WP10 Kick-off meeting

Defining requirements for a cost-efficient regional vehicle for up to 100 passengers is one of the topics for FUTURE. The vehicle concept should promote significant weight reductions compared to what the market can offer today. An analysis of relevant regional vehicles available on the market and an analysis of the applicable legal framework, safety and regulatory requirements has been performed.

An important step to weight reductions is to study the mechanical architecture, where the carbody and running gear are key parts. Emission free solutions as battery and battery/hydrogen propulsion are studied as many of the regional lines are not electrified. The propulsion and energy architecture of the vehicle takes several use-cases in to account as the optimal solution may differ. The fuelling/charging stations constitute a large cost, and multimodal fuelling/charging stations are studied as a mean to reduce cost compared to dedicated rail facilities. Other subsystems that are scrutinized for weight and cost reductions are the interior, the heating and ventilation and the braking systems.

A development of the novel concept of vehicle-centric control and command system (CCS) for G2 lines (lines without regular operational connections to main-lines) has been performed aiming to reduce the capital and operational costs.

The work made so far has resulted in two deliverables, which will be published after review at https://projects.rail-research.europa.eu/eurail-fp6/deliverables/).

• State-of-the Art Report for regional lines rolling stock
• Specifications CCS for Group 2

The preceding specification work has set the foundation for the upcoming demonstration phase, which was kicked off in November 2024 hosted by DLR in Stuttgart, Germany.