The so-called shunting agreement is “essential to provide clarity and certainty to all parties involved during the execution of works along the entire port railway”, the Port of Rotterdam says. It defines the procedures for transferring trains administratively and physically, and which responsibilities apply to both contractors and clients.

Pilot

The project ‘Track Together’ will initially run for seven months in a pilot format. If proven successful, it will continue on a structural basis. Its goal is to prevent train cancellations and long delays. Terminals will benefit, according to the port, because their tracks can also be freed up for other planned trains.

“Track Together strengthens cooperation between rail operators in the Port of Rotterdam. By sharing information more effectively, the platform contributes to more efficient operations and a more reliable rail network for all parties involved”, commented Jordy Hermes, Product Design Specialist at LTE.

More details on Hupac’s Rotterdam-Mannheim connection

The service will therefore restart on Monday 13 February, with LTE that will initially be moving three trains per week on each route. Departures from the Rotterdam RSC are scheduled for Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, with closing time set for 5:30 pm.

From Mannheim, trains will depart on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays, with closing times at 6 pm. Transit time between the two destinations will be A/B for the departures scheduled during the week, while it’s A/D for trains leaving on Fridays. The service will be suitable for the transportation of dangerous goods.

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Efficiency gains

“Intermodal operators used to depart from several terminals, but regularly faced delays, which made them miss their slot. Moreover, they would book only three or four containers on a train. There was a lot to win in terms of efficiency”, van Riel said.

The Maasvlakte Shuttle bundles cargo from several operators and in this way, aims to leave the RSC terminal loaded with 108 TEUs each time, on a fixed timetable. “This is an efficiency gain for the intermodal operators, and for the deep-sea terminals.”

Shift to rail

Apart from this, there is the situation on the roads surrounding the port of Rotterdam, said von Riel. “The accessibility of the port by road is getting less, as the roads are congested and the volumes in the port terminals are on the rise.”

Railways undertaking LTE, which is carrying out the traction, commented that the new shuttle is a commitment to the modal-shift. “With a project like this the Rotterdam port is more accessible for containers from all Europe and the congestion on the road A15 gets tackled. As a result, 90.000 TEUs is taken from the road.”

Not the first

The new shuttle is not the first in the harbour. The port of Rotterdam operates the port shuttle. But the Maasvlakte shuttle should not be seen as competition, says von Riel. “It is just another service, providing a link between intermodal operators and the last mile in the harbour.”

“In the railway sector, increasing automation and digitalisation is leading to new job opportunities that are attractive for women. In the future, it is important to ensure that diversity is guaranteed, removing the obstacles that hinder competitive equal opportunities.

Women in position

It is not all that bad. When you look at the situation today, you find a lot of women in high positions, something that was much less true ten years ago. For example, the CEO of the leading railway undertaking, DB Cargo, is a female. Sigrid Nikutta was appointed head the operative division of DB Cargo by Deutsche Bahn’s supervisory board end 2019, after she held several management positions within the company.

In the Netherlands too, the freight division of Deutsche Bahn is led by a woman. Nanouke van ‘t Riet Visser was appointed the CEO of DB Cargo the Netherlands around the same time. In a recent interview, she explained that she is the working force, whereas her husband takes care of the household.

Both women are part of a company where the role of women is explicitly advocated. DB Cargo has one of the few executive boards of a large company where the proportion of women is 50%. “Yes, we still need International Women’s Day”, says Ursula Biernert, member of the board of management human resources at DB Cargo. “Until we no longer have to talk about quotas, special programmes, rules of conduct etc., until the topic of equality and diversity are a natural part of our society and our company.”

Yes, we still need International Women’s Day”

Continuous effort

Even though the number of women in rail is increasing, this needs to be accelerated, the CER also thinks. “CER members are strongly committed to the development of women’s employment in the European railway sector and have been investing to enable this.

“To achieve these goals, commitment at all levels is a prerequisite. To be successful as a business and avoid future labour shortages, talent must be hired and young women must be attracted and retained. Amongst the various measures CER members have been putting in place to achieve this, some of the most popular include for example more flexible working times and welfare systems to help with the work-life balance, measures to promote women’s employment and career development, mentoring to attract young women and encouraging STEM studies (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics).

Soft power, people skills

“A heterogeneous workforce reacts more flexibly and can adapt to different requirements more easily. We encourage agile teams – creative, flexible and go-ahead – to transform our industry and turning it into a dynamic environment. All the different perspectives, experiences and skills promote creativity in the driving innovations forward”, writes RailCargo Group in its blog about women in rail.

