It can be easy to lose sight of the bigger picture when focusing on particular asset classes and particular client transactions – especially in Q4, when we sometimes find ourselves working around the clock to help our clients meet their year-end goals and get the deals done amongst the various festivities. This podcast is a useful reminder that when it comes to transportation, the bigger picture is critically important, and can show where there are outstanding needs to be met – and opportunities to meet those needs.

In this episode, industry delegates at Innotrans 2022 offer their thoughts on what’s next for rail transport around the world, and the need to reimagine transportation assets more generally. Ideas seem to broadly coalesce around the need to improve sustainability, to resolve the ‘last mile’ issue, and to develop modes of transport that are shared (rather than specific to individuals) and services that are demand-responsive (rather than just scheduled).

eVTOL aircraft would seem ideally placed to help meet these needs. In addition to their sustainability credentials, these aircraft could provide a mode of public transportation that is both shared and demand-responsive, and flexible enough to expand the urban travel experience to something much closer to door-to-door, rather than just station-to station. Adding vertiport infrastructure to existing railway stations and airports is a contemplated option – and having spent 45 minutes last week late at night in a carpark at Heathrow waiting for a booked car caught in a traffic jam in the tunnel to collect me after a flight, I would agree that another transport hub approach and departure solution is needed to supplement the existing rail, air and road-based options.

So if the bigger picture is not just ‘transportation’ but real mobility across modes, the need to find ways to connect transportation assets and develop more sustainable and flexible solutions across asset classes will generate opportunities for those working in this space and financing these developments. eVTOL aircraft, and the related infrastructure, seem like a promising place to start.