Author: Sergi Martínez-Abarca Espelt / ATM
Currently, there is a clear international trend toward more liveable cities, designed and planned with citizens at the centre of the process. One of the driving forces behind this movement comes from the European Union’s Green Deal, which commits to achieving carbon neutrality in transportation by 2050. To fulfil this commitment, various measures and tools are being considered at the urban level to reduce pollution and traffic congestion. However, it’s essential to balance these measures with the existing commercial activities in cities, particularly urban goods distribution, which accounts for around 24% of total trips in Barcelona city.
The Urban Freight Distribution (UFD) plays a crucial role in addressing these challenges. In the Mobility Master Plan (2020-2025) developed by the Metropolitan Transport Authority of Barcelona (ATM) that covers 75% of Catalonia’s population, UFD management is a key focus. The goal is to establish a clean, sustainable, and secure logistics system with appropriate infrastructure, promoting digitalization and new trends.
Within this framework, the GREEN-LOG project, through its Barcelona Living Lab aims to test more efficient multimodal solutions using the railway network. The proposed use case explores three innovations in the traditional operational model, which could later be extrapolated to the entire public transport network:
- Using railway stations as logistics hubs.
- Leveraging passenger rail services for freight transport (a highly sustainable solution considering speed, frequency, and CO2 emissions).
- Implementing a multi-operator information system for the efficient distribution of parcels.
The scope of this solution extends beyond urban areas to metropolitan regions, potentially benefiting the many municipalities located along the railway network.
However, challenges remain, such as establishing new regulatory frameworks for rail freight transport and overcoming difficulties in setting up consolidation hubs within stations. Collaboration among different logistics operators is essential not only for shared infrastructure use but also for integrating their technological platforms and data to ensure integral and efficient parcels management.
In this context, ATM will assess the project’s viability based on results and consider measures to enhance such solutions in the new Mobility Master Plan. Reflections on regulatory and planning adjustments need to be taken into account, as well as the involvement of different stakeholders. In order to do so, ATM will concentrate its efforts to share and disseminate the project updates and outcomes within the logistics sector forums and the UFD working groups in which it is involved.
Photo credits: ATM