The CLOSER project – joint European research for more efficient freight and passenger transport

CLOSER – Connecting Long and Short-Distance Networks for Efficient Transport – deals with interconnections between short- and long-distance transport networks, aiming at the improvement of door-to-door movements of both passenger and freight transport by co-modality, i.e. the efficient use of different traffic modes.

Eight partners from seven European countries are cooperating in this transport research project, which is funded by the European Commission within the 7th Framework Programme.

In CLOSER, the Fraunhofer IVI, together with other partners, was responsible for the coordination and for identifying and analyzing current mobility trends for passenger and freight transport. These include the increased use of containers in transport, new technologies such as electromobility, the development of pedelecs, peoplemovers and many more. In addition to regional and national trends, themes within European mobility such as mobility management and strategies, policies as well as measures enhancing sustainable mobility behavior of citizens and sustainable transport of goods were the focus of the project work.
The results will be published in the form of three guidebooks, which will also contain the outcome of the case studies, providing decision support in planning or upgrading of interchange terminals. The case studies were carried out in the cities of Leipzig, Thessaloniki, Lille, Helsinki, Vilnius, Constantza and Oslo.

During the final conference of CLOSER, which took place on 13th November in Prague, the project results were presented to an audience of researchers and other stakeholders. Members of the Policy Advisory Group, an institution of experts which the project partners consulted throughout the project duration, were also present. One of them is Dr. Paraskevi Kapetanopoulou, researcher at Thessaloniki’s Aristotle University.

She acknowledges the achievements of CLOSER: »Particularly in freight logistics, no sufficient amount of data has been collected so far which can be used by operators of terminals to improve their efficiency. By acquiring and analyzing qualitative and quantitative data of various interchanges, the project CLOSER presents a first step towards a comprehensive account of the situation in Europe.«

Contact

Fraunhofer Institute for Transportation
and Infrastructure Systems IVI
Ingrid Nagel
Traffic and Transport Information

Phone +49 (0)351/ 46 40-695
ingrid.nagel@ivi.fraunhofer.de
Bettina Adler
European Business Development & Press

Phone +49 (0)351/ 46 40-817
bettina.adler@ivi.fraunhofer.de