Source: https://fkg.se/tructric-vill-fa-med-lastbilstrailern-pa-taget/

(automated translation from Swedish)

• Tructric wants to bring the truck trailer on the train

• A car ride on the autobahn got Hanns Hallesius – CEO of newly-formed FKG member Tructric – to think.
  - I noticed that I was more or less surrounded by trucks with trailers, he says.

  If instead it was possible to get all that load onto railway wagons ...
  - ... it would be a real win for the environment, says Hanns Hallesius.
  He himself had recently passed the 50 mark and resigned from his job as patent manager at a major international group. Now he was eager to try something else. And during the drive on the autobahn, he hatched an idea.
  - It is already done, that you lift over trailers to railway wagons, says Hanns Hallesius.
  According to him, however, this is only about a few percent of all European trailer traffic. The existing methods usually require the trailers to be lifted over to the wagons, which is both cumbersome and requires costly investments.

  Experimented with Lego pieces
  But in the car, on the way through the German countryside, Hanns Hallesius saw a much simpler solution. With a ramp at the rail terminal, so that the wheels of the truck and trailer end up level with the bed of the railcar, it would be possible to back over the trailer onto the car from the side, much like parking a car.
  - However, the driver would need some help from software and sensors.
  Back home, he tested his thoughts in the simplest way imaginable.
  - I built with the children's Legos and tested on the kitchen floor, he says.
  The solution they are now developing works with regular standard trucks. But the driver needs to have a screen, for example an iPad, in the cab to receive assistance from software and sensors on the railway carriage. So that the trailer can be maneuvered with high precision and parked on the railway carriage in a safe way.
  According to Hanns Hallesius, it would be possible to rebuild some existing, flat railway cars and make it work.
  - But if this turns out as well as we think, quite a few new wagons will still need to be built, then we might as well optimize them from the beginning.
  According to Hanns Hallesius, there are a couple of other solutions on the market.
  - They are complicated and more expensive, and none of them have been widely successful.
  The idea from the autobahn eventually became a startup company that today, three years after its founding, employs seven people, all of whom except Hanns Hallesius himself are currently working on other assignments alongside Tructric.
  They have received some funding through, among others, FFI, Vinnova and the Energy Agency, plus Hanns Hallesius putting in his own funds.

  A hunt for weaknesses
  Tructric now aims to have a salable product up and running around 2026.
  The potential of the idea is great, he believes. Seven percent of global carbon dioxide emissions come from truck transport. If, for example, 20 percent of the long-distance truck traffic were to be transferred to combi traffic with electric trucks and trailers on trains, we would, according to Hanns Hallesius, reduce the European emissions of carbon dioxide by 50 million tons per year, which corresponds to what the whole of Sweden emits today.
  - Our solution would also reduce costs per loading by half compared to today.

  Tructric
  The company, founded in 2022, is a startup working on a solution for combined transport. The basic idea here is that the truck driver backs up the trailer on a flat rail car. The transport is then carried out by rail to the vicinity of the final destination, where the trailer is again driven by truck. The idea combines the sustainability of the railway with the flexibility of truck traffic. According to Tructric, 75 percent of transport work (ton miles) in Europe takes place by truck, most of it over long distances. A simpler solution for moving freight to electrified rail would have the potential to drastically reduce carbon dioxide emissions. Another advantage is that rail is significantly more energy efficient than driving with trucks.
  Tructric has tied two partners to the project: the logistics company Logs Logistics in Borlänge and Kiruna Wagon, which builds freight wagons. In addition, they collaborate with both Chalmers and KTH.

• 
  Have you encountered any problems in the development work?
  - Since I have worked for a long time with consulting around innovations and patents, I know that it is a risk that you only see the possibilities of your ideas. Everything that looks good on paper does not work in the market. So it's about hunting for weaknesses, and in that hunt we've encountered some challenges. But nothing that hasn't been solved yet.
  What drives you? Making money or doing something for the environment?
  - I want to find solutions to the climate crisis. If it was just about finances, I could have done something else. But of course I think it will also be a good deal.
  You recently joined FKG, why?
  - In Almedalen I met FKG's CEO, and when he told me about the organization I saw an attractive opportunity to broaden our network to relevant companies. I also got an idea that there may be potential partners within FKG, with expertise in sensors, technology for self-driving and other things that we need.