Duration: June 2024 - November 2026

Total funding volume: approx. € 1.2 million

Funding volume of the university: € 250 thousand

Sponsored by: Ministry of Economic Affairs, Industry, Climate Protection and Energy of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia, co-financed by the European Union as part of the ERDF/JTF programme

In the "Networked mobility and logistics" innovation field of the innovation strategy for NRW, the "Station of the future" field is an important area of work, especially for smaller or medium-sized railway stations, in order to achieve sustainable, multimodal urban mobility as part of the transition to a CO2-neutral economy. The aim of the project proposed here is to establish a sustainable research infrastruture at Minden station, which can be used to realise application-oriented research projects in the context of networked mobility even after this project funding has expired. In this project, older passengers or passengers with limited mobility will initially be able to use a service robot to make boarding and alighting easier, e.g. by providing information/guidance to the next link in the mobility chain or by taking over their luggage. The use of service robots at deserted stations can also contribute to increasing passenger safety when transferring from the train to the next link in the mobility chain if the robots are equipped with appropriate warning devices. To ensure that such and future use cases are not realised without taking travellers' needs into account, Minden station is being developed into a showcase station where potential projects and prototypes can be tested, reflected on and thus co-developed directly with passengers and other users.

Project partners: Bielefeld University of Applied Sciences, Ostwestfalen-Lippe University of Applied Sciences (TH OWL)