WORK PROGRAMME Surface Transport
Reference number and call topic:
SST.2012.2.4-2: The role of rail in the European transport system in response to major disruptions
Title of proposed project: a Work Package within a project proposal
Objective of the project: ZAG, together with its collaborators: Slovenian railways and Railway traffic
Institute would identify possible risks affecting Slovenian territory and possible arrangements and
operational solutions in adaptation of railway transport to changes in need for increased use of
railway transport in a limited period of time. Analysis of capacity of existing railway infrastructure
and its shortcomings would be necessary.
Short description of the problem addressed: Slovenia lies in the central part of Southern Europe,
crossed by most of traffic corridors including road transport, sea air and railway transport. As such it
is affected by all major disruptive events in countries along these corridors.Since railways are the
least vulnerable transport to most of climate risks in Slovenia (since the sea transport is limited),
Slovenia is highly interested in upgrading its railway infrastructure. The first step is just running – the
design of high speed train from the main Slovenian port into the central part of the country and from
there further on to the East. The major part of the trace will run through tunnels, which means
besides steady climatic conditions also a better resistance to the earthquake risks. This project, when
finished, will drastically raise the capability of Slovenian railway transport also in cases of major
disruptions elsewhere.
Short description of the project:
 Identification of most common and most disruptive risks for Slovenian railway system
 Analysis of existing capabilities of Slovenian railways passenger (and freight) transport and its
possibility of taking over unexpected higher loads today and in the future
 Assessment of impact of a major disruptive event in a country laying along one the transport
corridors on Slovenian railway system functioning
 Analysis of safety of Slovenian railway system in extreme conditions (traffic loads, disruptive
events, climatic changes,..)
 Assessment of measures and costs for substantial improvement of railway system in close to
middle future
Timescale: The project could be developed within 3 years.
Details of non-FEHRL partners required: two partners are foreseen:
 the Slovenian Railways – the only operator of Slovene Railway infrastructure
 the Railway traffic Institute – the daughter institute of the Slovenian Railways
Expected Impacts:
 develop a better basis for strategy of construction of the new railway cross in Slovenia –
choice of lines
 ensure a better basis for raising of motivation of relevant Slovenian structures for railway
maintenance
 ensure a more robust rail network
 reduce delays and improve safety of passengers.
CONTACT: ZAG: (partner)


Borut Petkovšek – borut.petkovsek@zag.si;
Karmen Fifer Bizjak – karmen.fifer@zag.si
WORK PROGRAMME Surface transport
Reference number and call topic:
SST.2012.5.2-2. Next generation tools for optimised infrastructure asset management
Title of proposed project: a Work Package within a project proposal
Objective of project
To optimise management of railway structures, primarily older bridges, with methods developed in
the road sector.
Short description of problem being addressed / need being satisfied
Rail infrastructure, particularly in some countries (New Member States, candidate countries, but also
some western European countries as Ireland…) is in general over 150 years old. In the meantime the
loads have increased while the rail authorities have not been able to invest sufficient resources into
maintenance and upgrading or their asset. Using the traditional (design) analytical methods many of
the existing bridges are assessed as unsafe which generates tremendous pressure on the budgets to
keep the routes opened. Better assessment methods would likely prove that many old railway bridges
are safer than it seems.
Short description of project
Although traffic loading on railway bridges is much better defined than on road bridges, structures
themselves are rather similar. Especially the older ones do behave in a more efficient way than it is
generally considered using more traditional theoretical analytical approaches. In some recent FP5 and
FP6 projects (SAMARIS, ARCHES) rather simple methods were developed that can measure real
behaviour of bridges and incorporate it in structural modelling. These methods are easy to use and
cost-effective and therefore suitable also for smaller yet problematic bridges, where traditional
considerably more expensive monitoring (load testing) procedures would not be considered. If
analogy with road bridges is considered, tremendous savings can be expected by keeping opened
bridges that would otherwise have to be closed or load limited.
Timescale
3 years.
Details of non-FEHRL partners required
Experts in assessment of rail bridges, normally from the railway companies.
