“Aligned with PSA’s Node to Network strategy, we are continuously working to strengthen our terminals’ hinterland connectivity to offer our customers an expanding suite of multimodal, efficient, and sustainable solutions. With this new rail connection, 26,000 TEUs will be transported annually between Zeebrugge and Antwerp”, commented Edward Tah, Managing Director at PSA Belgium.

Hinterland connections

Whereas the service primarily connects the Zeebrugge and Noordzee terminals of PSA, it also pays a visit to Lineas’ MainHub in Antwerp. That allows for further integration with European hinterland destinations. “By picking up empty containers and consolidating export cargo, maximum utilisation of the train is ensured”, says Lineas.

Lineas came out with this video announcement of the new rail connection. Video: © Lineas

“This new service fits perfectly into our strategy to further expand the rail network with frequent, reliable connections between the most important ports and industrial clusters. By making smart combinations of imports and exports via our MainHub, we are increasing efficiency and making a tangible contribution to the modal shift and climate targets”, adds Lineas CEO Erik Van Ockenburg.

Construction of the two new tracks, being built to the left and right of the existing line, started in 2007. Both tracks will be 38 kilometres long and need to be equipped with overhead lines and signalling, including ETCS. The new lines shall be commissioned in 2027. After that, the renovation of the two middle tracks will commence, which should start until 2029. Other than the track upgrades, Infrabel has also replaced all the 12 level crossings along the line with bridges and tunnels.

Also read:

• Port of Liege invests in extending container capacity at multimodal hub
• Infrabel invests hundreds of millions to upgrade rail operations in Antwerp
• Lineas sets up new route to facilitate COSCO’s disrupted sea services

Concerning GTS Rail, the increase in the frequency of their service connecting Bologna, in Italy, with Zeebrugge in Belgium, was preceded by the acquisition of 54 new wagons. The Italian company invested seven million euros for the rolling stock, whose delivery will be finalised in the first months of 2024. The company also invested 74 million euros in the purchase of 20 locomotives from Alstom, half of which will be delivered this year, with the rest coming in in 2025.

Also read:

• Privatisation of Ferrovie dello Stato: ‘RFI is the prime piece’
• Dutch government to provide 24 million in ERTMS subsidies
• Infrabel ready to unlock key rail investments with €1 billion loan

BMW ont he rails

BMW has always been an active customer of rail transportation. For several parts of its supply chain, it relies on rail freight. In Hungary, it has a plant in Debrecen with direct rail access, resulting in large volumes of BMW cars starting the journey by rail into Europe.

BMW also used to ship its cars by rail between Europe and China, but when the war in Ukraine started, it stopped transiting its products through Russia, and used ocean shipping instead.

18 tracks

There are 18 tracks in total. The Zeebrugge marshalling yard has eight tracks, four of which have overhead wires. Three tracks in the bundle are long tracks, where trains of up to 750 meters can be received.

The Zwankendamme bundle has ten electrified tracks, four of which are long tracks. In addition to these tracks, there is a separate bundle of 4 tracks where Infrabel customers can temporarily park their locomotives. In the past, locomotives were parked in the shunting yard, which resulted in a loss of capacity.

More capacity

The new infrastructure also has an automatic hill installation and automatically operated switches. Such a system speeds up the shunting and composition of freight trains.

Both track bundles are now located behind each other, while they used to be on the other side of the main Bruges-Zeebrugge track. Now that trains have to cross this line much less often, more capacity will become available and freight trains will have to make fewer shunting movements.

133 million euros

A total of 133 million euros has been invested in the shunting yard. The vast majority of the works were pre-financed by the Flemish government. The total investment also includes 2.1 million euros in subsidies from the European Union. This amount was used to replace the Wulfsberge level crossing with a bridge and to construct four long tracks.

This article previously appeared on Railtech.be. Would you like to know more about the rail infrastructure from, to and in the Belgian ports? Then register for RailTech Belgium, where this topic is one of the main themes. Click here for more information.

Moribund rail freight facilities

Congestion at ports further down the east coast of Britain has already encouraged rail freight development in places like Immingham and Teesside. Further north, the estuary of the River Forth has been slowly coming back into fashion as a destination for freight traffic. Forth Ports Authority, the operating company, has been expanding operations – primarily at its Grangemouth facility, where the company completed extensive upgrading last year.

However, Forth Ports has two major holdings further downstream, both of which have moribund rail freight facilities. The company operates the docks around Leith, which serves Edinburgh, and manages the Rosyth terminal. The extensive layout at Leith featured in RailFreight Live last year. Now Rosyth is back in the headlines with experienced backers.

