The two new links run on fixed timetables. RCG also offers first and last mile services, forwarding services such as transshipment, warehousing and professional customs clearance. “Freight customers can easily and flexibly book conventional freight wagons or intermodal units such as containers or swap bodies onto the train connections”, the company writes.

Various industries benefit

“The further development of our TransFER connections shows how consistently we align our services with the needs of our customers”, says ÖBB Rail Cargo Group CCO Christoph Grasl. “With new direct and reliable connections, we are improving access to key logistics hubs and creating attractive conditions for the switch to rail.”

RCG explains that these services are particularly beneficial for the chemical, steel, and paper industries. “These sectors gain the most from the enhanced transportation options and simultaneously drive the demand for our services”, the operator says, while pointing out that rail services offer higher transport capacity and reliability than the road, especially for long distances.

The Duisburg-Rotterdam service offers a direct link, initially with three round trips per week, between the Rheinkamp logistics hub near Duisburg and the major terminals of the Port of Rotterdam (Waalhaven, Europoort, Botlek, Pernis, and Maasvlakte). By connecting to Duisburg, one of Europe’s most significant inland ports, the service allows for efficient onward rail transport to destinations in Europe, says RCG.

The Salzburg-Offenbach link runs twice weekly, connecting the Austrian railway hub to an important logistics and industrial center in the Rhine-Main area near Frankfurt am Main.

Romanian connection

RCG is also changing its Romania service offering. The previous connection between Genk (Belgium) and Curtici, on the border with Hungary, will now be a Liège–Curtici link and operate with seven weekly round trips. Liege offers strong connections to the North Sea ports of Rotterdam, Antwerp and Zeebrugge and serves as a powerful hub between seaports, industrial centres and inland markets, RCG explains.

At the same time, RCG is introducing a new Duisburg–Curtici connection with three weekly round trips. “This means that traffic to Curtici will now be consolidated via both Liège and Duisburg”, the operator says.

The first RCG-operated train in Belgium departed from Roosendaal, the Netherlands, and arrived in the port of Zeebrugge on 14 October.

International expansion

“With the launch of our operations in Belgium, we are strengthening our position as a leading European rail logistics provider and creating, for the first time, a connection under our own traction to the ports of Zeebrugge and Antwerp. This allows us to offer our customers even more services from a single source and advance the sustainable connectivity of Europe”, said Clemens Först, CEO of ÖBB Rail Cargo Group.

In order to support the company’s international expansion in the Benelux region, RCG is looking to expand its workforce: it needs train drivers that speak French, Dutch and German and a new team lead for the Antwerp office.

Asia – Europe traffic

With rail freight traffic from Asia increasing, Türkiye’s position as a logistics hub is growing in importance. “Türkiye is a central logistics hub and forms the bridge between Europe and Asia, especially for intermodal trade”, says RCG. “Istanbul plays a central role as a hub for transport to the STAN countries and onwards to China. That’s precisely where RCG comes in with its improved offering.”

In anticipation of worsening conditions and to ensure operational safety, considering a landslide between Aspang and Friedberg, ÖBB has shut down several routes. Freight branch Rail Cargo group also confirmed that freight traffic will be reduced to the absolute minimum abiding by the preventive measures.

The Austrian National Railway Company announced that the closures and preventive measures will probably stay in place until late Sunday evening (15 September) or until Monday, 16 September.

“We are the sustainable logistical backbone of the economy – for a Europe worth living in,” said RCG CEO Clemens Först. He emphasised that achieving the European Green Deal’s objectives requires a significant shift from road to rail transport. Först expressed his delight that their innovative solution not only impressed customers but also garnered recognition from industry experts.

Meeting Industry Needs

The collaboration between RCG and Transporeon responds to a pressing industry need for integrated supply chain solutions. The ALICE white paper, “Increasing the Use of Rail and Intermodal Transport in Europe,” highlights the industry’s struggle with transparency and real-time information. Until now, no solution has offered real-time tracking for multimodal and rail transport within Europe in a user-friendly, integrated manner.

Christopher Keating, senior vice president of Trimble Transportation Europe, noted the importance of this breakthrough. Despite the advantages of rail transport, it often remains a challenge due to data transparency issues. The new solution developed by RCG and Transporeon aims to overcome these challenges, supporting companies in their efforts to shift modes and reduce emissions.

Integrated and Transparent Logistics

The solution developed by RCG and Transporeon displays tracking information for multimodal and rail transports on the same platform as road transport data. This integration replaces manual status updates with sensor-based real-time data, providing shippers a comprehensive view of their logistics processes. Customers can now book both road and rail transport through Transporeon’s platform, enjoying seamless, transparent, and efficient logistics solutions.

The concept has been successfully tested with pilot customers like Nestlé and Vöslauer. The majority of transport is carried out by rail, with trucks covering the first and last miles. This setup ensures that customers always have access to real-time data, including position, status, estimated time of arrival, and greenhouse gas emissions calculations.

As the peak sugar beet processing season is already here, RCG trains are already in transit on a daily basis, with refined products finding their way within Austria but also towards Hungary.

Almost 1.5 million tonnes in Austria

At nearly 36 collection points in Lower Austria, Upper Austria, Burgenland, Styria, and Carinthia, sugar beets are collected and loaded onto trains. Every day, up to 13 trains – either in a single wagonload or in a unit train – carry loads of up to 1,400 net tonnes to the refineries. In total, this amounts to approximately 2,6 million tonnes of conventional sugar beet and 40,000 tonnes of organic sugar beet, cultivated on over 36,000 hectares of farmland. More than half of these sugar beet transports can be attributed to RCG. An estimated 365,000 train kilometres will have been covered by the end of January – a distance that could circle the equator almost ten times.

