So far, wooden transports have had two aspects with potential for improvement: First, the vans with classic ringing cars were able to charge all of all. There was inevitably an empty trip on the way back, in which unnecessary CO2 and other greenhouse gases were emitted. On the other hand, reloading the tree trunks to the train was time-consuming, so that the most climate-damaging, direct truck transport was usually preferred. Under the direction of Fraunhofer Austria, the consortium of the FFG guidance project has now mastered both challenges with one fell swoop: a multiple pose container has been developed and tested, which is not only loaded with logs, but also with other wood products such as hack goods and which can be converted from the truck to the train in minutes. The innovative container makes rail transport more attractive even on short distances, avoids truck empty trips and enables an environmentally friendly, intermodal wood transport.
Cyding without a loading crane
When changing the log from the truck to the train, individual tree trunks have so far had to be lifted and reloaded. Wood transport by train was therefore considered not worthwhile on short and medium -sized routes. Sandra Stein, head of the Physical project explains: “It quickly became clear to us that we wanted to speed up the loading process in order to make environmentally friendly wooden transports by train attractive for short distances. We have developed a multipurpose container that can be reloaded directly from the truck to the train within a few minutes and without an additional device.
“In fact, about 300 km has been considered the route, from which the reloading to the train is worthwhile. Due to the pairing, intermodal operation already makes an economic sense on routes from 140 km.
This is made possible by the construction as a so-called acts container. Acts stand for the roll-off container transport system. This technology, which is known from construction sites or from Müllcontainers, does not require any additional device when loading. Instead, there is an eyelet on the short side of the container, which can be grasped with the gripping arm of the right truck. Roles on the underside of the container ensure that this can be rolled up at the ground-or on the railway wagon of the railway-which is simply diagonally rolled onto the ground. Rapid and frayable door systems enable the fast loading and unloading of logs and the payload of other wood products.
Progress through cooperation
Innovative development was only possible through close cooperation within the research consortium. In particular, the Steiermarkbahn and Bus GmbH and Wiener Lokalbahnen Cargo GmbH were involved. The container was designed and developed by logistics researchers at Fraunhofer Austria together with the company Georg Kraemer Fahrzeugbau, which with her experience had the constructive overall responsibility and implemented the construction.
Martin Werbring, Business Development at Wiener Lokalbahnen Cargo GmbH says: “The cross -company cooperation in the Physical project has shown that a wide variety of views of a topic can ultimately lead to a more than satisfactory result. In particular, the development of the never -for -existent hybrid wood container, which can also be used multimodal, lifts the couple traffic to a new level with regard to the savings potential of CO2.
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Libra included
A copy of the new container type was built prototypically as part of the project. The container, which is approved for transport by truck and by train, was successfully tested at the end of the project: transports of both logs and wood chips in Styria, Lower Austria and Upper Austria show the versatility of the container.
Incidentally, the container still has a third advantage: built -in weighing sensors ensures that there is always transparency about the charged amount of wood. In this way, an unintentional overload of the truck can be safely avoided.
About the Physical project
The Physical lead project started on June 1, 2020 and ended in the late May 2025. The aim of the project was to show that cooperation between actors in logistics leads to economic, ecological and social advantages for everyone. Physical comprises a total of four pilot projects. In addition to the development of the wood container described, these include research on an open transport management platform, innovative delivery options on the last mile and the development of an eCommerce platform for SMEs. The Physical project was funded by the Federal Ministry of Innovation, Mobility and Infrastructure as part of the FTI program Mobility of the Future and handled by the Austrian Research Promotion Society FFG. More about the project at https://physical-project.at/