Sustainability and New Digital Trends for Heavy Haul

Date and Time of the Webinar

14 December 2021, from 09:00 to 12:00 CET

Languages

English and Russian.

Relevance of the Topic

For many decades, heavy haul has been the most effective tool for increasing the carrying capacity of railways and one of the significant reserves for improving its energy efficiency.

However, in the first quarter of the 21st century, the environmental requirements of society for the operation of transport have significantly increased. When choosing technological processes and technical means of railway transport, the criteria of carbon footprint, mechanical and acoustic pollution of the environment became decisive.

At the same time, the rapid development of digital technologies and AI technologies open up new opportunities for railways to increase traffic and carrying capacity by reducing inter-train intervals, optimizing sorting work at stations and increasing the regularity of train schedules.

Expected Results

The following questions will be discussed at the webinar:

1. Are environmental restrictions a factor hindering the development of heavy haul on sections with heavy haul operations? What risks and limitations for the scale, geography and technologies of heavy haul arise in connection with the strengthening of the environmental factor?
2. Can digital technologies for the formation of train flows and traffic management become an alternative to the development of heavy haul in order to achieve optimal economic and environmental results of railways work?
3. How can heavy haul itself change under the influence of environmental and "digital" factors so that railways were able to achieve the goals of sustainable development and improve the efficiency of their performance?