Proposal Outline: FrOST. Provisional lead partner: Transport for Greater Manchester

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1 Area of Intervention Proposal Outline: FrOST Provisional lead partner: Transport for Greater Manchester This proposal puts forward ideas which address INTERREG Priority 2, specific objective 4 (SO4): To reduce Green House Gas (GHG) emissions in North West Europe through international cooperation on transnational low carbon solutions in transport systems. Specifically, the work packages outlined below will encapsulate Types of Activities (ToA) 8: Implementing solutions for optimised traffic management, to enhance capacity while reducing GHG emissions in the transport sector. Project summary Transport infrastructure is a nation s lifeline: Ensuring an efficient flow of goods through the arteries of this lifeline makes it possible for the products and services essential for everyday society and the economy to reach their destination. GHG emissions linked to Reliability and congestion is a major problem for effective logistics operation throughout NWE, and through cooperation between partners from key regions in NWE, this project proposes to implement vehicle to infrastructure technology which will facilitate improved access to freight centric locations. The project will tackle the volume of emissions and pollutants caused by current inefficiencies in freight transport. As well as improving delivery efficiency and helping reduce congestion. The effectiveness of the solution will be demonstrated by installing environmental monitoring systems which will allow any change in emissions to be accurately measured, both during and following project completion. In addition to this, improvements in reliability and efficiency will be measured by monitoring freight times in real-time to measure journey time variability and reliability. The improvements in interoperability of freight mobility will benefit not only freight and network operators and their customers, but crucially, will have socio-environmental benefits for wider society too in terms of improved air quality. The project approach will address the lack of interoperable communications network standards in NWE by proposing and implementing a solution which will enable technology to be deployed which facilitates seamless freight access to freight centric locations on key freight corridors in North-West Europe. As a region which encompasses major strategic freight distribution routes for northern England, Greater Manchester is ideally placed to form a pilot zone to implement the outlined solutions.

2 Greater Manchester contains some of the most strategic transport links across the northern England as well as links to the rest of the United Kingdom. The current limitations of the transport infrastructure is being addressed in the 15b 15-year strategic proposition One North, which advocates improved transport links for the North of England. It is proposed that solutions are implemented simultaneously by European city and region partners to trial systems in parallel, so as to demonstrate the benefits across transnational logistics routes and evaluate the impact on Greenhouse gas emissions in divergent urban areas. Baseline data will need to be established for participating city regions. Proven benefits can facilitate commercialisation of the technology for supply to market, providing ready-packaged solutions for local authorities to implement in their own localities. It is envisaged that the systems and solutions which are the result of this project will build on and utilise existing ITS, as well as providing leverage for future expansion and development of intelligent urban infrastructure, to support connected city frameworks. This project is innovative in that, for the first time in Europe, it proposes coordinated communications and application technology to deliver real-time active traffic management for freight and logistics in urban environments. The result of this will be the facilitation of greater efficiency in managing limited highway capacity, whilst simultaneously bringing about a reduction in Greenhouse gases on test corridors to meet the criteria specified in SO4 and ToA8. FrOST will utilise real-time data to calculate actual delay to freight journeys, rationalise traffic signal control, to help HGVs through the urban road network, and provide accurate information on delays to drivers Where specific journeys are assessed as behind schedule, the system will have the capability to send commands to UTMC signal controllers, giving priority to goods vehicles at signalised intersections. Interfaces would be developed for European partners for compliance with non-utmc signals in NWE. Project partners The project is composed of partners from the major NWE regions, including France, Germany, UK, and the Netherlands. We are also seeking to engage partners from Belgium and Ireland, to give comprehensive coverage for demonstration of the solutions across the entire NWE region. These regions have the strongest economies in NWE, but also contribute the highest levels of emissions from transport. The partnership is composed of transport and urban/regional authorities, transport operators and infrastructure owners, technology providers and academic research institutions. The consortium will provide the capability to undertake research, development, implementation and evaluation which the WP requires. Agreement is needed from all urban/regional transport and/or municipal authorities, in which solutions are proposed to be implemented, to pilot active traffic and freight prioritisation interventions.