Jolanda Plomp, CEO of LTE the Netherlands acknowledges that women probably pay more attention to the person behind the employee. I do find communication with our staff very important, I call that ‘warm professionalism’.” At the same time, she realises that this skill must be combined with that of leadership traits. “I sometimes think I may look a little too much at personal needs. Then I really have to remember that I also run a business and have to be a bit tougher. I think that women might be a bit harder on content and softer on people, and this brings me in a difficult situation sometimes.”

“I sometimes think I may look a little too much at personal needs

The UK, France

In the UK too, the presence of women is apparent, with not one but two leading women representing the industry in last week’s RailFreight Live UK edition. “The more we encourage people and explain what our jobs are about and how much we can make a difference, the more women we can get onboard”, said Charlene Wallace, director of freight at UK’s Network Rail. “We do have the skillset and capacity to be able to do that, in any job in the rail industry.”

And one last country to refer to is France, where Sophie Dutordoir holds the position of CEO at SNCB, in addition to membership of the CER Management Committee. “At SNCB, the openness to women is reflected more and more in the figures every year. However, the question of diversity is not just about gender distribution. A company is a reflection of the society in which it evolves, with its wide range of diversities in terms of age, abilities, gender, lifestyle choices, social status, culture, etc. Diversity is natural: every talent has its place at SNCB. It’s a state of mind that must permeate the whole company.”

The question of diversity is not just about gender distribution

Joint European binding agreement

On a legislative level, the claim for more women continues. Within the framework of the Sectoral Social Dialogue set up by the European Commission, CER and the European Transport Workers’ Federation (ETF) have been active in this field since the beginning of the 2000s with various joint recommendations to have a better representation and integration of women in the railway sector. In July 2019, the social partners agreed to start negotiations on a joint European binding agreement in accordance with Article 155 TFEU. “We look forward to pursuing our negotiations with ETF to reach a social dialogue agreement on women in rail, thanks to the help of the European Commission.

CER Executive Director Alberto Mazzola concludes: “In my previous position, I was an Ambassador of Women in Transport and as the new Executive Director of CER, I am fully committed to keeping this issue at the top of the policy agenda. My wish for the European Year of Rail is that we will be successful in increasing the presence and responsibilities of women for a more gender-balanced railway sector.”

Today is the fifth day that rail freight is at an almost complete standstill in the Netherlands. Although passenger traffic has resumed to a good extent, railway undertakings have only been able to operate a handful of trains in and out of the country. The biggest problem is in the harbour area of Rotterdam.

“This morning passenger trains started running according to plan. The severe cold last night does hinder the effort to make railways available for freight transport. Switches are freezing again. Today we look at how we can move on in this regard”, ProRail said on Thursday morning.

Operational or not?

The updates on which areas are accessible are confusing, as they are subject to change or incorrect. On Wednesday afternoon, for example, the main route of the Harbour Line was declared operative, just as the terminals APMT, EMO, LWR, RWG, Maasvlakte east, Europoort, CTT and RSC.

However, departing a train from Europort still proved to be impossible according to railway companies. “We receive updates on which areas are cleared, but this is not always correct. We have not been able to get a train out of Europort”, said Jolanda Plomp, CEO of LTE.

Still closed

According to ProRail, it is not yet possible to operate from Euromaxx, Theemsweg, including Lyondell and Vopak. There are serious restrictions in emplacement yard Kijfhoek, where trains can be parked, but the hill system is not functioning. Partly accessible are ECT Delta, Buitencontour Maasvlakte 2, Botlek, Pernis and Waalhaven South. That was reported on Wednesday.

“In Amsterdam, the Houtrakpolder and the Westhaven are now also accessible. A snow plow is present in Moerdijk to clear the tracks there as well”, the ProRail blog read on Wednesday afternoon.

Race against the clock

The reason why railways are not operational is mainly due to switch errors. VolkerRail is working in the port to clear the snow from the switches. “That is quite a job, because there are about a thousand in total on the harbor site. To get to the right switches as quickly as possible, VolkerRail has a total of nine snow plows at strategic locations on the harbor tracks twenty-four hours a day. There they use leaf blowers to blow the snow away from the switch blades, so that they can be used again for the train service”, explains ProRail. Their role is to test the switches by checking whether they open and close properly.

The changing weather conditions make the work a race against the clock, the contractor explains. “Switches that we cleared of snow on Sunday, we had to do again on Monday,” says Bob van der Waal, projectmanager VolkerRail. The thaw brings new challenges. The melted snow turns into ice at night, which is a lot harder to get rid of. Instead of blowing it away with a leaf blower, we now melt it down with a gas burner, which takes longer, van der Waal explains.

