Cooperation for the future of rail: innovation, digitisation and sustainability in European projects
Rail transport and logistics are undergoing a revolution – digitisation, artificial intelligence and automation are changing the way freight and passenger transport is planned, managed and optimised. Our company is part of this transformation as an active partner in international research projects that bring together academic institutions, transport operators and IT specialists. Together we are seeking solutions for a more efficient, greener and more connected rail sector.
In 2025, OLTIS Group will manage a total of 9 projects. The three already ongoing projects – FP5 TRANS4M-R from Europe’s Rail, SDMMS (Secure Digital Military Mobility System) from the European Defence Fund (EDF) and X4ITS (Central European cross-border cooperation for ITS) from the CEF2 programme – were joined by six others last year.
One of them is the AISTAR project – Use of Artificial Intelligence in Support of Dispatcher Control of Rail Freight Transport, supported by the Transport 2030 programme of the Technology Agency of the Czech Republic. This project is implemented by OLTIS Group in cooperation with ČD Cargo and the University of Pardubice. The aim is to develop software that uses artificial intelligence (AI) to support dispatchers’ decision-making in short-term planning and operational management of rail freight transport.
Four other projects were successful within the INTER-EUREKA international cooperation programme in research, development and innovation.
TIARA – Intelligent Rail Freight Wagon focuses on equipping railway carriages with telematic and sensor functions and on developing a comprehensive solution for monitoring the operational parameters of the wagons. JERID cooperates with its partners LEVEL and Tatravagonka on the implementation of this project.
In the DIGIMON project – Digitisation of multimodal logistic centers, CID International, in cooperation with OLTIS Polska and Warsaw University of Technology, focuses on the implementation of new IT technologies for operators of inland multimodal logistics centres. The aim is to improve the flow of information not only within the terminals but also throughout the entire multimodal logistics chain.
The RENOIR project – Optimization of operational management in railway transport using artificial intelligence is, along with the AISTAR project, another activity in the field of implementation of artificial intelligence (AI) into operational management processes in rail transport. In this project, OLTIS Group, in consortium with the University of Žilina, the University of Pardubice and RPP International, is developing an expert module which will retrieve real reference data from our primary systems and enable their use in optimisation tools using AI elements. The aim is to mediate two-way communication between management information systems in railway transport and optimisation tools supporting operational management and decision-making processes in order to create and validate a sufficient knowledge base for future automation of these processes.
The fourth project under the INTER-EUREKA programme is CarbonMASTER, by full name ESG – ESG – Sustainable and responsible business practice. The acronym ESG (Environmental, Social and Governance) is a simplified expression of a company’s impact on the environment, so it is about examining the sustainability and social responsibility of companies for the way they run their business using measurable criteria. In this project, the partners OLTIS, OLTIS Slovakia and RELIANT will focus on the specifics of the transport, forwarding and logistics sector. The aim is to create a supporting software tool for carbon data collection and for mandatory reporting according to the ESG Directive and related legislative requirements.
The last successful project of previous year is OPERATOR – Removing interoperability barriers between entities in rail freight transport with a particular focus on intermodal transport, submitted in the CEF Transport 2023 call. The main objective of the project is the implementation of the TAF TSI standard for data exchange in the information systems used by intermodal operators at transhipment points for planning and operational support of their activities. Within the project, OLTIS Group, OLTIS Polska and CID International will implement the intended solution at KARPIEL, CLIP Terminals and PKP Cargo International.
As part of the continuous search for new opportunities, 3 project proposals were submitted to the recently closed CEF Transport 2024 call.
OLTIS Group, as the consortium leader, together with 6 partners from the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Hungary, has submitted the project called RB4Rail – Removing barriers in data exchange in rail transport, the main objective of which is to implement the TAF TSI communication standard for at participating operators, taking into account national specifics, differences in the level of implementation of the TAF TSI in individual EU Member States and possible changes resulting from the ongoing revision process, which will result, among others, in the new TSI Telematics Directive. The project also includes the removal of cross-border communication obstacles with transport chain participants from Ukraine.
As part of a consortium of more than 50 researchers from 21 EU Member States, OLTIS Group, together with its partners Orlen UNIDO and ČD Cargo Logistics, has joined the eFTI4LIVE – electronic Freight Transportation Information for LIVE, project, which under the leadership of the Spanish Ministry of Transport, aims to build on the previous successful eFTI4EU and eFTI4ALL initiatives and significantly support the implementation of the requirements of the European eFTI Regulation, the main objective of which is to digitise data communication in freight transport.
We will try to build on the successful OPERATOR project in BRIDGE – Boosting a Resilient and sustainable door-to-door Intermodal freight transport digital Data sharinG Ecosystem, project led by UIRR (International Union for Road-Rail Combined Transport) and among 20 participants from 10 EU countries, OLTIS Group, CID International and Bulk Transshipment Slovakia will focus on the implementation of the TAF TSI at intermodal terminal operators.
We expect the results of the CEF Transport 2024 call to be announced in mid-2025.
Our latest international project application is the newly submitted SHIFT project – Sustainable Habits for the Inclusivity of local communities in Fostering urban Transportation plans. Horizon Europe has created 5 so-called EU Missions, one of which is “100 Climate Neutral and Smart Cities by 2030” (abbreviated as Cities Mission, the only participant from the Czech Republic is the city of Liberec) and within this mission 4 calls have been launched recently. “Mobility Management Plans and Behavioural Change” was one of them. The SHIFT project was submitted to this call with the aim of evaluating the mobility plans in the cities involved in the climate mission and finding the right way forward, i.e. analysing the lessons learned and then proposing a set of guidelines and recommendations on how to proceed in order to achieve the targeted behavioural change of travellers. The role of OLTIS Group is primarily to support the involvement of the city of Liberec. Other cities in which the project results will be tested are Barcelona, Belgrade, Dublin and Milan. We believe that participating in a project aimed at promoting changes in transport management aimed at decarbonising the entire transport sector and assessing their social acceptability can be a rewarding experience for our group as well.
Our involvement in these projects shows that rail modernisation is not just a question of technology, but above all a question of cooperation – between countries, between the academic and commercial sectors and between the various links in the logistics chain. We thank all our partners for their cooperation.