“Good news for a militarily stronger Europe”, wrote the Dutch infrastructure state secretary Annet Bertram on LinkedIn. “All nine member states that are members of the ‘North Sea Baltic’, a rail freight corridor that runs from the North Sea ports to the Baltic states, have signed a new ‘joint declaration’. This is about cooperation and improvement of rail transport along this connection.”

Military mobility has been added to this declaration – meaning that “Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany, Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Finland and Sweden want to work more closely together in the field of military transport”, says Bertram. “This allows military trains to run quickly and unhindered on this connection if necessary. The need for this is great, given the current geopolitical situation.”

Experts on military mobility from the involved countries have also spoken to each other, allowing for more far-reaching collaboration and knowledge sharing.

The Netherlands places great importance on international coordination for military purposes, highlights the state secretary. “For example, these transports on the railways must be given priority if they are urgent, to prevent a train with tanks, for example, from being forced to wait until there is space. Rail yards are also being adapted to make them more suitable for military trains.”

Dutch Defence deals with Deutsche Bahn

Simultaneously, the Dutch Ministry of Defence has concluded a military mobility deal with Deutsche Bahn, RailFreight.com’s sister publication SpoorPro reports. As part of the agreement, the Ministry recently acquired two wagons for personnel travelling with military transports to secure and inspect them.

For military rail transport, dedicated military escort wagons are provided for personnel who travel alongside to secure the cargo. These carriages offer basic amenities, including seating areas and a restaurant.

The Dutch Ministry of Defence states that these wagons are suitable for use across Europe. They can be made available for military transport within ten days, after which they are transported by locomotive to the required location.

LTG Cargo gets NATO greenlight

On the other end of the North Sea – Baltic Corridor, the Lithuanian rail freight operator LTG Cargo is now permitted to participate directly as a supplier in NATO procurement procedures.

“LTG Cargo has been a trusted logistics partner to NATO allies for nearly a decade, but until now we have carried out shipments through cooperation with other European carriers”, explained Eglė Šimė, CEO of LTG Cargo. “From now on, we have the opportunity to work directly to support military mobility.”

“Over the past four years, we have increased the volume of military trains we transport by as much as 70 percent. We possess specific expertise and experience and are ready to strengthen our participation in allied rotations to help ensure the security of the entire region”, Šimė continued.

Closely aligned

“90 to 95 per cent of what works for military mobility works for rail freight,” he said, arguing that investment in rail infrastructure, rolling stock and regulatory reform would deliver benefits across both sectors.

Heavy military equipment – including tanks, artillery and other oversized assets – can be transported far more efficiently by rail than by road. The same applies to dangerous goods such as ammunition, which are safer to move in large quantities by train.

However, Mazzola warned that Europe currently lacks sufficient rail wagons capable of handling military transport requirements. “If you need to move a line division, we need 100 trains with 8,400 wagons,” he said. “If there is a war with Russia, we would need 50 times that.”

Wagon capacity

While some wagons are purpose-built for military equipment, most are dual-use and also serve commercial freight markets. Expanding wagon capacity would therefore strengthen both defence logistics and conventional cargo supply chains.

Port connectivity is another critical issue. According to Mazzola, even Europe’s largest seaports face limitations when it comes to moving large volumes inland by rail. “If you get ten ships in Rotterdam, only one load can be taken out of the port by rail,” he said, highlighting the need for stronger rail links between ports and inland corridors.

Military convoy

Bureaucracy also remains a major obstacle. A military convoy travelling by rail from France to Romania currently takes around 45 days, largely due to cross-border approval procedures. “Thirty of those 45 days are just permissions,” Mazzola said, warning that such timelines would be unacceptable during a crisis.

Proposals by the European Commission to cut approval times to three working days – and as little as six hours in emergencies – represent a step forward. However, Mazzola cautioned that mechanisms being developed to accelerate military rail movements currently fail to address a key issue for operators.

“If the emergency system is activated and the rules suddenly change, there is no compensation for railways,” he said. “We still need to pay salaries, suppliers and run the business.”

This article was originally published on our sister publication ProjectCargo Journal

However, that also poses a real challenge to the country and rail infrastructure manager ProRail. The network is already highly congested, and there is barely any free space for military trains. That calls for a policy change.

Only urgent trains will go first

“You can see that yellow-blue NS [passenger] trains now have the highest priority on the track. Freight transport comes next. And then, at the very bottom, military trains follow”, State Secretary Thierry Aartsen is quoted as saying by news outlet NOS. “That’s no longer appropriate in these times of [security] threats. We haven’t arranged this properly.”

An important detail: the policy change does not immediately mean that military trains will get priority over all other trains. Only those that have been labelled “urgent” will go first. It is up to the government to decide which trains are to be considered as such.