Losing patience

“I really do see that ProRail is working hard to resolve the matter, but my patience is now getting less. The snowstorm happened on Saturday evening, I would have understood if railways were inaccessible on Sunday. But we are now five days further, and our trains are still stuck”, says Plomp.

In her belief, the priorities should have been different. “Due to the corona crisis most people are working from home, so maybe there should have been a little less focus on passenger traffic, and a little more on rail freight. We have a vital profession and goods do need to move in and out of the harbour. Soon, the tracks will start getting congested with trains that do operate, but cannot enter the port. Then, we have a bigger problem.”

Also read:

• Snow-battered railways in Netherlands and Germany: day 3
• Update: port of Rotterdam still inaccessible for rail freight
• Code red snowstorm bends Dutch rail freight traffic

Time consuming

These emplacements all form part of the Port of Rotterdam, a 40-kilometer deep funnel, containing a series of railway yards (parking spaces for wagons and tank wagons). In several places, ten or more tracks lie next to each other, with many switches that are now snowed up. Kijfhoek alone has 43 dividing tracks, fourteen arrival tracks and twelve siding tracks. And then there are yards at Waalhaven, Maasvlakte, Botlek, Pernis and Europoort, describes ProRail.

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Although the job is simple, it is laborous and time-consuming. And time is exactly what the rail freight industry does not have: many trains are waiting to depart, often carrying crucial cargo such as ore and coal for factories and hospitals. That is why we right away committed to the job, when we were asked to join the team, says Pieter Hazejager, country manager at Captrain.

Fire safety

Arriving on the spot, the job seems to be not limited to the cleaning of switches. “This was a little bit of a surprise to us, but we were asked to clean the fire safety channels. So this is what we are doing”, Hazejager describes. Indeed, the main focus of the ProRail Incident team is these specific ‘wells’, explains Kennedy.

Thanks to the efforts of our drivers and wagon masters, our locomotives can start working immediately when the port tracks come back into service

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“These emplacement yards have underlying water pipes that are used by the fire brigades in case of a fire. Currently, the access points to these pipes are covered in snow. So we have been asked to make these accessible, before we can make these emplacement yards operational again.”

“Because carriers also transport dangerous goods, strict safety requirements apply to the yards in the ports” explains ProRail. “This means that we cannot start driving until the fire extinguishing systems on the site have been cleared of snow. That is also a huge task.”

If we can’t drive, then we help where we can

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Terminals

Equally important are the capillaries of the rail system in the port. These are the so-called “trunk lines” that lead to the companies and freight terminals. Without these lines, the train drivers cannot get their train to the goods to be transported. However, these lines are often property of the terminals, and therefore another approach is needed.

Kennedy gets a phone call. “A railway company is asking if they can enter these terminal tracks and clean the tracks themselves”, he explains. It shows the eagerness of these companies to just start operating their trains. According to many of them, the whole operation is moving way too slow. “Two days of standstill easily leads to damages running into the tonnes of euros”, said Joanda Plomp, CEO of LTE, one of the carriers employing staff to clean the tracks.

Ore trains

“For us, the clearing of the EMO is the most crucial element of the operation”, says Hazejager, but according to him, this has not happened. The EMO’s dry bulk terminal in Rotterdam is the largest iron ore and coal terminal in Europe. EMO stores and transfers these bulk products for various customers in the European energy and steel industry. “It is of crucial importance that these trains start running again”, says Hazejager. “These trains supply energy to factories and hospitals in Germany.”

But according to Kennedy, there is no specific priority in the sites to be cleared. “We have asked the participating carriers which sites they find most important, but the conclusion was that all sites are important. We have decided to start with the place where most trains depart (Maasvlakte). Tomorrow we are finishing this area and Kijfhoek. Then, we should be able to see more freight train traffic.”

First construction phase

“After years of planning and overcoming many hurdles, we are pleased about the smooth start of the first construction phase”, said Andreas Mandl and Michael Benda, CEO and CFO of the LTE-group, after the construction work was officially started.

Sandra Gott-Karlbauer, Managing Director of ÖBB TS: “The workshop in Gramatneusiedl is another important piece of the puzzle towards a comprehensive service network. Here we can optimally link the operation and maintenance of locomotives and thus make an important contribution to sustainable mobility in our country.”

“With the new workshop, we offer our customers professional, state-of-the-art maintenance on around 1,000 m2. The strategically favorable location also guarantees short distances and thus maximum availability of the locomotives, ”says Christoph Katzensteiner, CEO ELL.

