Railcoach or rail-infrastructure coach...?
For several years now, rail coaching has been increasingly mentioned as a tool for promoting rail freight transport, particularly in political structures dealing with transport policy issues.
A ‘rail coach’ is generally understood to be a consulting service provided by the public sector for all potentially interested parties in rail freight transport. However, the specific nature of this service varies, not least depending on the political agenda being pursued. The spectrum ranges from a far too narrow interpretation of purely establishing contacts to detailed consulting and project support. The latter essentially represents comprehensive, ‘neutralised’ consulting for a (rail) logistics provider and cannot usually be provided by publicly funded rail coaches (at no cost).
A sustainable solution to transport problems that is beneficial for the companies involved in terms of process fit and financial result can only be achieved by using rail as a mode of transport, if the gap between the process requirements of shippers and producers and those of transport logistics, in this case primarily the railways, can be birdged. Paying attention to the small details without losing sight of the big picture is therefore a task that may require very different, individual approaches.
Examples for a "rail coaching":
Task:
Against the backdrop of increasing emissions from heavy goods traffic, the economic developers and mayors of a number of towns and municipalities in a region with a strong SME sector along a railway line that is now only used occasionally for rail freight transport were looking for ways to make rail transport more attractive to shippers again in the future.
Objective:
To highlight the approaches required to revitalize rail freight transport, as well as the operational and infrastructural prerequisites, using specific transport examples.
Approach:
The starting point for all further considerations was the creation of a ‘Can Do!’ atmosphere, i.e. eliminating the fear of the seemingly overwhelming complexity of rail transport and demonstrating that even relatively simple measures can get things moving and do not necessarily require high investment sums. Subsequently, following tasks were adressed:
- Evaluation of existing infrastructure and operational conditions.
- In-depth potential analysis.
- Definition of necessary measures to upgrade infrastructure conditions through selective, minimalist infrastructure development and management (transhipment, pre- and post-carriage, etc.).
- Definition of a concept for reliable supply and distribution by a regional railway company.
- Based on the above measures: price quotation and all-in rail/road transport concept for a manufacturing company with approx. 10,000 tonnes per annum of input materials from a supplier 300 km away.
