Responsible partners: OTB TU Delft / RCA / HaCon / Voith

Border crossing processing time is a critical factor for the performance of international rail freight production concepts such as the STRING OF PEARLS concept. Research Activity 5 will seek to improve the border crossing performance along the CREAM corridor. The most obvious improvement as concerns railway infrastructure on the CREAM corridor was the opening of the Betuweroute in the first year of the project in August 2007. CREAM has developed a technical and economic concept for the integration of the Betuweroute in the European Rail Infrastructure Network and in the CREAM corridor conceptions. Furthermore RA5 in general aims for an abolition of traditional boundaries between the participants' states (and railway infrastructures / railway operators) as one of the most important operational prerequisites for the implementation of the STRING OF PEARLS concept.

Research Activity 5 is divided into

• RA 5.1 - Development of an integration concept for the Betuweroute in rail operation schemes
• RA 5.2 - Development of a corridor-adapted optimized rail traction scheme
• RA 5.3 - Streamlining concept for border crossing operations
• RA 5.4 - Concept and design of a prototype dual propulsion locomotive for interoperable services

Work Progress WP 5

The results of the related research activities are compiled in the deliverables DR 5.1, DR 5.2, DR 5.3 and DR 5.4, which are all confidential or restricted to a specific group, defined by the consortium partners.

RA 5.1 has been extended by new aspects. It will be completed in mid 2010. More information on RA 5.1 you will find in the related CREAM-Newsletter article, Issue 5 from May 2009.

DR 5.2 has been submitted to the European Commission in February 2010. More information you will find in the related CREAM-Newsletter article in Issue 2 from May 2008 (page 4) and Issue 5 from May 2009 (page 1).

DR 5.3 has been submitted to the European Commission in February 2010. More information you will find in the related CREAM-Newsletter article in Issue 1 from February 2008 (page 3) and in the summary of deliverable DR 5.3, which can be asked for at HaCon.

RA 5.4 is in progress. The CREAM partner Voith Turbo Lokomotivtechnik aims at presenting a prototype dual propulsion locomotive already in 2010.