sea. These needs include the dialogue with information systems provided by the different stakeholders in the chain of intermodal transport. Some of these information providers are maritime shipping companies (by means of the INTTRA system offered free by a consortium of these companies). The combination of a collaborative development among LogIT Systems (by means of their D2D software), Fundación CTIC (creating a software infrastructure that isolates D2D from the complexity of ArcelorMittal information systems while communicating with shipping companies via INTTRA), and ArcelorMittal (introducing Business Case requirements plus their knowledge of the internal processes of the company) is now offering the first prototypes for a holistic solution to the needs of ArcelorMittal in the North of Spain supplying cargo to customers all over Europe, based on the FREIGHTWISE Framework. Another partner, Novacom, has joined this Business Case in order to provide their cargo tracking solution, so the logistics team of ArcelorMittal can have detailed information about the location of containers and their cargo. Novacom is working hand-in-hand with LogIT Systems and ArcelorMittal to supply a module allowing updates for the actual location of cargo in real-time. The system will make use of MT3300 devices with GPS and temperature sensors, low power consumption, resistance to adverse environments and bidirectional information transmission via satellite. Simplified installation is one of the important requirements for ArcelorMittal operators to easily deal with the process of mounting the devices on containers.

One of the key requirements of the final information system is ubiquity. Different participants in Case H will be able to easily access information, no matter when or where they need it. Mobile devices will be used in order to consume and provide information to the information system in development. In this way, ArcelorMittal staff might immediately notify the mounting of a tracking device to a container at the very moment and place when and where it is taking place; different personnel in the different port stopovers for vessels might notify the reception and forwarding of containers in-the-field; or even administrative staff at ArcelorMittal, being queried by a customer about the state of a shipment by means of a (mobile) phone call, would be able to find an answer in real-time. Fundación CTIC and LogIT Systems are defining the interfaces for any mobile device with wireless or cellular data connectivity to interact with the software infrastructure in development. CTIC will provide the requirements for a solution based on device independence and considering typical problems of users on-the-go, like limited data input mechanisms or accidental loss of connectivity.

2009-04: Case F - Elbe:Project cargo is a logistic challenge

noreply@blogger.com (jki) — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 08:55:00 +0000

Lars Källström, BMT

FREIGHTWISE Elbe Business Case looks into new ways of visualizing the progress of the complex pattern of items arriving by road, rail and inland waterway from production sites in Eastern Germany and the Czech Republic to the export terminal of Wallmann in Hamburg. The terminal cooperates with Deutsche Binnenreederei and Sächsiche Binnenhäfen Oberelbe to improve their service to shippers like Siemens and to specialized overseas shipping lines as Rickmers. A great number of parts of different sizes and different weights – some weighing more than 100 tonnes – from different manufacturers around Europe must be brought together by different modes on time for shipment to their final destination. During a workshop in Dresden at the end of January the Elbe Business Case demonstrated the LogIT D2D transport chain management tool with an implementation of the status messages as defined in the FREIGHTWISE Framework. It was shown how the tool could be used to assist the project manager to follow up the status of all transports converging on the terminal in Hamburg. Status information contained not only actual time in relation to schedule but also updates on weight and size of every item. The latter information is required to assess if the complicated stowage plans for the overseas vessel are still valid.

The demonstration was well received and the Elbe Business Case is now looking into the realization of the tool in a “real” running project. Internet-technology in combination with the FREIGHTWISE Framework promises to make it easy to include new partners providing or receiving information directly from/to their in-house systems, thus efficiently assisting stressed project managers.

2009-04: e-freight conference

noreply@blogger.com (tzunder) — Sun, 26 Apr 2009 19:30:00 +0000

The European Commission held a conference on "Creating a Roadmap for e-Freight for Freight Transport Logistics" in Brussels on the 17th March 2009. Organised by the Directorate General for Transport and Energy the event was one of many key actions to implement the Freight Logistics Action Plan developed by DGTREN in 2008 as the EU recognised the importance of the subject, especially under the German presidency of the Commission in the first half of 2007. The plan looks to further paperless communication, standards and standardisation in this area, a truly broad remit. The event began with a series of presentations on or around the subject, a questionnaire and then break-out sessions to address the commercial and policy issues of such a plan.