“These times demand resilient railways that can withstand the growth of military transport”, Aartsen explained. “Much military equipment enters Europe through Dutch ports. The North Sea-Baltic Corridor is the most obvious route for eastbound transportation.”

“It is important that military transports do not encounter any bottlenecks”, Aartsen continued. “European cooperation is enormously important for that.”

Military transport simulations

Aartsen’s appeal was addressed to colleagues in Belgium, Germany, Poland, Sweden, Finland, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania – all countries that are involved with the North-Sea Baltic Corridor. It has over 9,000 kilometres of rail infrastructure, and over 82,000 trains ran along the corridor last year.

Recently, the Netherlands itself conducted a study into the removal of bottlenecks for military rail transportation. It found that measures are needed to make the railways more resilient and suitable for military freight. The study suggested a minimum investment of 600 million euros into physical infrastructure and the improvement of security systems and processes.

The Dutch government is currently working to implement priority access for military transportation on the railways. That should prevent military trains from having to stop at the border due to paperwork. The infrastructure and defense ministries, together with infrastructure manager ProRail, are working to simulate military transports to identify bottlenecks. They are also working on a resilience strategy to curb hybrid threats.

Once EMERS is active, military transports would typically be entitled to rail slot allocation within six hours of the application. Importantly, the affected other users of the rail network would not be entitled to compensation. Under certain conditions, rail vehicles could also be allowed to operate outside their typical area of operation for which they received authorisation.

When it comes to the question of the rolling stock fleet, the Commission proposes to create a ‘Military Mobility Solidarity Pool.’ Member States can voluntarily register their capabilities for military transport, including both their own assets and those acquired through agreements with civilian operators. These capabilities can then be procured by Member States to fill in the gaps in military transportation.

More options for the Commission

The Commission also wants to be able to implement acts requiring railway undertakings to register its vehicles that are suitable for military transport. In consultation with ERA, it also wants to be able to formulate technical parameters to specify which vehicles are suitable for such operations.

The new proposal also stresses the need for dual-use infrastructure improvements. It requires Member States to remove bottlenecks, reinforce bridges, increase loading capacities and improve rail access to ports and terminals. Interoperability is another focal point, with the proposal mandating a prioritisation of migrations to standard gauge as well.

Lastly, the proposal pursues the harmonisation and digitalisation of customs forms. Cross-border permissions should be granted within three working days.

CER welcomes the proposal

The Community of European Railway and Infrastructure Companies (CER) has responded positively to the Commission’s proposal. “Today’s Military Mobility Package is crucial to ensure fast and seamless military movements across Europe, in which railways play a key role”, commented executive director Alberto Mazzola.

“CER calls for the swift adoption of the Package in the interests of EU defence readiness and improved continental connectivity as a whole. With a systemic approach to the railway system to facilitate military transportation, addressing infrastructure, procedures, capabilities and governance gaps in a dual-use perspective, we can deliver maximum benefits for civilian and military users alike.”

CER did highlight some points for improvement, namely the necessity for “ambitious and predictable funding” for infrastructure corridors and hotspots, estimated at 100 billion euros. It also says that the existing rolling stock fleet should be replenished before starting to pool capabilities.

The outcome of the assessment is twofold: First, the Netherlands needs to rethink its rail strategy, and from that follows point number two: money (600 million euros in investments to be precise).

Dutch rail policy has long focused on efficiency and punctuality, which has served its purpose well. However, times are changing and so are the needs of the railways. Sabotage, cyber attacks and military transportation are the new themes that need to be dealt with.

From prevention to recovery

“Current policy assumes incidental, non-intentional disruptions due to, for example, bad weather. That assumption is a thing of the past”, the Dutch infrastructure ministry says. State Secretary Aartsen also highlighted that the Netherlands needs to move beyond just prevention, but also work on “absorption” and “recovery”.

“A targeted disruption can have a large impact on the network”, the OFL report says. A case in point was the large-scale rail disruption during the NATO summit in the Hague, although an official cause has not yet been established. During complex disruptions, solutions depend on the knowledge of “small groups of experts”, meaning that solutions can take a long time if the experts are unavailable. Interesting to know is that the NATO summit rail disruption prompted the state secretary to commission the investigation in question.

Bureaucracy and infrastructure

A grim picture emerges when looking at the Dutch readiness for military transportation. RailFreight.com’s sister publication SpoorPro attended the presentation of the OFL report at a Dutch military base, and writes: “Aartsen’s face was filled with astonishment when he heard from a military transport specialist that it currently takes 28 days to enter Germany with military equipment.” This does not have so much to do with infrastructure as it does with bureaucracy, as it is the red tape (in both countries) that is keeping trains on one side of the border.

But when looking at hard infrastructure, things are also far from perfect. For example, military trains may require adjacent rails to remain unoccupied, so they can interrupt regular civilian traffic for hours. Military transportation would be highly disruptive to other forms of traffic on the already congested Dutch railways.