Expected impacts
 More efficient use of existing road infrastructure
 Considerably less costs for upgrading of the old bridges
 Less load limits on old rail tracks
 Exchange of knowledge between road and rail sector
CONTACT:
ZAG, ales.znidaric@zag.si
WORK PROGRAMME Surface Transport
Reference number and call topic:
TPT.2012.1-1. Forum to help implement the future orientation of the overall transport system as
defined by the White Paper
Title of proposed project:
Objective of project
Short description of problem being addressed / need being satisfied
research will address:
 EU research needs to address the full cycle of research, innovation and deployment in an
integrated way through focusing on the most promising technologies and bringing together
all actors involved. Innovation can also play a role in promoting more sustainable behaviour
 The efforts towards a more competitive and sustainable transport system need to include a
reflection on the required characteristics of the network and must foresee adequate
investments: EU transport infrastructure policy needs a common vision and sufficient
resources.
 Identify relevant actors and their strategic and visionary documents to be involved in the
Forum and put them and their ideas together and find common agreement with same
approach for implementations of goals from the white paper, with a common view and the
direction to the overall transport system.
 Results of the forum input should improve the existing ‘Strategic Transport Technology Plan’
Short description of project
 research to address topics how to first create a forum and to put together the relevant
stakeholders
 collect the transport sector view and analyse opinions of particular relevance to meet the
goals of the White Paper and comment the existing initiatives that are already oriented in
realisation of the goals of the White Paper
 analyse the forum opinion and prepare more exact actions for realisation of the White Paper.
The analyses must give special attention to the research and innovation activities, in addition
to any coordination and support measures needed for realisation of the goals of the White
Paper
 As an example relevant topics in line with goals of the White Paper goals 1, 3, 4 and 8 of the
White Paper require concerted action of stakeholders and the activation of different policy
measures
Timescale
The project to be undertaken over two or three years.
Details of non-FEHRL partners required
Some partners from outside of FEHRL would need to be included in the consortia or communicated to
get the relevant information-opinion:
 Technology platforms and other associations within different series of systems in the road
infrastructure and transport sector comprising many actors
 authorities at local, national and EU level
Expected impacts
 Road map with actions representing the whole transport system and relevant stakeholders to
achieve relevant goals defined in the White Paper.
 A detailed strategic outlook into the future European transport system envisaged by the
White Paper, influencing the development of concrete policy proposals.
ZAG: Bojan Leben – Bojan.leben@zag.si (interest in contributing to FEHRL activities)
WORK PROGRAMME Surface Transport
Reference number and call topic
TPT.2012.1-2. Transport infrastructure impact on international competitiveness of Europe
Title of proposed project:
Objective of project
In the proposed project we would like to find a system where indicators of quantification will be
defined to analyse qualitatively and quantitatively the infrastructure projects. The system will then
be able to define the relationships between infrastructure investments and the impacts on economic
growth.
Short description of problem being addressed / need being satisfied
Short description of project

It is to explain the relationships between infrastructure investments and the impacts on
economic growth and with a indicators of quantification of infrastructure investments better
understand or distinguish better investment projects with those with a little added value
 List of indicators to be applied should follow elements of the white paper document and
elements of ‘Strategic Transport Technology Plan’ like:
o Has a project an application of “user pays” and “polluter pays” principles and private
sector engagement to eliminate distortions, including harmful subsidies, generate
revenues and ensure financing for future transport investments
o is the project in line with the EU aims at halving road casualties
o can operator of the investmentapply the framework for a European multimodal
transport information, management and payment system
o the deployment of smart mobility systems developed through EU-funded research
 intelligent transport systems (ITS),
 the air traffic management system of the future (SESAR),
 traffic monitoring and communication services.
Possible indicators listed here are not listed in priority order.
Timescale
The project can be undertaken over two or three years.
Details of non-FEHRL partners required
Most of the research can be done within member institutes, maybe some economical experts can be
involved in project consortia but input from some of the associations within the sector can help in
improving the proposal.
Expected impacts
We will be looking to provide a better understanding of the relationships between transport
infrastructure, competitiveness and economic growth.
ZAG: Bojan Leben – Bojan.leben@zag.si (interest in contributing to FEHRL activities)
WORK PROGRAMME Transport , Environment
Reference number and call topic:
TPT.2012.2-2. Reduction of the vulnerability of the European Transport System to extreme weather
events and natural disasters
and
ENV.2012.6.1-3 Strategies, costs and impacts of adaptation to climate change - FP7-ENV-2012-twostage
Title of proposed project: Adaption of european road network to the climate changes
Objective of project
The adaptation of transport system (railway, roads) to the climate change is one of the most
important challenges in the future. Reliability and transportability of roads is essential for the safety
of traffic and economic development every country.
