Homepage (Initiative Rail Individual Transport)

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1. Who are we?
2. Theme I    Individual rail traffic
3. Theme II   New freight transport by rail
4. Theme III  New industrial estates
5. Theme IV  Borderless European Ticket
6. Own projekts an ideas in the transport sector

6.1 Rhinecrossings Cologne - Bonn

7. General information on the environment and resources

7.1 Resource demand on the A40

7.2 Problem of jobs

7.3 Problem with the vehicle stock

7.4 There are already alternatives

7.5 Somewhat worrying thoughts

7.6 The car and the damage caused

7.7 Our beloved car

7.8 The earth overshoot days

7.9 Why not take to the air? (An old advertising slogan)

7.10 There is a great lack of truck parking spaces on the motorways, but?

7.11 Bicycle boxes and waste receptacle boxes

We are a small initiative that presents feasible ideas using existing technologies to redesign motorised transport in an environmentally friendly, climate-neutral, safe, more comfortable and economical way. All motorised vehicles are considered, because all vehicles need a lot of space, are heavy, produce fine dust and cause accidents, regardless of the drive system.

In the process, the roads become habitable for us humans.

Traffic will be adapted to the logistics sector and automated accordingly, for the benefit of people.

This is not a solution for the few, but a solution for everyone, worldwide.

A major challenge is always the cost of transport infrastructure projects. Often these are quickly brushed aside. Comparisons are often lacking and described as difficult because of the differences between the projects.

Nevertheless, very rough data can be found on the net. 

Here is a small non-binding rough cost overview for each 1 km of new lines:

Underground                               600 Mill. EUR

Highway                                             6 - 20 Mill. EUR (most expensive A100 Germany: 140 Mill. EUR)

Railway ICE (Germany)                  12 - 30 Mill. EUR

Tram                                                 11 Mill. EUR

new individual rail system              4 Mill. EUR

A demand: "why was a railway line not taken into account in the new construction of the A40 Rhine bridge?" came the answer, "the railways are responsible for that."

If we treat resources so lightly, we will have a problem saving the planet.

There is space above all traffic routes that we can use, we don't always have to consume new land. There are also double bridges. A connection between road and railway tracks on the same area.

No study has been done on this, as the competences are lacking in our initiative. However, the whole set-up will take more than 10 years. Since all current vehicles can run on this system, there will be a very slow change and little negative impact on the labour market. 

The production of the new vehicles and the rails will require many jobs and bring many innovations. The redesign of the roads will also take many workers.

We may as well look at the problem and discuss it for a few more years.

Our planet doesn't care, it doesn't need us,

We are paving its way towards global warming.

Let's turn the wheel now and drive in a different direction, just please don't go back,

where nature and people are priority one. 

On 01.01.2022, there are approx. 717 registered vehicles per 1,000 inhabitants in Germany with an average age of approx. 10.1 years.

Do we want to replace these resources with new drive technologies in 10 years? Although some of them could be used for more than 15 years. Let's calculate this worldwide, would it work, would it be feasible?

In September 2022, we were informed that there are currently 48 million registered vehicles in Germany. 

In what time frame should these be replaced with new engines and at what cost to the environment?

We humans are strange:

we have solved millions of problems perfectly and economically,

we have perfected our health, provided our lives with many luxuries, and much more.

But some things we just leave behind and don't pay attention to:

our planet,

even though we could do it differently, of course we can,

but can and do are two different things.

Everyone knows that cars no longer have a future because the price is too high, regardless of the drive system.

The car costs a lot of lives,

in 2021, there were about 2,600 road deaths in Germany,

Worldwide, according to the WHO, about 1.35 million people died on the roads.

furthermore

• fine dust and exhaust fumes are produced, as well as tyre wear,
• traffic wastes energy,
• traffic takes up enormous amounts of sealed land for roads and car parks,
• the vehicles have a bad environmental balance in their production and operation,
• most vehicles are only used for about an hour a day,
• there is hardly any room for pedestrians and cyclists.

About 80 % of our streets are 2-lane with parking lanes and a small footpath, which is blocked with rubbish bins 3 times a week. There is hardly any solution for safe walking and more cycling.

It's time to put the environmental damage on the transport systems.

One more note on this topic:

We had 30 fewer Overshoot Days in 2020 than in 2019, due to the global lockdown with much less air traffic, car traffic, due to home office and much less holiday travel.

However, we had the same figure again in 2021 as in 2019 and one day more in 2022. If we are honest now, it is in our hands to reduce the Overshoot Days.

There is space above all traffic routes, lots of space that we can use. We don't always have to seal new areas. More motorways can be built over motorways, or railway lines. There are already some double-decker bridges, e.g. the Öresund Bridge Denmark / Sweden and the Moselle Bridge in Alf-Bullay, both are for n railways and roads. The George Washington Bridge has 8 vehicle lanes above and 6 vehicle lanes below. With houses it is natural to go up in height, so why not with roads or railway tracks. These areas are mostly owned by the public sector and could be used more easily than buying and building new lines and tracks.

Underground, we already have enough experience with the underground railways in many cities, although it is much more complicated and difficult.

Very large bridges with long spans have existed for a long time:

Danyang-Kunshan Expressway Beijing-Shanghai Longest bridge since 2011, 164.8 km.

The truck drivers must strictly adhere to the regulations on driving times and take appropriate breaks. Unfortunately, the number of parking spaces has not been adjusted with these regulations.

There are more solutions here.

The construction of new parking spaces could be faster and more environmentally friendly if the existing parking spaces were extended with a second level. In other words, additional parking spaces could be built above the current parking areas of the service areas, e.g. with a steel scaffold.

It should be possible to obtain planning permission quickly, since

1.      only the existing areas will be built over, with appropriate border distances,

2.      no new areas have to be sealed and protected,

3.      no further compensation areas have to be created,

4.      both sides of the service areas with crossings can be used together through optimal use of all parking spaces,

5.      if necessary, the areas above the motorway can be used additionally, and

6.      the new areas can be equipped with solar panels for shading and power generation.

With a closed development, it is difficult to move the bins, bicycles, prams, wheelchairs, etc. onto the street or footpath. The basement stairs are often narrow and especially for older people the weights for the bins and also e-bikes are difficult to move.

In many other cities there are already bicycle boxes in public areas that are rented out. Examples are Hamburg, Dortmund and Düsseldorf. We see that the problems also exist for our waste containers, so a uniform solution should be achieved for both. We accept the fact that one car parking space is lost in exchange for approx. 3 bicycle parking spaces and space for the attractive storage of the large waste containers. Other variants, e.g. with approx. 6 bicycles without waste containers, are part of the concept. The waste receptacles can be used jointly.

These bicycle boxes should also be able to be used for prams, bicycle trailers, rollators, wheelchairs, e-scooters, etc. by making small adjustments, as required. The size could be equivalent to a car parking space. This means that these vehicles can now be reached directly from the front door, are safely stored and are thus used more quickly, even for short journeys.

This applies to children as well as to elderly people and people with disabilities, who now have more independence. They now need no, or less, help to provide vehicles on the footpath. The use of the bicycle is considerably supported. With solar cells and connections for e-cars on each side, versatility is ensured for the future, while trip hazards should be avoided, if necessary with cable bridges.

At the back, the waste containers can be removed for emptying. A seal can be used to avoid misplaced litter next to the waste receptacle. This also keeps footpaths free of waste containers. With a slight inclination of the waste receptacles, children and people in wheelchairs can also fill these bins. 

If you find any errors, we are grateful for any advice.