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Modelling and assessing the role of air transport in an integrated, intermodal transport system

Overview

In the context of increasing environmental awareness, regulatory measures, capacity shortages across different modes, or the need for a more seamless and hassle-free passenger journey, the future evolution of European travellers’ demand for mobility is still unknown, as well as its potential impacts on the European transport system. The optimization and alignment of intermodal transport is therefore of utmost importance for the overall performance of the (future) European transport system, especially in regard to providing a seamless and hassle-free journey for passengers as well as mitigating (air) capacity constraints

The main objective of the project is the analysis of the performance of the overall transport system by considering the entire door-to-door journey holistically and assessing the role of air transport within an integrated, intermodal approach. For this purpose, Modus identifies and assesses (future) drivers for passenger demand and supply of mobility in terms of their impact on passenger mode choice. This enables the development of multiple scenarios of future mobility paths, taking into account aspects such as new regulatory contexts meeting new environmental standards, or new transport operators’ business models, covering a time horizon of 2040+.

Facts and figures

Acronym: Modus
Project budget : 1 m€
Duration: 30 months

Project start date: 01/06/2020
Project end date: 30/11/2022
Partners: 7 partners from 5 countries
Project coordinator: Bauhaus Luftfahrt
Work programme: H2020-SESAR-2019-2
Grant agreement n° 891166

Project objectives

Understand

 in a better way how ATM and air transport can better contribute to improve passengers’ intermodal journeys and how this translates into an enhanced performance of the overall transport system

Explore and model

the connection and dependence between ATM/ air transport and other transport modes, with a special focus on the interplay between short and medium air and rail connections

Identify

the main barriers in achieving European (air) mobility goals and how air transport can evolve by efficiently connecting information and services with other transport modes to achieve the 4 hours door-to-door goal and a seamless journey experience for passengers.

Project structure

WP NumberWP TitleLead beneficiary
WP1 Coordination and ManagementBHL
WP2 Data Acquisition and ManagementINX
WP3 Future Supply and Demand ScenariosENAC
WP4 Passenger Mobility ModellingUoW
WP5 Identification of Gaps and BarriersBHL
WP6 Dissemination and ExploitationUIC
WP7 Ethics requirementsBHL

Implementation approach

WP3 will focus on the future supply and demand scenarios. It will identify the drivers for future demand and supply and develop a modal choice model which will be used by the development of scenarios activities. WP3 will then identify which indicators need to be monitored and developed to capture the particularities of the connectivity of passengers in a multimodal environment. The generated demand and supply flows in WP3 will feed the mobility models implemented in WP4. First an interface between these flows and individual passenger itineraries will be created. This will also transform the information from the scenarios into specific input for the models. Two mobility models will complement each other on the analysis: a passenger mobility model and a flight-centric network model. These models will be based on state-of-the-art tools previously developed by members of the consortium and will provide detailed flight and passenger metrics in the full door-to-door context. The runs of these tactical models carried out in WP4 will feed the quantitative and qualitative analysis carried out in WP5 which will be devoted to the identification of gaps and barriers and of the definition of use cases. Finally, all these activities will be supported by close interaction with the Industry Board and validation activities managed from WP1. 

Publications

Modus poster

1st Modus Newsletter

2nd Workshop Modus Summary “What could future air-rail multimodal mobility look like?”

Sesar Innovation Days – teaser

Modus presentation Sesar Innovation Days

2nd Workshop Modus, “What could future air-rail multimodal mobility look like?”

2nd Modus Newsletter

Modus Final dissemination workshop /1

Modus Final dissemination workshop /2

Modus Final dissemination workshop /3

Modus Final dissemination workshop /4

Presentation Modus Final dissemination workshop

Final brochure

Scientific publications

 

 

 

Papers

 

 

 

A. Montlaur, L. Delgado, C. Trapote-Barreiram (2021) Analytical Models for CO2 Emissions and Travel Time for Short-to-Medium-Haul Flights Considering Available Seats. Sustainability MDPI in: Sustainability, Journal 2021. https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/18/10401

 

Events/Congress/Workshops 

 

 

 

 

Project deliverables

News & Events

Press release end of Modus project

It’s time for multimodality! (Paris, 20 April 2023) Over the last two years, the SESAR European ‘Modus’ project has been exploring the future landscape of multimodal air-rail travel via a range of different scenarios. Now, as the project comes to the end of its...