Rusty Rosyth rails look attractive

Rail freight has been touted as a game changer in the Rosyth mix this time around. DFDS, the ferry company previously involved in operating passenger and freight services out of Rosyth, has partnered with Glasgow-based Ptarmigan Shipping to resurrect the connection. “We are always looking for opportunities to grow our network”, said a DFDS Statement. “[We] can confirm that we are investigating the possibility of a new ferry route between Rosyth and Zeebrugge.”

Efforts in the past have floundered on the convenience of road transport to ports further south and availability at terminals like Felixstowe and London Gateway. However, the rising costs of road transport (and the well-publicised driver shortage) is a much more significant factor now. Couple that with busier ports, the zero-carbon political agenda, and the rusty rails at Rosyth look much more attractive. The port is also running to become a Scottish Greenport, offering significant economic advantages.

Multiple opportunities for Fife freight

Better known as a naval base, Rosyth has been developing as a civilian facility for several years. The advantage of the site lies in its own rail branch line, which was last used regularly for scheduled passenger services in 1988, carrying authorised personnel into the naval base. The line remains in-situ but will require significant upgrading to bring it back into service.

If the Rosyth project was to reach fruition, it would be the second or third recent development proposed in the Fife region of Scotland. The Levenmouth line is already being rebuilt, a five-mile (8km) long branch reconnecting communities and potential freight customers in the east of the county. There are also hopes that the line serving the site of the former coal-fired power station at Longannet in the neighbouring county will be revived if plans for a rolling stock manufacturing plant are realised on that site.

New bills

Dudzele gets five new switches. The current three will be replaced and two more will be added. A big advantage, according to Infrabel, is that the new switches last twice as long as the current ones. They are over 100 meters long, making them the largest of their kind on a traditional railway line. They are tailor-made in Bascoup, the only company in Belgium that produces track switches.

The new 112-tonne switches are mounted on concrete sleepers. To be able to bear the extra weight, Infrabel is laying a new foundation that greatly improves the stability of the swampy subsoil. The new switches are made in such a way that they produce less noise than the old types when trains run over them. This limits the noise nuisance for the neighborhood.

Straight track

At the same time, two curves in the track will be straightened over a length of one km. This ensures a smoother flow of train traffic. In addition, Infrabel will renew 6 kilometers of overhead lines, adapt the signaling to the new configuration and lay 700 meters of new track.

The last major railway works in Dudzele date from 1980. The existing infrastructure is now due for replacement in order to continue to guarantee safe and smooth train traffic. At the same time, Infrabel is redesigning the rail infrastructure preparing for a possible capacity expansion in the future. This should create  space for the freight trains to the port and also for passenger transport to the coast.

Freight traffic temporarily limited

Lines 51A and 51B are the only rail access lines to and from the port of Zeebrugge.  Infrabel and the port of Zeebrugge have worked out a plan to keep the trains running as much as possible during the work. At specific times, The work will be temporarily halted for four hours to allow as many freight trains as possible to run on one track.

In what the company calls a further sign of ‘robust’ UK-Europe trade flow, P&O handled 42,421 units which were being transported from these two key rail hubs across the North Sea to UK’s east coast, up 14 per cent on the previous year’s corresponding figure.

Significant

The majority of these units, 30,154, went through Zeebrugge, while Europoort accounted for 12,087. It comes on the back of the company’s recent announcement that it had carried more freight across the English Channel in the first six months of 2017 than in any first half of the year in its modern history. Both sets of figures are particularly significant given the future uncertainties still facing the UK-Europe freight sector in the context of the ‘Brexit’ process.

Janette Bell, Managing Director of P&O Ferries, said: “This outstanding performance at our terminals in Zeebrugge and Europoort illustrates that continental exporters are increasingly using our integrated rail and ferry service across the North Sea for reliable and punctual access to key markets in mainland Britain.

Easy reach

“Once the goods reach our rail terminals on the continent, we offer 98 sailings across the North Sea every week. Our services to Teesport are a point of entry for the north of England and by rail to Scotland, our Hull routes serve the M62 corridor across the Pennines to Manchester and Liverpool, and our ships to Tilbury put exporters within easy reach of London and the M25.”

“With both the British economy and population continuing to grow, we expect increasing demand for this door-to-door service which is ideally suited to the requirements of exporters across the continent of Europe.”

Multimodal

P&O Ferries, in conjunction with with its dedicated logistics division, P&O Ferrymasters, operates integrated multimodal links to countries across the continent including Italy, Poland and Romania. A P&O Ferrymasters-owned rail terminal in the northern Romanian city of Oradea, which will facilitate the onward movement of goods to Britain from the Silk Road, became operational last year.