Foto nextmobilityexhibition.com
This is not a train in the usual sense, nor is it an electric car that happens to be on the tracks. RailEvo are compact autonomous pods for 4-6 people that are supposed to move along existing railroad tracks and be summoned “on demand,” roughly like a cab.
The idea behind the project is to abandon the classic logic of railroads: long trains, rigid schedules and mandatory stops, Wired writes. Instead – a stream of small modules, each of which can drive independently.
The most controversial and at the same time the most spectacular part of the concept is the so-called “vertical exchange”. The developers claim that a capsule can briefly rise above the main rail, making way for another. In essence, this is an attempt to solve the eternal problem of railroads – the impossibility of overtaking on one track – without building a complex network of switches and junctions.
How exactly it will work in real operation has only been demonstrated at the prototype level so far. But in theory, the system should turn the rail infrastructure into a more flexible and “dynamic” network where traffic is not fixed in advance.
The pods are designed with Mecanum wheels that allow them to move not only forward and backward, but also sideways – a technology more common in robotics than in transportation. The developers also claim to use aerodynamic solutions borrowed from aviation to reduce air resistance and energy costs.
With a mass of about 1.4 tons, RailEvo is positioned as a lighter and more energy-efficient alternative to traditional rolling stock – at least on lightly loaded lines. The project also relies on the fact that it can utilize existing rail infrastructure without requiring large-scale construction of new tracks.
The prototype is now being tested in Trento. Authorities and operator Trentino Trasporti are considering launching the first full line by 2030.