Short description of problem being addressed / need being satisfied
Climate change in Europe will also affect the transportability of roads and their quality. Higher
temperatures mainly in the central part of Europe will lead to faster deterioration of asphalt road
surfaces. Increase of annual precipitation will affect tin the higher level of groundwater. Some of the
roads, especially in the lowlands and along the coast will be flooded by several times in a year. In the
northern part of Europe the higher temperatures will thaw the unbound roads. In spring time that
roads will be unsafe and untransportable.
The climate change will also lead to larger numbers of extreme events such as floods and storms. This
will cause flooding of roads and triggering of landslides along the roads. Some research was already
done in the project ERA NET P2R2C2.
Short description of project
 detail map of climate change for Europe
 analyses of material behaviour with the considering of the climate changes
 analyses of different pavements for the climate changes
 proposal for building of new climate change adapted pavement
Timescale
The project will normally be undertaken over two or three years. State the length of your proposed
research.
Details of non-FEHRL partners required
For a project to stand a chance of success there must be a wide group of partners and skill. State
which partners would be required from outside of FEHRL, University for climate change prediction (
details which has the most influence on the roads in railways). Using GIS for data presenting and
modelling.
Expected impacts
 developing a new material for road construction
 higher safe of the roads
 lowe rcosts for roads maintenance and construction
CONTACT:
ZAG, Karmen Fifer Bizjak ; karmen.fifer@zag.si
WORK PROGRAMME Security
Reference number and call topic
Topic SEC-2012.2.1-1 Resilience of large scale urban built infrastructure - Capability Project
Title of proposed project: Operational framework for determination of the most vulnerable
sections of road network (determining the most vulnerable road transport infrastructure against
man-made threats and severe natural influences)
Objective of project
To determine the most vulnerable parts of a state road network in regard to man-made threats and
sever natural influences. In order to do that we need a solid framework (guidelines) with which we
could survey the transport infrastructure to make a list of certain sensitive structures or parts of road
network.
Short description of problem being addressed / need being satisfied
Security issues of transport in Slovenia are not very high on the agenda of road authorities, however
EU Directives force the states more and more to deal also with that aspect of transportation. In fact in
Slovenia just now a legal framework for regular transport infrastructure safety inspections is being
prepared, that must be fully operational until 2013 (according to the EU Directive 2008/96/EC).
Violent threats against transport infrastructure, vehicles and passengers are becoming almost
everyday news around the world, luckily not so much yet in the EU. Emergency situations due to
severe weather conditions are also becoming an integral part of state road network operators.
Our proposal for project is based on the fact that there are certain sections of road transport network
that are more vulnerable to this extreme events than others. In order for a road manager to more
efficiently cope with such situations, he needs to have those sections identified, so he can channel
more funds into their protection. From the project we are expecting to produce a kind of
“operational framework” (guidelines) on how to identify critical transport infrastructure on a state
road network.
Possibly that same framework would (with some minor modifications) also be useful for determining
certain critical infrastructure or transport buildings in urban areas.
Short description of project
 Defining the criteria of what makes a road infrastructure critical
 Creating the measuring scale for assessing the infrastructure according to the proposed
criteria
 Formulate the operational guidelines on how to perform the security-vulnerability check to
determine critical infrastructure
 If possible, perform a pilot (test) check on a certain road network section in one of the partner
states
Timescale
Probably that would be a two years project.
Details of non-FEHRL partners required
Most likely we would need to obtain some information from infrastructure owners (National Road
Administrations - NRAs) and operators.
CONTACT: ZAG, Bine Pengal: bine.pengal@zag.si, Bojan Leben: bojan.leben@zag.si
WORK PROGRAMME NMP
Reference number and call topic
NMP.2012.1.2-1, Nanotechnology solutions for in-situ soil and groundwater remediation
Title of proposed project:
In-situ nano-remediation of polluted water sediments and their use in road construction
Objective of project
In situ remediation of anthropogenically polluted marine, river and lacustrine sediments, their
extraction and beneficial use in civil engineering (mainly in road construction) and for landscaping
improvements.