In a letter to parliament, State Secretary Aartsen says that the Netherlands needs to improve its railways in various ways for military mobility purposes: more capacity in port areas, facilitating 740-metre trains, efficient border crossings and electrification of strategic routes.

Dutch rail freight association RailGood sees an opportunity for the government to meet the demands of the civilian rail freight sector through military-related plans. After all, 740-metre trains, more capacity for freight, electrification and, RailGood adds, the implementation of ERTMS for interoperability have long been on the sector’s wishlist.

“The rollout of the ERTMS signaling system for the railway continues and will be introduced gradually until 2042”, the Transport Administration adds. “In addition, several capacity-increasing measures are proposed for rail and road.”

Security

The Swedish agency highlights the “deteriorating security situation” as an underlying reason for the investments. “The transport sector needs to strengthen its ability to maintain essential societal functions, both in peacetime crises and at high alert and, ultimately, in war”, it says.

“The proposed plan contains important elements that contribute to a more robust transportation system that also strengthens total defense”, said Roberto Maiorana, Director General of the Swedish Transport Administration. Despite the announcement, approval of the plan is still pending. A government decision is expected in spring of 2026.

Yet, Europe wants to boost its capacities. For that reason, UIRR has put forward its ideas on how to do that from a CT perspective. Firstly, it wants a clear designation of relevant transshipment terminals for military transports along the four EU military mobility corridors, among which is the Netherlands – Germany – Poland corridor.

Policy tools

Second, in the view of UIRR, those terminals should get priority when bidding for state aid schemes for upgrades. It also wants to update the EU’s Dual-Use Infrastructure Regulation, which specifies requirements for dual-use infrastructure, to cover all unmovable transshipment technologies installed at terminals.

Moreover, CT operators should be recognised in the EU’s Resilience Directive of 2022 as critical entities for organising military transports, and should be incorporated in strategies to enhance their resilience. Lastly, the Combined Transport Directive, Weights and Dimensions Directive, the TSI Telematics Standard, the eFTI Regulation and other policy tools should ensure the “efficient functioning and resilience” of CT operators.

“The Ofot Line looks set to become even more important in the years to come, not least in light of the increasing defense cooperation under NATO auspices”, the Norwegian Railways Directorate (Jernbanedirektoratet) highlighted. A stronger Europe, under a military perspective, became a priority in the Union since the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

The upgrades

Concerning the Narvik rail freight terminal, a first 50% capacity increase was implemented in 2022. “There are plans to expand and develop the terminal area in Narvik even further”, the Jernbanedirektoratet specified. The upgrade here will specifically keep military mobility needs into account.

For the Narvik station, the plan entails the addition of separate tracks at the entrance of Narvik so that LKAB’s iron ore trains can travel on a ‘private’ section. This new bundle will also allow for the transit of 740-metre trains. To increase the axle load from 31 to 32.5 tonnes, the sleepers will be replaced with concrete ones, with tests underway for sleepers made of composite.

Benefits for LKAB

Improving the Ofot Line should also bring development for the transport of iron ore and LKAB, Europe’s largest mining company. LKAB sends some of its ore mined in Kiruna, Sweden, to the port of Narvik along the northern branch of the Iron Ore Line. However, the state of the line has been a problem for the mining giant for a few years now, even leading to the closure of some mines.

The improvements planned in Norway will increase available capacity and axle load, meaning the more and heavier trains can be deployed. In theory, this will create a better infrastructure for LKAB. Sweden is also working on improving the Iron Ore Line, which over the past couple of years saw multiple derailments leading to long closures and the aforementioned problems for LKAB.

Doubling trains to Oslo

Other than benefitting NATO flows and iron ore traffic between Narvik and Sweden, the initiative will provide additional capacity along the Narvik–Oslo axis, the Norwegian Railways Directorate added. “The plan is that it will be possible to run as many as six pairs of trains, each 740 meters long, daily between Oslo and Narvik. This will mean more than a doubling compared to today”, the institution said.

The IM underlined the importance of the line for military mobility as well as freight movement. Between its opening in 1928 and the interruption of traffic in 1990, the line was crossed by freight trains carrying iron ore, forest products and peat.

Military mobility in the EU

Improving railway networks to be ready to move troops and military equipment has become a priority in many European countries and institutions. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Israel’s occupation of Palestine and Trump’s anti-EU approach led many Member States to increase defence spending to become more independent when it comes to equipment and more prepared in case of war.

NATO recently asked its members to increase defence spending to 5% of GDP. To reach this goal, many countries decided to invest into improving, reopening, or building new infrastructure for military mobility. Even the CEF funds, Europe’s main funding mechanism for rail infrastructure projects, significantly increased the slice of the pie destined to military mobility projects.