Modus at Passenger Terminal Conference (Paris)

During the Passenger Terminal Conference (held from 15 to 17 June in Paris), Nadine Pilon, from Modus partner Eurocontrol, gave a presentation on Modus project scenarios for future European multimodal air transport. She explained that the overall performance of future...

The second Modus workshop was held on 14th February 2022

More than 170 participants registered for the online second Modus workshop, which brought together experts from the air and rail sectors to reflect on “What could future air-rail multimodal mobility look like?”. The workshop stood out by its uniqueness in bringing...

Newsletters/Others

News from Modus website have been systematically published at UIC Enewletter

Consortium

Bauhaus Luftfahrt

Bauhaus Luftfahrt is an interdisciplinary research institution funded by the four aerospace companies Airbus Group, Industrieanlagen-Betriebsgesellschaft (IABG), Liebherr-Aerospace and MTU Aero Engines as well as the Bavarian Ministry of Economic Affairs, Regional Development and Energy. The non-profit association is an internationally-oriented think tank. Bauhaus Luftfahrt e. V. was founded in November 2005 and is based on the Ludwig Bölkow Campus in Taufkirchen near Munich since 2015.

École nationale de l'aviation civile

L’Ecole Nationale de l’Aviation Civile (ENAC) or French Civil Aviation University is a public institution under the supervision of the French Ministry of transport. Its mission is to provide ab-initio and further training for the executives and main players of the civil aviation world and do research in a variety of air transport related domains. ENAC offers a wide range of activities that are tailored to meet the requirements of the public and private sectors both in France and in other countries. Based in Toulouse, France, ENAC is one of the top universities in the world devoted to the aviation industry (about 2000 students for Ab-Initio Training and 4500 trainees for Continuing Education and training and more than 140 researchers).

University of Westminster

The University of Westminster’s planning and transport research team has been engaged in transport research, consultancy, and teaching for over 40 years. The broad social and behavioural research of the University allows us to examine transport issues in a holistic and integrated context, with a substantial focus on door-to-door passenger mobility and choice paradigms. Such work has included choice determinants for rail, including novel modelling of how perceived reliability drives modal share. Areas of transport research include: travel planning and mobility management, transport and social exclusion, urban public transport and accessibility planning, plus a core speciality of air traffic management: with a particular emphasis on performance assessment, economics and operations. In addition, the team has 20 years’ experience in user requirements studies and technical market research, plus an established history of quantitative and qualitative analytical techniques.

Fundacion Instituto De Investigacion Innaxis

Innaxis Research Institute (INX) is a private and independent research institution founded with the goal of addressing complex scientific challenges of significant social and economic impact. Innaxis’ research agenda focuses on the study of large-scale, network-based socio-technical systems such as energy or transport by using an interdisciplinary approach and the state of the art in data science, mathematical modelling, nonlinear systems, predictive analytics and computational simulation.

Union Internationale des Chemins de fer

UIC is the worldwide organisation for international cooperation among railways and promotion of rail transport at a global level. Founded in 1922, it currently gathers 200 members on all 5 continents, among them rail operators, infrastructure managers, etc. The mission of the association is to promote rail transport at world level with the objective of optimally meeting current and future challenges of mobility and sustainable development.

Skymantics Europe, SL

Skymantics Europe is a technical consulting firm that provides services in information technology for the aviation and transportation industry. The company team has broad expertise in system conceptualisation, test and validation, and bring-to-market activities for travel planning, routing and multimodal connectivity based on open geospatial data and Internet of Things (IoT) capabilities. Skymantics Europe is positioning itself as an innovation laboratory for solutions enabling global connectivity of all stakeholders into the transport network, with the objectives to improve performance, efficiency and safety of the EU transportation infrastructure.

EUROCONTROL

EUROCONTROL, the European Organisation for the Safety of Air Navigation, is an intergovernmental Organisation with 41 Member States, committed to building, together with its partners, a Single European Sky that will deliver the ATM performance required for the 21st century.  EUROCONTROL employs more than 1,900 highly qualified professionals spread over four European countries.

Links

SESAR https://www.sesarju.eu/projects/modus

Interview with Modus coordinator: https://www.sesarju.eu/news/flying-multimodal-way

Contacts

Project coordinator

Annika PAUL – BHL
annika.paul@bauhaus-luftfahrt.net

Communication and dissemination

Vanessa PÉREZ – UIC
perez@uic.org

Modus online

Website : https://modus-project.eu/ 

Twitter: https://twitter.com/modus_project (@Modus_project) 

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/moduseuproject

Social Media: #modus_eu

Contact us

This project has received funding from the SESAR Joint Undertaking under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 891166.

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