A strong rail freight sector needs Digital Automatic Coupling (DAC). Of this, the six associations, VPI, Allianz pro Schiene, NEE, VDB, VDV and UIP, which presented the DAC-Charta in Hamburg on the 14th of January 2020, are convinced. They called on politicians and the sector to join forces now and put the key technology for efficient Rail 4.0 on the track throughout Europe.
In order to meet the needs of both climate protection and growing transport volumes, an increase in productivity and efficiency of the greenest transport mode rail is urgently needed. Against this background, UIP, as one of the first Charta signatories, promotes the DAC as the game changer on the way to the intelligent freight train through it being an enabling technology for the comprehensive automation and digitalisation of rail freight transport.
Our common goal is that all European freight wagons must couple automatically by 2030 at the latest. Freight trains must be digitally connected from the locomotive to the final wagon. However, the pan-European rollout of the DAC is a complex and financially challenging project which will not succeed without broad political support at the national and European levels.
Consequently, our Charter focuses on three key steps that politicians and the rail sector must tackle now are:
1. Accelerate the development phase,
2. Ensure the necessary financing for a Europe-wide roll-out, and finally
3. Draw up a European roadmap for migration to the DAC.
Companies and institutions that would like to support our mission are warmly invited to support the charter and can contact dak-charter@vpi-hamburg.de for further information.