Rail freight research: How market trends and customers' needs drive technology innovation

The article presents an investigation of current market trends and customers’ requirements, which have driven research aimed at developing a novel wagon concept that integrates innovative solutions relating to the identified major challenges for the freight vehicles of the future. These challenges are: i. Freight condition monitoring; ii. Lightweight wagon design; and iii. Predictive maintenance. This research was initiated by the INNOWAG project, which is funded by the Shift2Rail Joint Undertaking under the EU’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme.
The major challenges in rail freight competitiveness relate to the increasing complexity and sophistication of supply chains, increasing transport capacity and logistic capability, as well as improving RAMS and lowering LCC. Therefore, the goal is to develop intelligent cargo monitoring and predictive maintenance solutions integrated on a novel concept of lightweight wagon.