Planning and project tendering for such projects represent a major task. VIRTUAL VEHICLE’s innovative “Total Cost of Ownership (TCO)” model compares providers and takes into account and quantifies all relevant costs and benefits associated with the introduction and operation of metros. The TCO model covers not only the acquisition and operating costs and maintenance expenses, but also follow-up costs such as track damage and sustainability costs such as CO2 equivalents.

The holistic, systemic evaluation approach of the TCO model therefore covers the entire investment volume, which usually spans decades. This is particularly relevant in the capital goods sector such as railroads, as the initial investment in a metro system accounts for just 20% of the total costs over the life cycle. The TCO model helps to uncover hidden costs and enables manufacturers, suppliers and operators to make sustainable decisions when selecting resources.

2. Sustainability

The “Sustainability” module integrated into the TCO tool evaluates the ecological parameters of rail vehicles. A second master’s thesis examined the challenges of limited data availability in the project tendering phase, taking into account the complexity of metro vehicles. A “Fast Track” module was developed to enable a comprehensive life cycle analysis at an early stage. Based on the IDEMAT 2023 database, as yet unknown processes of the metro manufacturers and their supply chains are replaced in order to create the most accurate possible estimate of the CO2eq balance of the product, even at the early product development stage, without creating a fully certified Type 3 life cycle assessment.

The tool was evaluated by comparing generic metro vehicles in Europe and Asia. Part of the work was carried out during a stay abroad at Hanyang University in South Korea, which gave the research an international perspective.

The tool is freely available to metro operators and is to be further developed as a web application in the future. The aim is to enable global TCO comparisons between metro operators. Until April 2026, the project extension will further explore the topics of sustainability and track damage and investigate the potential of using artificial intelligence.

Thanks to the successful collaboration, voestalpine Railtechnology GmbH has been won as a new partner for this project.

Virtual Vehicle Research GmbH is funded within the COMET K2 Competence Centers for Excellent Technologies by the Austrian Federal Ministry for Innovation, Mobility and Infrastructure (BMIMI), Austrian Federal Ministry for Economy, Energy and Tourism (BMWET), the Province of Styria (Dept. 12) and the Styrian Business Promotion Agency (SFG). The Austrian Research Promotion Agency (FFG) has been authorized for the programme management. Virtual Vehicle Research GmbH would also like to thank the supporting industrial partner Siemens Mobility Austria GmbH and the scientific partner Graz University of Technology – Institute of Railway Engineering and Transport Economy.