3 The breadth of the partnership is essential in order to meet the project objective of developing a system s based application which demonstrates how commonality in real-time communications protocols can be used for implementing intelligent traffic control for freight across NWE. Project description Proposed Work-packages 1) Data collection and identification of study area a) Collecting data about the contribution of the HGVs to air pollution establishing baseline data for delays /reliability of HGV trips Etc, and the associated cost and impact on congestion this creates. b) Define test zones. 2) Freight information and Active Traffic Control Application (FiTA) The proposed application is the core solution to be developed and tested as part of the Smart Freight Corridors project. The application will compose two data processing and actuation elements: a) Interface via UTMC compliant database to output data from traffic signal controllers on predefined corridors and/or at freight centric locations identified during WP1. Signal phase staging and cycle information will be passed to the HGV via a mobile app, using existing wireless communications technology. Where additional network infrastructure is required, it is proposed that market ready self-defining transmitters, repeaters and receivers are deployed, to provide the necessary infrastructure framework. b) Collating and matching GIS/GPS routing/positioning data with delivery timetables for businesses and/or hubs within the test zones. This will be analysed in real-time by the system by relaying data using the existing backhaul route between the signal controller, the vehicle and the journey time processing engine, using complex algorithms to evaluate progress of the delivery against the planned delivery window. This will allow the optimisation of data relayed to drivers and operators, so highly efficient routing information can be supplied via the in-vehicle app. c) Investigate and evaluate potential for Interventions to signal phasing, to enable prioritised, smooth and seamless passage of freight to its destination. 3) Environmental Monitoring and Measurement Assessment Platform (E-MMAP) a) Results of the project will require emissions and airborne pollutants to be monitored, using a combination of particulate and GHG sensors and proxy data exported from HGV trip computers and in-vehicle app. b) Data will be collated and integrated with weather and traffic information, for analysis using complex algorithms. Simulation software will then be used to model the predicted impact of the project interventions. This will be used to provide a live Green map, demonstrating how the solution can create benefits to improve GHG emissions in transferring the interventions in other European regions.

4 4) Project Management Project coordination and management will be undertaken by the lead partner, with all partners expected to contribute significantly, attending meetings as required. Roles and responsibilities will be set out and agreed by all partners prior to the second stage submission, assuming success at stage one. 5) Communication Effective communication between partners, their organisations, the programme secretariat and project beneficiaries will be achieved through regular contact between partners, coordinated by a lead representative from each partner organisation, as agreed at commencement of the project. Interim and final results will be published for circulation by INTERREG and also disseminated at conference events in Europe. 6) Long-term effects It is anticipated that the effect or change that this project demonstrates will be reported on annually. Long-term effects will be evaluated at three stages: upon completion of the project, and at intervals of five and ten years after the project ends. Project objectives, outputs and results Programme priority specific objective (SO) To facilitate the implementation of transnational low-carbon solutions in transport systems to reduce GHG emissions in NWE output 1) Optimisation models for realtime collaborative routing. 2) Baseline study 3) FiTA application and interface 4) Simulation tool Programme result indicator R4: Status of competences of the transport sector in the use of low carbon solutions in the transport systems Project context These proposals share a degree of commonality with previous and existing INTERREG projects, such as Weastflows, and as such look to build on work sponsored by the EC which has already started to address some of the issues identified by the call for SO4/ToA8. As a founding partner in this proposal TfGM has previous leadership experience in INTERREG projects, demonstrated through the successful delivery of the Ticket to Kyoto programme. LJMU have substantial experience in European projects which have looked at improving maritime freight.

5 The solutions and outputs proposed by this project will help support and add value to the proposed for the transport for the north agenda, as well as supporting the long-term transport strategy of TfGM. If proved to be successful, the interventions tested could be expanded for deployment on inter-urban corridors, extending the value of investment for feeding in to future schemes and projects. Contact and Call for partner details To register interest or request further information, please contact one of the partners below: Partner Contact Telephone Transport for Greater Tim Morris Manchester Liverpool John Moores University Zaili Yang Beneficiary Anticipated Responsibility Resources Output Target Groups Industrial - Technology Industrial Freight Infrastructure operators Industrial HGV Operator(s) Local/Regional Authority Highway Managers Support integration of existing data streams and develop additional technology Input logistics data Implement navigation and emission measurement systems Integration of data into active traffic control active strategies. Policy agreement on implementation Data Integration sensor development Navigation application Port/gateway schedules and processes Inland shipping and rail facilities In-cab display Driver training Signal controller infrastructure Route mapping Real-time highway data Development of technology solutions for supply to market Improvement in throughput and efficiency of goods movement; environmental footprint reduction Cost savings and improved operations management; environmental footprint reduction Greater integration and coordination of traffic management on inter-urban routes. Enterprise, SMEs, NWE residents. Operators Operators, enterprise, NWE residents, government authorities Residents, authorities, operators, SMEs.

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