(Finance) – The journey continues logistics renewal towards the next steps to take by 2030. December saw several activities travel in this direction. In fact, the FS Group Logistics Hub is progressively becoming a case study for universities and external partners.
“Getting to know the challenges and opportunities of intermodal freight transport in Europe, a rapidly growing sector that requires investments, innovation and sustainability”, was the objective of the meeting, which took place last December 6th, with the master’s students in Transport Systems Engineering of the Sapienza University of Rome during the visit to the Mercitalia intermodal terminal in Pomezia, one of the most advanced structures of the FS Group Logistics Hub.
The Pomezia terminal it is the starting point of one of the best cases of the hub: the Pomezia-Duisburg intermodal train, which for 15 years has connected central Italy with the heart of Europe, serving primary industrial customers, transports around 800 tonnes of goods every day , equivalent to 40 trucks, with a CO2 emissions saving of 75% compared to road mode. The service, which guarantees punctuality, safety and quality, is an integral part of the new 2023-2032 Industrial Plan of the Mercitalia Hub, which provides for investments of up to 3 billion euros for the purchase of locomotives, wagons and the renovation of railway terminals. Another recent aspect of notable importance is the MOST projectin which innovation is at the service of sustainable mobility.
On 13 December, a meeting of the working group took place at the Maddaloni-Marcianise intermodal plant (Caserta).WP4 innovation in freight transport” of the “Spoke 4 rail transport” of the National Sustainable Mobility Center MOST, an initiative that involves universities, research centers and companies to develop innovative solutions for sustainable mobility, in particular to reduce accidents and climate change. The participants, including the Sapienza University of Rome, the Polytechnic of Milan, the National Research Center, Mercitalia Intermodal and Mercitalia Shunting & Terminal, spoke about plant automation, augmented and virtual reality (AR/VR) for safety and efficiency in operation and maintenance and digitalisation on board and on land.
The project aims to experiment in Marcianise, a strategic hub in Southern Italy, with a complex digitalisation and automation system which aims to replicate the reality of passenger transport for goods transport: “driverless” metros, taking advantage of the latest technological innovations , such as artificial vision, digital automatic coupling of wagons (DAC) and the T3000 “intelligent wagons”, equipped with innovative sensors. The AR/VR system instead intends to streamline the inspection activities of the wagons, making them quicker and safer.
Another important event for collaboration and sharing ideas was the Voith’s visit to Verona: an opportunity to strengthen collaboration and engage in a meaningful exchange on DAC technology. During the meeting the E.652 locomotive, equipped with the highly advanced hybrid DAC, ran a demonstration train. An experience that saw the future of railway technology in action, because logistics integration means a 360° shared vision of all the actors who contribute to change in an increasingly demanding and attentive to market demands.