Study: RailRunner technology fit for Europe
Written by William C. Vantuono, Editor-in-ChiefLexington, Mass.-based RailRunner NA, Inc. said Tuesday it has been designated as an effective technology for intermodal transport by Berlin-based Studiengesellschaft für den Kombinierten Verkehr (SGKV), which it said is “one of the foremost organizations studying intermodal transportation in Europe.”
RailRunner said it commissioned the SGKV study because of increasing interest by logistic and intermodal companies in its new technology, and based upon the request of several German and European approval authorities who required independent reviews of RailRunner technology by respected European institutions.
The report compares the use of RailRunner technology with competing intermodal technologies in transporting 45-foot European containers, 40-foot ISO containers, 20-foot tank containers, swap bodies, semi-trailers, and roll-on/roll-off systems.
The SGKV study analyzes existing intermodal transport technologies with regard to their operational efficiencies, capital costs, environmental implications, and other parameters.
Using a hypothetical Hamburg-to-Budapest itinerary, the report says RailRunner offers the best bimodal (road-to-rail) technology available based on multiple critical factors.
Among other findings, “Another remarkable advantage of the RailRunner system is that it easily can be integrated into existing intermodal transport systems,” the SGVK report says. “RailRunner can be fully comprised in existing terminals, thus enlarging the overall terminal capacity. The costs are relatively small.”
