The NEAR2 Project: Network of
European – Asian Rail Research
Capacities
Annie Kortsari
Research Associate
Hellenic Institute for Transport
Project Profile
• Funding Scheme: Coordination and Support Action
(Coordination)
• Project budget: 887.003 €
• Starting date: 01/12/2012
• Duration: 24 months (ends in November, 2014)
• Coordinator: CERTH/HIT
• Consortium: 13 partners from 9 different countries and
from 2 different continents.
Project Partners
1. Centre for Research and Technology Hellas / Hellenic
Institute of Transport, Greece;
2. EURNEX Association, Germany;
3. Technical University of Berlin, Germany;
4. Czech Technical University in Prague, Czech Republic;
5. Vilnius Gediminas Technical University, Lithuania;
6. Moscow State University of Railway Engineering, Russia;
7. A-TRANS LLC, Russia;
Project Partners
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11.
Petersburg State Transport University, Russia
Tongji University, China
EIRC Consulting Private Limited, India;
State Higher Educational Establishment Donetsk Railway
Transport Institute of Ukrainian State Academy of
Railway Transport, Ukraine;
12. INSTYTUT KOLEJNICTWA, Poland
13. TRAINOSE METAFORES-METAFORIKES YPIRESIES
EPIVATON KAI FORTIOU AE, Greece
Another 8 Institutes and Universities, 3rd parties to EURNEX,
will also contribute to the Project.
NEAR2 World Wide Partnership
Background
• Long distance trade between the major centers of Europe
and Asia has played a major role since the antiquity.
• Nowadays, the trade between the two continents has
increased substantially, due to the development of Asian
countries, particularly China, India and Russia.
• Up till now maritime transport has taken over the major
share of these trade volumes, accounting to a fast growth in
maritime traffic at rates of over 6% per year.
• The vast increase of maritime transport causes some
serious problems, the most important of which is the
maritime traffic congestion that is observed between the
major maritime hubs creating also severe environmental
issues.
Background
• The shift, of at least part of the trade volume, to the land EUAsian corridors is essential, revealing new opportunities for
all modes, especially the railways.
• When it comes to long distance land routes going through
Asia and Europe, the railways, as well as the inland
waterways have a very advantageous position as they meet
transit needs and accessibility requirements for the
countries along the way more efficiently, despite any
missing links that need to be developed.
Focus
• Trans-Siberian route connecting the Russian Pacific ports of
Vladivostok and Nakhodka with Moscow
• TRACECA Corridor (TRAnsport Corridor Europe-CaucasusAsia) along the once called Silk Road
• Trans-Asian railway route through Turkey and Iran
Overall Concept
The aim of the Project is to engage:
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all the interested parties;
countries;
stakeholders;
and the rail research community
in a cooperation aiming to promote railway transport,
creating this way a notable alternative to maritime and
air transport.
Overall Concept
The ultimate goal is to create a Rail Research Network,
exploiting the structure and leveraging the achievements
of the existing European Rail Research Network of
Excellence (EURNEX), along the Trans-Eurasian land
bridge, engaging this way all the existing research centers
in a continuous and fruitful international cooperation.
Overall Concept
• The project will capitalize the existing rail research network
of EURNEX.
• EURNEX successfully turned from an EC funded project
(2004-2008) into a self-standing legal entity since 2007.
• It comprises 48 scientific institutes in the area of transport
and mobility all over Europe.
• EURNEX is the first and only research cluster of excellence
to underpin the European Research Area in the rail sector in
EU27 and Russia, while it has also proved its capability to
enlarge, with the participation of non-EC country partners.
Overall Concept
The scientific institutions participating in EURNEX have been
clustered in 10 different thematic categories/ Poles.
These Poles are the following:
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8.
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10.
Strategy and Economics
Operation and System Performance
Rolling Stock
Product Qualification Methods
Intelligent Mobility
Safety and Security
Environment and Energy Efficiency
Infrastructure and Signaling
Human Factors
Training and Education
Project Objectives
• Identification of rail research centers along the relevant
corridors and engagement of them in a cooperation forming
a Trans-Eurasian rail research network;
• Formulation of specific working groups inside the Network,
based on the categorization in Poles or fields of expertise;
• Development of a web inventory of Network members;
• Identification of important technology issues, gaps in the
existing knowledge and barriers to interoperability;
• SWOT analysis of rail research collaboration;
Project Objectives
• Definition of future research needs and industry oriented
policy recommendations;
• Formulation of 10 Concept Documents, 1 per pole;
• Validation of the 10 Concept Documents by an extended
research group and by members of the industry;
• Creation of a Publication including the Executive Summaries
of the 10 validated Concept Documents and translation in
Russian and Chinese;
• Liaise with other research projects funded under relevant
topics and platforms.
Major Expected Outcomes
• Establishment of the NEAR2 Rail Research Network along
the Trans-Eurasian Land bridge;
• Formulation of the 10 Concept Documents examining issues
such as:
• Technology needs and knowledge gaps,
• Transport policy
• Systematic understanding of market needs
• Interoperability and
• Resilience of infrastructure
• Validation of the 10 Concept Documents by experts from the
research community and the industry.
MOWE-IT
Management of Weather Events in the
Transport System
Project Profile
• Funded: FP7 Programme
• Project budget: 1.641.564€
• Starting date: 01/10/2012
• Duration: 24 months (ends in September, 2014)
• Coordinator: VTT
• Consortium: 12 partners from 8 different countries
Main Goal
To mitigate the impacts of natural hazards (NH) and
extreme weather events (EWE) on transport system
performance by identifying modal substitutability
opportunities during such phenomena for:
• Short-term and Long-term (up to 2070)
• Passenger and Freight Transport
• Air, Rail, Road and Maritime Transport
Methodology
Creation of a database that contains EWE and NH related
information:
• The occurrence probability of EWE and NH on selected
cities and on their connections
• The impact assessment (in terms of generalized costs) of
EWE and NH on selected cities and on their connections
• The substitution cost of connections between cities
• The contribution of specific actions towards the
robustness of the future European Transport System
Methodology
Occurrence probability of events at connections
• per mode (air, rail, road, maritime)
• per event (wildfire, floods, other EWE and NH)
• per type of transport (passenger, freight)
Impact assessment measured in:
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Breakage of connections (infrastructure, maintenance and service costs)
Other transport supply related performance indicators
Delays (transfer time, waiting time)
Other transport demand related performance indicators
Identification of substitutability for vulnerable connections:
• Quantification of costs for alternative modes connecting cities
• Quantification of share of passengers selecting each available alternative
Quantification of actions’ contribution towards the robustness of
the European Transport System measured in:
• % decrease of impacts at cities and their connections
• % decrease of the “vulnerability” of connections