The test

The project is being carried out in collaboration with infrastructure manager ProRail and German counterpart DB Netze. The long trains runs in between the regular timetable, both for freight and passenger trains.

“We want to offer our customers the opportunity to transport more cargo by rail”, Plomp explained during the event, which took place in the last week of June and was organised by sister publication Nieuwsblad Transport. “Besides that, we just enjoy trying new things.”

Punctuality

An important point of attention is, of course, punctuality. This is a must, especially if the starting point of the ride is in the Netherlands. From Rotterdam, the train only had a delay of more than three minutes, one out of eight times. “Also with Kijfhoek as a departure point, the delay was only ten minutes in one of four cases. At Venlo, departure was smooth in almost all cases. ”

Conversely, the results were less prosperous. In Mannheim’s, only one out of four trains left within half an hour of the scheduled time. Also at the stop in Venlo, in the direction of Rotterdam, only one train left within thirty minutes of the planned time.

Corona era

During the event Plomp pointed out that the corona problems started shortly after the first test journeys with longer trains. As a result, most of the tests period has currently taken place with an unprecedented empty track. Significantly fewer trains ran in both the Netherlands and Germany. As a result, there was more space for the longer LTE trains.

“The question remains how things proceed when the passenger carriers return to their normal timetable”, said Plomp. “We also have to wait and see what happens when several rail freight operators start using longer trains. And above all, whether they will all run simultaneously or in rapid succession, or whether they will be more spread over the day and the week. If you all arrive at a terminal at the same time, the capacity is quickly allocated, of course.”

Which other problems does she expect if more railway companies will take the same step as LTE? “At some points we see that the infrastructure is not yet in order. Suppose that all carriers will be running two to three longer trains in one day, then we will have problems with the shunting, before arriving. We are aware of this, both ProRail and LTE. A plan is underway for this, so that we will be ready for it in the future.”

Loading and unloading

A large part of the terminals appears to be ready. Of the terminals that were visited, only the track at ECT on the Maasvlakte had a maximum of seven hundred metres. “As a result, we had to take off one wagon on arrival and one on departure. That gives a delay of ninety minutes per direction. ECT pays the costs of the extra shunting.”

The longer trains hardly cause any problems when loading and unloading. “There is a time frame in which you have to load unload. I have not experienced that we did not meet those window times. The unloading takes a little more time, but we managed to do it within the time frame.”

Despite some problems and uncertainties, LTE is enthusiastic about the longer trains. The company is therefore determined to continue and ProRail is also positive. “We have already applied for the paths for 2021 and they have already been awarded. As far as we are concerned, we are going to go ahead with it.”

Watch it

Do you want to hear more about the 740-metre trains in the Netherlands and surrounding countries? It will be the topic of discussion in today’s RailFreight Live. This will be broadcasted at 1pm on our YouTube Channel.

19.5 million tonnes of intermodal freight was carried in 2019 by Polish operators. As in 2018, this sector set a new milestone again. “In 2019 intermodal transportation reached a record level in its history. This means that the freight volumes of intermodal transport in 2019 increased by 14.7 per cent compared to the previous year. Since 2010, the volume of goods transported by intermodal transport increased by more than four times”, said Ignacy Góra, President of the Office of Rail Transport (UTK).

Further growth

UTK noted that there is a possibility for further growth of the intermodal sector, especially in the southern part of Poland. “Taking into account the underdevelopment of a rail infrastructure linking Poland to Czechia and Slovakia, in most cases, trains end their run at the terminals of Lower and Upper Silesia, and the goods to those countries are delivered further by road transport.

“The situation on the country’s southern border requires improvements for trains with higher parameters than the existing ones: the possibility to run for trains with a length of 750 metres and with an axle load of 22.5 tonnes”, the railway body specified.

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Competition among operators

In 2019 there were 20 intermodal freight operators on the market. This figure has remained relatively static for the last three years: there were 21 carriers in 2018 and 18 carriers in 2017. Before 2014, this figure was less than 10. Despite these changes, the market leader remained the same. It is PKP Cargo that had a market share of 44.11 per cent in 2019 (compared to 46.46 per cent in 2018). It is followed by two other leading companies that have been ranked second and third for the last two years: Captrain Polska – 13.37 per cent (13.73 per cent in 2018) and PCC Intermodal – 10.59 per cent (10 per cent in 2018).

