UPDATES AND HISTORY

ARON Rail Cargo System at Berlin Innotrans

As a project in the "birth channel" we need to concentrate our limited time and resources on setting up prototype projects including the necessary finance. Therefore we opted not to participate as exhibitors but several stakeholders will visit the trade event in order to meet with each other and prospective partners. We invite interested parties attending Innotrans to contact us beforehand.

Promising negotiations in 2016

The second quarter was significant inasmuch explorative negotiations were under way with high-ranking company and government representatives of several countries in and out of Europe. During the years before ARON-RCS used to be the object of deliberations by progressive staff members and experts, now for the first time top managers indicated their interest. Our goal is to collect mortgageable statements and agreements in view of solicitating project finance.

First public lecture in Germany at Horber Schienentage

The virtue of Horber Schienentage is that it unites both a high-end expert audience and grassroots activists, professional and political perspectives mostly from German-language countries. A presentation held here on 19 November 2015 was the first public introduction of the ARON Rail Cargo System innovation in the German-language area. This occasion and the subsequent publication greatly contributed to networking in Central and Western Europe as more prospective stakeholders became aware of the possibilities and some joined the effort contributing their own means and perspectives.

ARON-RCS debut at INNORAIL conference in Budapest

In late 2015 the second INNORAIL conference was a forum for rail innovators and industry representatives in the Carpathians and all of Central and Eastern Europe. At this occasion ARON-RCS's senior project manager and developer for the first time introduced this system and its prospective application to a larger professional audience. The 16 October presentation was only one of a host of topics but certainly amongst the most widely noted ones. It availed a boost of networking setting the stage for international cooperation in the CEE region and beyond.

Effort continues after achievement of base research project

The R&D project explored future rail freight and in particular the possible application of distributed propulsion and horizontal container transshipment in cargo vehicles. The formal end of the project started in 2013 and financed by the Hungarian Research and Technology Innovation Funds (KTIA) was 31 December 2014 but extra work continued through most of 2015. The first Horizon 2020 and national grant application for the construction of a prototype remained unsuccessful for a number of reasons. Following negotiations with future suppliers of vehicle units project stakeholders initiated further negotiations with private and institutional financers to determine possible conditions. The re-nationalisation of the Dunakeszi plant (Dunakeszi Járműjavító - DJJ) – the main location of former Ganz MÁVAG where central ARON-RCS stakeholders started their professional careers – means that DJJ and national government as the new owner are all the more interested to have a prototype assembled here. The difficulty is that EMU production at DJJ stopped almost two decades ago but production of other rolling stock is continuous and recently Spanish C.A.F. set up a tramway assembly capacity here next to Stadler Rail, MÁV-Start Szolnok and Metrovagonmash concluding joint ventures with DJJ. The aim of ARON Rail Cargo System stakeholders is not only a revival of Hungarian rail vehicle industry but also – following trial operation and system optimation – cooperation with other industry partners globally in view of licence production in several strategic locations for a global outroll of this revolutionary system.
Nomen est omen – the location of the Budapest project closing event: Danube riverfront "Why not?" Café.