Presentations were made as follows:

Frederic Leger The eFreight system of air freight
Jan Tore Pedersen ARKTRANS - Scandinavia's freight logistics eFreight system
Jozef Hupperetz eCustoms
John Berry Research in the EU of eFreight related projects
Stephen Harley Shipper's eFreight vision
Alan Waller - Brian Bolam The commercial conditions and opportunities of eFreight
Erik Evtimov Interoperability CIM and SMGS
Christos Pipitsoulis The EU e-Maritime initiative
Helene Köpf INTElligent inteGration of RAILway systems
John Lutz Technical Specification for Interoperability Telematic Applications for Freight (RAIL)
Paolo Paganelli Creating an e-Freight Roadmap for Freight Transport Logistics Background
Jan Tore Pedersen Freightwise Making intermodal transport simple
Jan Prahm e-freight Conference 2009 Survey

The survey found that the event was keen for progress to be made in this area, with a noteable minority stating that it should be led by industry and not the EU. Over 150 delegates attended and the presentations and survey results are avaiable here: http://www.aimgroup.eu/2009/e-freightbrussels/

2009-04: Haenel urges change at SNCF

noreply@blogger.com (tzunder) — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 11:17:00 +0000

FRANCE: Anyone studying French railway policy over the last 20 years will find that one name stands out as a supporter of proposals to steer strategy towards a more commercial and viable future. That name is Hubert Haenel, Senator for Haut-Rhin, who, since he chaired an inquiry into SNCF in 1993, has become something of a rail specialist. He was instrumental in the policy that saw the regions take over responsibility for local services and since then has authored a series of reports on other aspects of rail policy.

2009-04: Freight trains to use High Speed 1 from 2010

noreply@blogger.com (tzunder) — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 10:54:00 +0000

UK: DB Schenker Rail (UK) announced on April 16 that it had signed an agreement with HS1 Ltd to develop TVM software modifications enabling Class 92 electric locomotives to operate on High Speed 1, the high speed line from the Channel Tunnel to London.

Infrastructure owner HS1 Ltd and DB Schenker have also agreed outline terms for a track access agreement in anticipation of the commencement of freight services on High Speed 1 in early 2010. 'This initiative will allow full-size European rail freight vehicles to move between the UK and the rest of Europe', said Graham Smith, Planning Director for DB Schenker 'It will open up a massive market for cross-Channel rail freight, delivering major environmental and economic benefits'.

HS1 Ltd will ensure that the modifications are available to all Class 92 owners wishing to operate over the high speed line. Eurotunnel subsidiary Europorte 2 has five Class 92 locomotives bought from Eurostar in 2007.

http://bit.ly/CkU13

2009-04: FREIGHTWISE will be at Transport Logistic

noreply@blogger.com (jki) — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 13:07:00 +0000

FREIGHTWISE will be at Transport Logistic at the New Munich Trade Fair Centre from 12-15 May 2009. The FREIGHTWISE project will be demonstrating the FREIGHTWISE Framework on its stand at Transport Logistic at the New Munich Trade Fair Centre from 12-15 May 2009. Transport Logistic is the 12th International Exhibition for Logistics, Telematics and Transport. It is the world’s largest logistics exhibition and is a popular gathering for highly capable transport service-providers and decision-makers in the industrial and research sectors and from trade associations. If you are attending the exhibition come and see us at Stand 425. More information at: www.transportlogistic.de

2009-03: InteGRail at Railtech - only 1 week left

noreply@blogger.com (jki) — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 14:17:00 +0000

InteGRail will present its results on 31 March 2009 at Railtech in Utrecht/The Netherlands. As the project is ending in March 2009 this half day conference will be the very last opportunity to see the overall concept of the integrated information platform and its applications, as it was developed in the EU funded research project InteGRail (Intelligent Integration of Railway Systems).

From now on Railtech is offering a 25 % reduction of the 295,- EUR registration fee, i.e. 221,- EUR per participant.

Herewith you find the link to the conference programme http://www.europoint.eu/events/?railtechconferences/936.

For information on the InteGRail project please have a look at www.integrail.info or www.integrail.eu

2009-03: Corridor X in 35 h

noreply@blogger.com (tzunder) — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 12:18:00 +0000

19 Mar 2009

EUROPE: Headed by two gleaming black locomotives, the Bosphorus Europe Express pulled into the Halkalı Container Terminal in Istanbul’s western suburbs on the evening of March 17, just 35 h after setting out from Ljubljana at 08.30 on the morning of March 16.

http://www.railwaygazette.com/f_single/article/2009/03/9444/corridor_x_in_35_h.html

2009-03: D.Bahn 08 long-distance traffic profits double

noreply@blogger.com (tzunder) — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 17:22:00 +0000

BERLIN, March 15 (Reuters) - German rail operator Deutsche Bahn [DBN.UL] doubled its profits from passenger traffic in fast IC and high-speed ICE trains in 2008, sources familiar with the data said on Sunday.

