How might a City Hub at Stuttgart Central Station reduce Emissions and improve the Pre-last Mile Delivery by Rail Freight?

Abstract

This article deals with the development of a City Hub in Stuttgart, one of the most problematic air-polluted cities in Germany. The research question is how a hub located at the central station could reduce emissions and improve the shift to rail freight - the so-called pre-last mile in the delivery process. A chapter about sustainable local freight transport describes a city hub and explains ecologically why last mile solutions like cargo bikes should be considered. After a brief explanation why rail freight trains are needed again, the Stuttgart model is presented in concrete terms, in which the historical construction conditions and the history of rail freight transport in the Stuttgart city center are discussed, which also relate to the Stuttgart 21 framework plan. A context and content analysis is then carried out by interviewing various experts of the logistic and planner area. The output of this work should be to what extent rail freight transport in Stuttgart is seen as an opportunity, whether the respective areas such as trade, logistics industry or railway companies see the need for a modal shift and which concrete measures could be realized. On this basis, the framework conditions for a city hub should be made clearly recognizable and the role of the penultimate mile should be highlighted much more clearly in order to ultimately improve the logistics issue in Stuttgart in the basic idea of sustainable mobility.