Three rail freight operators got a market share of over 5 per cent: DB Cargo Polska – 8.41 per cent, LTE Polska – 6.59 per cent, Metrans – 5.01 per cent. Four other companies had a market share of more than 1 per cent: Eurotrans – 2.26 per cent, Ecco Rail – 2.25 per cent, PKP LHS – 1.41 per cent, CTL Logistics – 1.40 per cent. The remaining 10 operators had a share of less than 1 per cent: CD Cargo Poland, Lotos Kolej, ZIK Sandomierz, Rail Polska, STK, Rail Cargo Carrier Poland, Octopus Rail, Karpiel, Transchem, Alza Cargo.

RailFreight Summit Poznan

Do you want to hear more about intermodal transport in Poland and nearby countries? This year’s RailFreight Summit is held in Poznan. Please note that due to the coronavirus, this event has been rescheduled. It is to be held on 1, 2 and 3 September 2020. Registration is now open.

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The reason for the temporary stop was a test of the fire extinguishing system at the emplacement. The test results were negative: the fire brigade and the incident prevention team of infra manager ProRail could not perform their work properly, and thus the shunting yard was deemed unsafe. The shunting of dangerous goods had to be done elsewhere, and for a longer period of time, infrastructure manager ProRail announced on 13 September.

Survival

A swift response of all the parties involved followed in the days after. The shunting activities have mostly been relocated to Kijfhoek, the largest emplacement of the Netherlands. “For now this works for us”, says Markus Bertram, General Manager of LTE. As a carrier, his company pulls seven trains per week to or from the emplacement in the Dutch port. These operations are up and running till now, but at the expense of extra manpower and longer lead times.

“Where a change of locs takes an hour in Waalhaven, the process in Kijkhoek is different and takes several hours. We had to reschedule the entire planning. We have some spare capacity to manage emergency situations like these, but this should not last months”, he comments.

With this last remark he echoes the sentiment of the industry. “We have managed the first response by working twice as hard to operate the same number of trains. But on the mid to long term, this definitely hits rail freight as a modality”, said Arnoud de Rade, Manager Director at Rotterdam Rail Feeding.

Loss of confidence

Waalhaven is a crucial yard for the transport of containers, tank containers, trailers and swap bodies that come in and out of the port and are forwarded to destinations such as Venlo, Tilburg, Coevorden and Duisburg, but also further on to Poznan, Milan, Vienna, Budapest and China. Rail plays an important role in this hinterland transportation, but is also at fierce competition with the road.

“That is exactly why a hit like this comes at a bad time”, says de Rade. “The demand was surging, and we were making steps ahead with new measures taken to improve rail as a modality. But an event like this supports the idea of customers that rail is not reliable as a transport option. It is a setback for us as a sector trying to generate confidence in rail freight.”

Losing volume

According to several companies the trend has already commenced. Shippers are temporarily not taking the train to Rotterdam, they have better options. And this is not only the truck, explains de Rade. Shippers are already relocating their shipments to other ports, such as Antwerp or Duisburg. Volumes are already slipping away.”

“This is the commercial damage of the event”, says Hans-Willem Vroon, director of interest group RailGood. “Of course, there are additional costs on the short term, which is bad enough. But on the long term, the impact is that of a mini-Rastatt to the port of Rotterdam.”

Not unexpected

“I cannot understand how it has actually got this far”, adds LTE chief Bertram. Although the halt of operations were a sudden, the fire extinguishing test proved what had been claimed by the sector for a longer period of time: maintenance of the crucial infrastructure around the port is not up to date, he explains.

“The Harbour Line requires serious maintenance on several levels. This has been pointed out for many years, but it still had to come this far. This is something hard for me to comprehend. The good news is that it has provided a wake up call on the highest level.”

Collective effort

Indeed, ProRail has clearly acknowledged the problem. Twice a day a conference call is made between the port, carriers and operators to identify possible challenges. In Kijfhoek additional manpower is monitoring the situation to adequately respond to upcoming issues. “Operations at ProRail Traffic Control in Kijkhoek are running more smooth than ever before”, says Vroon.

The response reflects good cooperation between all stakeholders. Or as ProRail’s deputy CEO John Voppen commented: “Freight trains continue to run despite the restrictions in South Waalhaven. A remarkable effort thanks to the intensive coordination we have had for a year now with the terminals at the port, so that we proceed with logistical planning in this special situation.”

However, the final impact of the event on rail freight to the port of Rotterdam all depend on time. Bertram: “We need a solution as soon as possible. This week was survival. We cannot bear weeks or months.”

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Temporary stop for hazardous goods in Port of Rotterdam