How can spotters increase the efficiency of terminals in combined road/rail freight transport? And how can trucks use platooning in road freight transport to reduce costs for transport companies?

The steel industry in Germany must change: The designated climate targets can only be achieved by converting production to green steel and thus reducing greenhouse gases. To save greenhouse gases, the coal used to date is to be replaced by more climate-friendly hydrogen and the increased use of steel scrap in steel production.

Combined road/rail freight transport (CT) can play a critical role in achieving climate targets, as it is one of the fastest growing subsectors of freight transport in Germany. However, rapid growth also places high demands on infrastructure and the efficiency of operational processes.

Digitization is constantly pushing the limits of intermodal freight transport and changing how it can operate. From 17 to 21 July 2023, Prof. Elbert, Johannes Rentschler and Felix Roeper gave insights into two of our recent research projects on this topic at the 16th World Conference on Transport Research (WCTR) in Montréal, Canada.

The transport chains of the future need to be flexible and resilient to respond quickly to shortages and disturbances. Johannes Rentschler had the chance to give insights into our current research on exactly this topic together with Prof. Elbert at the International Scientific Symposium on Logistics (ISSL) in Dresden, Germany.

Combined road/rail freight transport (CT) has the potential to be an environmentally friendly alternative to road freight transport. It combines the advantages of both modes of transport and shifts delivery traffic from road to rail. Unfortunately, CT still poses some challenges today: With many individual players involved in the transport chain, communication and even order processing are not always easy. In the end, availability and timing have to fit perfectly.

Zukunftsperspektiven in Deutschland: LKW-freie Autobahnen und Gütertransporte auf der Schiene – genau das ermöglicht der Kombinierte Schienengüterverkehr (KV). Auf der Suche nach innovativen Ideen für die erfolgreiche Verkehrsverlagerung sind wir der Einladung von Jörg Hensel und Rainer Wilke von der Eisenbahn- und Verkehrsgewerkschaft (EVG) ins westfälische Hamm gefolgt.

Together with DB Cargo and Aylin Altun, we are looking into the future of rail freight transport: modular and multifunctional freight car concepts that enable industry- or even customer-specific adaptation and increased flexibility. We are starting a new research project together:

Science and research know no borders – and, as is well known, live from exchange. Therefore, we were very happy to welcome Prof. Wolrad Rommel from the German-Kazakh University in Almaty for an international exchange at TU Darmstadt.

Innovating the transport sector one step at a time: At the 6th Interdisciplinary Conference on Production, Logistics and Traffic (ICPLT) at Technical University Dortmund, Prof. Elbert and Research Associate Hongjun Wu were thrilled to share insights into the Chair’s research on a dynamic container routing problem on a rail-based hub-and-spoke network.