Surface Transportation Systems

This activity area groups projects that require materials development for other surface transportation systems such as buses, trucks and rail. One of the key goals of the program is to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions associated with moving people and can be expressed as the amount of carbon dioxide per passenger kilometre, or grams CO2/pass-km. Public transport in general is a more fuel-efficient way to transport people, especially in a commuting environment. Canada is one of the leaders in public transport, both as a bus manufacturer and as an investor in advancing the public infrastructure. This area of the program will be further developed with an emphasis on proactively seeking industry involvement in addressing materials challenges. Although the technical emphasis is on lightweight polymer and composite structures for the passenger compartment, it is expected that additional projects similar to the automotive area will be established in the near future.