Business in the long-distance passenger traffic as well as short distance travel had come in better than expected last year despite the economic crisis, the sources said, without providing concrete figures. Freight business had come in weaker than previously seen.

A spokesman for Deutsche Bahn declined to comment, saying Bahn results were due on March 30.

http://www.reuters.com/article/rbssIndustryMaterialsUtilitiesNews/idUSLF5037220090315

2009-03: French Rail's Freight Losses Widen

noreply@blogger.com (tzunder) — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 17:16:00 +0000

Bruce Barnard | Mar 11, 2009 8:43PM GMT
The Journal of Commerce Online - News Story

Slump in steel, auto traffic drives $430 million loss for SNCF

London -- France's state railway, SNCF, on March 11 reported losses at its freight unit widened to a record $430 million in 2008 from $328 million the previous year as core traffic plunged in the final quarter.

SNCF said higher regional and international passenger traffic was offset by stagnating cargo revenue which it blamed on "the slowdown and then the collapse in volumes in the final quarter."

SNCF's cargo business, Europe's second largest after Germany's Deutsche Bahn, saw volume decline 25 percent in December with an even steeper fall in its steel and auto shipments, its main markets.

Arcelor-Mittal, the world's biggest steelmaker, halted French shipments for a month from mid-December.

http://www.joc.com/node/410056

2009-03: ICT and Transport Logistics Links

noreply@blogger.com (tzunder) — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 11:45:00 +0000

TAF/TSI Initiative at UIC
http://www.uic.asso.fr/uic/spip.php?rubrique882
EURIDICE Intelligent Cargo
http://www.euridice-project.eu
INTEGRAIL Integrated ICT for the railway domain
http://www.integrail.eu/default.htm

2009-03: INTEGRAIL

noreply@blogger.com (tzunder) — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 11:33:00 +0000

ABOUT INTEGRAIL

InteGRail is an Integrated Project, that is a research project addressing a wide number of coordinated objectives in a specific domain. The project is partially funded by the European Commission.

InteGRail deals with railway information systems and their integration for improved overall efficiency and performance of the future European railway system.

http://www.integrail.eu/default.htm

2009-03: Report on e-Freight Conference

noreply@blogger.com (jki) — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 11:57:00 +0000

A report on the "Creating an e-Freight Roadmap for Freight Transport Logistics" conference which was held in Brussels on 17 February 2009 has been published on Euractiv.com. Click on this link for the whole article http://www.euractiv.com/en/transport/ict-expected-improve-efficiency-freight-logistics/article-179584
A survey was carried out on the day by NewRail and Tutech on stakeholders views on eFreight.

2009-02: Validation of the Freightwise Framework (D17.2) - a report on progress by Yannis Tyrinopolous

noreply@blogger.com (jki) — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 11:39:00 +0000

The first phase of the Freightwise Framework (FWF) validation was devoted to the assessment of the usefulness, acceptance and technical completeness of the FWF by selected stakeholders-members of the Freightwise business cases. These stakeholders expressed their satisfaction and acceptance of the Framework; they made however, useful and concrete comments that will facilitate its completion. Two of the most important aspects examined across all four elements of the FWF are: a) the level of coverage and b) the simplicity of all four FWF elements. The most important finding is the effective coverage of stakeholders’ types, transport and business processes, information flows and messages used in the current intermodal freight transport by the corresponding FWF elements. This mainly applies to the Information Packages due to the satisfactory level of coverage of the fields and attributes of the messages currently interchanged between the various parties in the transport chain by the FWF.

Enabling simplicity is a major goal of Freightwise. Therefore, this aspect of the FWF was thoroughly examined. The major outcome was that more effort must be placed in the Information Packages. The interviewees expressed a great need for simplifying the business and transport transactions and procedures, and the analysis demonstrated the major difficulty in developing messages that will significantly reduce the existing complexity.

The validation report also draws some recommendations, based on the FWF validation results, for the next version of the FWF. The efforts should be placed in the following aspects:

Sufficiency of the standardized format of messages
Simplicity of messages and interfaces
Harmonization of messages serving co-modality
Facilitation of communication between stakeholders

2009-02: Intermodal Innovation Day Conference

noreply@blogger.com (jki) — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 09:46:00 +0000

Intermodal Innovation Day Conference Istanbul, Turkey, February 12-13,

The coordination action PROMIT (Promoting Innovative Intermodal Freight Transport) and the European Intermodal Association (EIA) are happy to invite you to the Intermodal Innovation Day Conference with subject "Sustainability and efficiency through intermodal best practices".

The conference will take place in Istanbul, Turkey, on February 12-13, 2009. Reserve these days in your business calendar!

Attached, please find the draft Conference programme and additional useful information.