Up to 470,000 tonnes in Hungary

The Hungarian subsidiary of RCG has also started transporting sugar beets. Until the end of January 2024, they will be handling four trains daily, covering more than 150,000 kilometres over the course of the campaign. Starting from approximately 40 shipping points, RCG is expected to transport between 450,000 to 470,000 tonnes to the Magyar Cukor Zrt sugar refinery in the coming months.

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According to Rail Cargo Group, which developed the service jointly with Ukrainian Railways, during the test, everything worked as expected, so what remains to see is the inclusion of the service in regular timetables and practical proof of its economic feasibility considering that the use of advanced technologies makes it more expensive.

In the making since May

ÖBB Rail Cargo Group disclosed its plans for a regular Kyiv-Vienna connection back in May during the transport logistic exhibition in Munich. On 14 September, the Austrian company signed an MoU with its partner, Ukrainian Railways, laying the foundation for the route’s activation. According to the agreement, Ukrainian Railways will manage rolling stock, terminals, and customs procedures in Ukraine. RCG will take care of the same procedures along the section of the route in the European Union. Despite the test running seemingly quickly after signing the MoU, this was not the case, as the two partners expected to run the first tests in August, with their plans being postponed for later due to technical delays.

RCG says the Verona-Wuppertal service will “create a direct network connection without a stopover for continental flows of goods between northern Italy and the Ruhr region” and could relieve the congestion in the Tyrol area. The service operates on a three-weekly round-trip basis and will transport goods between the Sommacampagna-Sona terminal near Verona and the DUSS terminal in Wuppertal-Langerfeld.

Gotthard Tunnel accident

The Gotthard Tunnel accident occurred on Tuesday, 10 August, when a train derailed inside the tunnel. The accident has received much attention in the European rail freight world as few alternative routes are available for the traffic between Italy and Switzerland. The Swiss Federal Railways (SBB) specified that the accident was caused by an issue with the convoy and not with the infrastructure.

Clearance and rescue works in the western tube of the Gotthard Tunnel are expected to be finished by the end of September. SBB is currently working on removing the impacted wagons and locomotives, with eight railcars remaining in the tunnel waiting to be removed. After completing this task, carried out in parallel with the tunnel’s damage assessment, SBB will be able to commence reconstruction, which is not expected to be finished before 2024.

Also read: 

• Gotthard Tunnel’s closure prolonged, no re-opening date in sight
• Channel Tunnel freight traffic does not avoid ongoing volume slump
• Excavations started for Scan-Med Corridor line upgrade in Italy

Insufficient capacity

DB Netz will provide the three following alternative routes to replace the closed line: the Hof-Schirnding-Cheb route between Chechia-Germany, the Ebersbach-Rumburk route also between Czechia and Germany, and the Horka-Wegliniec-Opole-Bohumin route between Czechia, Poland and Germany. However, the routes will be used for mixed traffic, meaning that the capacity for freight trains will be anyway limited. On top of that, the diversions are quite longer, especially the one going through Poland.

Rail Cargo Group also uses the Elbe Valley route. In October, the closure will affect nine RCG trains in total, which will divert via the Polish route. The company mentioned before to RailFreight.com that it will be able to manage and absorb the impact of the closure in October and that traffic to Northern European ports will not be affected. The impact in August will be considerably lower for the Austria-based company.

On the other hand, METRANS will also use alternative routes. Between 25-28 August, when the closure will be shorter, the operator expects trains to run with delays. However, in October, the company said that rail diversions will not be sufficient to carry out enough traffic. “The capacity is limited, while the maximum weight for loaded containers will be 27 tons, including tare,” said the operator.

Shift to trucks in October

Most importantly, METRANS mentioned that the only realistic possibility to compensate for lost traffic and volumes would be a shift to trucks. “In case of interest, we can transport containers using a shuttle connection by trucks between METRANS Prague and METRANS Česká Třebová terminals and METRANS Berlin terminal, which will then distribute the shipments by rail to Hamburg and Bremerhaven and vice versa,” communicated the company.

Linz Service GmbH and RCG have had a close partnership for twelve years: Every year, up to 78,000 tons of municipal waste are transported from Tyrol to Upper Austria in bales or loose form. Alongside providing equipment – including multitainers and bulk containers (both MOBILER) and storage trestles, RCG offers a seamless and efficient end-to-end logistics solution.

Across Austria

The municipal waste transports begin in Innsbruck. From there, the MOBILER truck makes its way either to Hall in Tyrol or Fritzens-Wattens, where the containers are transferred to the wagons or groups of wagons. RCG’s innovative MOBILER logistics system is used for this: the MOBILER containers are transferred horizontally from truck to rail wagon using a hydraulic lifting system. It then travels to Linz by rail. The MOBILER truck also handles the last mile.

For the sake of the environment

By using sustainable rail as its primary mode of transport, Linz Service GmbH is acting entirely in accordance with the new Waste Management Act (AWG). Under the AWG and with the transport clause going into effect, since the beginning of the year, waste transports with a total weight of more than ten tons must be transported by rail if the distance exceeds 300 kilometres. Linz Service GmbH is a pioneer and has been putting its trust in RCG’s logistics solutions for years. And it is worth it for the climate: This saves the environment around 4,500 truck journeys yearly.

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• RCG launches first connection between Kyiv and Vienna

• RCG expands multimodal fleet with 300 new swap bodies

• RCG’s special train transports container homes in earthquake-hit Turkey