The article presents a novel wagon concept that integrates innovative solutions relating to the identified major challenges for the freight vehicles of the future, namely: i. cargo condition monitoring; ii. Lightweight wagon design; and iii. Predictive maintenance. These three essential areas are addressed by three subsequent work streams of the INNOWAG project, which is funded by the Shift2Rail Joint Undertaking under the EU’s H2020 programme. INNOWAG aims to respond to major rail freight competitiveness challenges regarding the increase of transport capacity, logistic capacity and improved RAMS and lower LCC, by developing an autonomous self-powered sensor system for cargo tracing and monitoring, along with a predictive maintenance approach to enable efficient use of both condition monitoring and historical data for further implementation of predictive models and tools in freight vehicle maintenance, and to integrate the aforementioned innovations on a novel concept of modular and lightweight wagon, developed through an optimised structural design using lightweight materials.