Please register online through the website: www.promit-project.net.

On the website you will also find recommended hotels for your accommodation with special rates for the conference.

DO NOT MISS THE OPPORTUNITY TO PARTICIPATE IN THE INTERMODAL EVENT OF 2009

2009-02: Christina Paschalidou reports on Case South East (G)

noreply@blogger.com (jki) — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 08:39:00 +0000

The objective of Case G is to develop and promote solutions that improve the ability to absorb increased freight transport demand through the harmonisation of information exchange and processes, and the integration of advanced and appropriate technologies (GIS, XML, web-services, RFID, barcode), while maintaining interoperability with existing IT solutions.

A re-engineered business model has been developed providing plans for the operation of the case covering processes, information, organisation and technology specifications in order to be used as a basis for implementation according to the FWF requirements. Also the use and applicability of the information packages for Case G were defined after the last release of the FWF and certain scenarios were selected to be implemented. These activities resulted in the delivery of D22.G.1 Re-engineered business model; its final version was submitted at the end of Year 2 (month 24) incorporating modifications made in the second release of FWF.

WP23 activities started some months ago with adaptation of the technical specifications in order to provide integration of the FW system with the ICT solutions currently used by the industrial partners.

Finally, evaluation activities led to the respective Deliverable (D25.1 Zero State Case G) which included the expectations of each partner from the project, the quantitative and qualitative indicators which should measure each objective, the comparison between the current and target level in order to analyse the above indicators and the examination of the technical and organisational feasibility of new services and applications.

2009-02: A Report on Progress on the FREIGHTWISE Requirement Generator (WP12) by Christina Paschalidou

noreply@blogger.com (jki) — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 08:38:00 +0000

The objectives of WP 12 are to provide a broad and integrated definition of stakeholder requirements that can be mapped onto the emergent FREIGHTWISE Framework, to identify aspects already covered and highlight the ones that the market demands, to establish a formal requirement structure for the FREIGHTWISE Framework architecture, and to develop a high-level model by providing a reality check linking the outcomes of the business cases with the a priori generated requirements.

A revised version of the Deliverable D12.1 Previous RTD projects findings and EU policy was officially submitted at the end of Year 2 incorporating the results of a survey and review of industry initiatives.

Additionally, the WP team provided a reference document (D12.3 Requirement handbook) in the form of a "checklist" guiding interested parties through the development of an intermodal transport monitoring solution. The original design and requirements are reconciled by the actual implementations resulting from the needs of the project case partners and augmented with additional information emerging from the demonstrations. This report was revised and officially submitted at the end of the project's 2nd year, while a second release is expected to be issued when new requirements might have been raised from the appliance of the framework to pilots.

The High Level formal model (D12.4) uses the reference handbook from D12.3 and formalises it in three top level framework models. A first release was delivered in the first year and was revised during the second according to the comments received after the technical review. Release 2 is expected to be issued by the end of the 3rd year after the appliance of the framework.

2009-01: INTEGRAIL Final Conference 03 March 2009, Brussels

noreply@blogger.com (jki) — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 12:05:00 +0000

The InteGRail consortium is pleased to invite you to its Final Conference which will take place 03 March 2009, 10h00 – 16h30 in Brussels. The conference will present the results of the EU funded R&D project InteGRail (Intelligent Integration of Railway Systems) which will end in March 2009.

Over the last four years, the 39 partners (railway system suppliers, railway operators and research institutes) developed a reference platform for an interoperable information system to promote seamless railway transportation in Europe. The conference will present the technology of this InteGRail Information System (IGRIS).The highlight will be the live demonstration of the pilot-applications that are running on this platform. The successful tests of these applications in different locations in Europe in 2008 proved that the platform is capable of improving communication between railway operators, thus optimising the performance of the rail system on an international scale.

Please block the dates in your diary. You will receive an update of the agenda and logistics information in February.
For information and registration, please visit www.integrail.info and www.integrail.eu, or otherwise please do not hesitate to contact us directly.

2009-01: Deutsche Bahn buys largest private-sector rail freight operator in Poland

noreply@blogger.com (tzunder) — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 12:02:00 +0000

POLAND: Deutsche Bahn announced on January 30 that it had reached agreement to purchase PCC Logistics, the largest private-sector rail freight operator in Poland. The deal was signed in Warszawa by DB Chairman Hartmut Mehdorn, Board Member, Logistics, Norbert Bensel and the founder of PCC Group Waldemar Preussner, and is subject to regulatory approval.

Further details at:

http://www.railwaygazette.com/news_view/article/2009/01//db_schenker_buys_into_polish_freight_market.html