Topic
The European Union is promoting cross-border collaboration through the new Interreg 2021-2027 funding programme, which aims to foster economic and social development. The objectives of the funding programme can be summarised in four strategic priorities:
1) A smarter and more competitive Europe
2) A greener Europe
3) A more connected Europe
4) A more social and inclusive Europe
To achieve the objectives set by these strategic priorities, applied research projects have been funded to develop and strengthen local, regional, and national smart and intermodal mobility. This aims to improve access to the TEN-T intermodal corridor network and enhance cross-border mobility, making it more sustainable and resilient to climate change.
In fact, the areas on the Italian-Swiss border are subject to climate change phenomena, one of the causes of which is vehicle traffic due to freight transport on cross-border road axes. Therefore, interventions that improve the mobility system towards more sustainable solutions, such as intermodal freight transport, are essential to counteract the externalities generated by transport activities.
This is where the SWITCH project comes in, with the overall objective of promoting a modal shift from road to rail in Italy-Switzerland freight transport, starting with a qualitative and quantitative analysis of Italy-Switzerland freight exchange and cross-border flows, using new ICT technologies (e.g. artificial intelligence) and the contribution these can make to solving problems through the development of decision support systems.
Activities
1) Analysis of Italy-Switzerland freight exchange: transport infrastructure and services, regulations and legislation. This first phase will enable the identification, quantification, and qualification of cross-border goods flows, customs procedures, rules, and regulations, allowing for an understanding of current traffic management methods, barriers, and opportunities for modal transfer.
2) Development of an optimisation tool and drafting of a memorandum of understanding with industrial stakeholders. This will enable the creation of a platform called OptiModal AI, a decision support tool available to various institutional actors and the logistics sector. OptiModal AI is based on optimisation and artificial intelligence and will help operators in the sector and institutions to make informed decisions through quantitative analysis and evaluation of transport options.
3) Implementation of pilot projects and drafting of guidelines for modal switch. This will enable the validation of the optimisation tool’s output by applying it to pilot projects and identifying guidelines for facilitating cross-border modal shift. The pilot projects will make it possible to identify the enabling factors and barriers related to cross-border modal shift and to identify (through the guidelines) the conditions that facilitate the spread of intermodality for cross-border freight exchanges.
Results
Through the analyses carried out, the development of the platform and the implementation of the pilot projects, the research will build a broad knowledge base and provide the industrial community and institutions with a tool that, if properly adopted, can contribute to the decarbonisation of cross-border freight transport and improve its environmental and social sustainability by decongesting road networks. The research results will be disseminated in a series of reports and at various events scheduled for the three-year period from 2025 to 2027.
Find out more
Visit the SWITCH page on the Interreg projects website:
The research team
Alessandro Creazza [email protected]
Maria Concetta Carissimi [email protected]
Sergio Curi [email protected]
Giorgio Ghiringhelli [email protected]