Short description of problem being addressed / need being satisfied
In cases when sediments are heavily polluted with soluble toxic contaminants, in-situ remediation is
requested. Nanomaterials/nanotechnologies could be an efficient tool to replace/improve current
practices/materials.
Short description of project
- comprehensive characterization of sediments in selected typical water bodies, where
sediment accumulation has the greatest impact on their operation, with an emphasis on
determining the degree and type of anthropogenic pollution,
- determination of optimal in situ- remediation technologies for individual types of
anthropogenically contaminated sediments (according to their particle size, mineralogical
type and the degree of contamination) using nanotechnology,
- evaluation of the applicability of removed remediated sediments for use in the construction
industry,
- monitoring of the long-term immobilization of heavy metals in bound building composites.
Timescale
Three years.
Details of non-FEHRL partners required
Consortium of research institutes, industry, SME and infrastructure owners.
Expected impacts
-
optimization and developing new methodological approaches in the field of safe reuse of
contaminated sediments
waste as a new source of materials instead of raw materials,
strengthening a waste treatment economic sector (possibility of creating new jobs)
the project results will help in developing legislation
reducing energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions
CONTACT:
Ana Mladenovič – ana.mladenovic@zag.si
WORK PROGRAMME NMP
Reference number and call topic :
NMP.2012.2.2-6
Photocatalytic materials for depollution
Title of proposed project: Photocatalytic coatings for de-pollution
Objective of project
In order to lower the pollution from transport emissions, photocatalytic coatings, based on nano TiO2
could be applied. Nano-titania is photo-catalytically active in the presence of UV light and can attack
organic compounds and lead to their degradation and to their total mineralization to carbon dioxide.
It also decompose NOx.
Short description of problem being addressed / need being satisfied
In big cities there is a huge problem arising from the air pollution. The extend of the pollution could be
reduced by application of photocatalytic coatings which decompose organic dirts and NOx.
Short description of project
- selection of the possible nanotitania agents (commercially available, laboratory prepared)
-testing of photocatalytic efficiency by means of different methods (decomposition of organic
compounds, self-cleaning ability..)
- application on different substrate and monitoring the efficiency (in-lab, on site)
- testing of durability of such coatings
Timescale
Three years, since in situ application and monitoring require certain time.
Details of non-FEHRL partners required
- suppliers of nanotitania coatings (preferably SMEs); but it can be also obtained on the market. In
case modifications are needed it is better to have them as partner.
- national authorities which would allow in situ application and monitoring
Expected impacts
- lower the level of pollution (decomposition of carbon species, and NOx)
- extend the frequency for cleaning (spend time and money)
CONTACT: ZAG, vilma.ducman@zag.si
WORK PROGRAMME Environment
Reference number and call topic :
ENV.2012.6.3-1 Innovative resource efficient technologies, processes and services – FP7-ENV-2012two-stage
Title of proposed project:
Implementation of stainless steel slags as a substitute for raw materials in road construction.
Objective of project
Application of voluminous industrial waste into building composites and structures. Implementation
of new technologies which will improve the quality and homogeneity of the slag.
Short description of problem being addressed / need being satisfied
The large available quantities of different types of basic ladle slag and stainless steel slag have not yet
been widely utilized in road construction, although they have a high potential as a replacement of a
binder or additive in bound and unbound composites.
Short description of project
comprehensive characterization of different types of slag and their ability to act as a
substitution for conventional natural or industrial materials in road composites.
- application in selected composites,
- evaluation of their long term environmental impact,
- LCA/LCCA analysis.
Timescale
-
Three years.
Details of non-FEHRL partners required
Consortium of SME, industry, research institutes and infrastructure owners.
Expected impacts
(i) reducing the pressure on primary raw materials and help preserving the environment and
reducing pollution, (ii) fostering the use of secondary raw material, including – if relevant – in the
context of urban mining, (iii) building up on more sustainable consumption and production patterns,
(iv) increasing the role of SMEs as end users or developers of green technologies, and (v) opening
opportunities for new start-ups and markets in the mediumterm.
CONTACT:
Ana Mladenovič – ana.mladenovic@zag.si