"long-term"

until 2050

“vision”

The desirable future: A list of goals to be reached by freight transport in Europe by 2020, 2035 & 2050. The goals will be defined for the following criteria: (a) CO₂ emissions, (b) dependence on fossil fuels, (c) congestion and (d) accidents. (e.g. Freight transport should use in 2050 at max…  tons of fossil fuels; freight transport should cause in 2050 a maximum of …  tons of CO2 emissions; ...) The vision will comply to the political goals already defined.

“robust and adaptive”

The future cannot be foreseen. Therefore decision making in this context - specifically in a long-term view - is deeply uncertain. To cope with this problem the action plan developed shall be robust (i.e. effective in different plausible futures) and adaptive (i.e. can be adapted  in  the  future  if  there  is  new  information available). The scenarios developed will therefore be validated with different forecasts (“low", “trend” & “high” forecasts) to identify the scenario most effective in different futures.

“action plan”

Bundles of political criteria both for transport and technology (RTD) policy. This action plan will be in line with the vision, i.e. when following the key guide lines the visions defined should be reached. Action Plan for Key Demonstration Projects:  Large demonstration projects on national or European level to show and evaluate the possibilities and push behavioural and technological changes. These key demonstration projects are related to corridors and based on business models and combine the innovative technologies with a relevant regulatory framework.

“both for transport and technology policy”

One of the main goals is to integrate transport and technology policy. The challenges cannot be met by applying single criteria on innovative technologies, policy criteria or changes in market structures. An integrated approach combining the development of new technologies with relevant policy criteria will be developed in FREIGHTVISION. When an appropriate technology is developed the policy criteria should set the right framework for the market, so the price and other signals from the market will be a driving force for the fast introduction of the innovative technologies. Furthermore policy criteria can provide incentives for the faster development of innovative technologies necessary to meet the challenges of the long distance freight transport sector. The core objective of FREIGHTVISION is to analyse the combined use of the various types of criteria and innovation tools and develop an action plan combining the initiatives in an optimal way.

“sustainable”

Freight transport’s environmental emissions, dependence on fossil fuels, congestion and accidents have to be reduced. The conflicts between environmental and transport policy have to be resolved. To cope with different possibly conflicting criteria (e.g. socio-economic development and reduction of environmental emissions) a multi-criteria analysis will be applied with political, environmental and economic criteria.

“long-distance”

Inter-urban (All freight transport, but local transport) Within FREIGHTVISION long-distance corridors are viewed as a linkage of several shorter inter-urban connections which is finally extended to an Europe wide high-level transport network covering all distances (except urban transport). 

“supported”

We want to reach a common understanding about the vision and action plan for long-distance freight transport, and its impact. This common understanding will be developed by establishing a FORESIGHT process that is actively supported by stakeholders in four FREIGHTVISION Forums. By active support, we mean to integrate stakeholders' feedback in terms of guidance and validation on all stages of the project. This will ensure a realistic approach both in formulation of the vision and the action plan.

We intend to integrate up to date knowledge created already by existing forecast and foresight work, demonstration projects, road maps etc. into the project.

In this respect it is the goal of the project to provide the supporting stakeholders with results of high relevance for their own strategic planning.

“relevant stakeholders”

As it is a very diverse area, several institutions are involved into the FREIGHTVISION Forum: Advisory Councils, High Level Group, industries, DG TREN, infrastructure operators etc.