netwiss
Improved Ecological Footprint through Customer-Orientated Vehicle Layout
This article first appeared in the Railway-News Magazine Issue 2 2024.
Vehicle layouts that meet the needs of travellers are not only much more comfortable and popular, they also significantly improve the ecological footprint. How is this possible?
If, under the mistaken assumption, an attempt is made to increase capacity and thus profits by having as many seats as possible on the train, the opposite of the desired result usually occurs. 20 years of research and development by netwiss in co-operation with the Vienna University of Technology clearly show that the luggage accommodation in these layouts is undersized and at the same time does not meet customer requirements. As a result, a lot of luggage is stored in such a way that it obstructs seats and aisles, thereby reducing the actual capacity and significantly increasing the dwell time in the station. As a result of the extended dwell time, the travelling speed often has to be increased to the maximum permitted in order to keep the timetable, which results in an increased energy requirement of up to 20%!
Optimised vehicle layouts clearly help to save energy and therefore money, thereby also significantly reducing the ecological footprint! On top of this, the capacity in the wagon can be increased and customer satisfaction significantly improved.
