To support her argument, she said the infrastructure on the Strasbourg-Lauterbourg line was in a particularly poor state of repair – the rails being over 80 years old and suffering from a chronic lack of maintenance. This was precisely the reason why any increase in traffic on the line had previously been ruled out. However, at the end of last month, Kannengieser’s arguments were rejected by the court, leaving the path clear for the extra freight trains to operate.

The rerouting via France

The plan to temporarily increase freight traffic follows an agreement between SNCF Réseau and its German counterpart, DB InfraGo, which is currently carrying out work to upgrade the section between Rastatt and Baden-Baden. This entails an interruption in rail traffic on the German network; 50 per cent of freight trains will be cancelled while 25 per cent will take a route via Stuttgart and another 25 per cent the Woerth/Lauterbourg/Strasbourg/Kehl/Offenburg route. SNCF has given assurances that local passenger services will not be affected and underlined that there are no plans for the Strasbourg-Lauterbourg line to become an international rail freight route beyond the period covered by the temporary measures.

‘If there’s room for freight, there should be room for passengers’

Interviewed by the France 3 TV channel, François Giordani, President of an association representing public transport users in the Strasbourg area, said that for the past two years, he and his members have been told that more passenger trains cannot be put on the line despite the strong demand. “Now we’ve been informed that there are going to be more freight trains on the same line, which risks damaging the track and making it even worse,” he said.

Giordani added: “If things go well for the freight trains, there will be no excuse not to add passenger trains.”This was echoed by Kannengieser, who said in a Facebook post: “If the rails can handle 40 additional freight trains daily, couldn’t they accommodate three or four additional passenger trains at times when they are very much needed to link La Wantzenau to its surrounding area?”

Hupac leads the way

Maersk is not the only company looking for alternative routes due to the Rhine Valley line closure. A few days ago, Swiss operator Hupac said it would introduce a new temporary route via the Offenburg-Wörth section. For this initiative, Hupac is cooperating with French and German infrastructure managers (SNCF Réseau and DB InfraGO) and Railway Undertakings SBB Cargo International and Captrain France. It is not yet clear if Maersk will take this same route or if this is a separate project.

Current status

The west tube of the Rastatt Tunnel is now complete. Only smaller connecting tunnels, so-called cross passages, are currently being built there. The big problem, however, is the east tube, in which the damaged gigantic tunnel boring machine is still standing, reports the German media site SWR.

Before the tube is built here, the drilling machine must be taken out. To do this, a 17-metre deep and 200-metre long excavation pit must first be made. That should happen in the middle of next year. Only then can the tunnel be completed, the German railway company accordingly explained to NEE, the network of European Railways.

New timescale not realised

A new timescale and remediation strategy for the opening of the new railway line between Karlsruhe in Germany and Basel in Switzerland, of which the Rastatt tunnel forms part, was published three years ago, in August 2019.
“With the current plan, the tunnel would not open until 2025, three years later than originally planned when construction started in 2013”, the DB chief executive at that time Dirk Rompf said upon the announcement.

The collapse

The first intervention of this plan was the collapse of the tunnel. The accident led to nearly two months of limited capacity on Europe’s main north-south artery. The Kalrsruhe-Basel line was closed for traffic, and capacity of the bypasses was limited.

Apart from the damage to the track, railway companies suffered financial losses. Five years after the tunnel accident, these losses in the rail freight sector have totaled around 100 million euros, according to the NEE. Several companies have laid claims to have these losses compensated, but without an answer so far. The so-called evidence gathering process is still ongoing – the causes of the accident are not officially known.

Starting this Friday 15 April, construction work will take place on various sections of the route between Basel and Rastatt, resulting in single-track and at times total closures as well. This will last until 25 April. “According to DB Netze, regular traffic will need to be thinned out, and there is likely no train path available for short-term traffic.

Third Track works

The construction works coincide with the works on the Emmerich – Oberhausen section, or the Third track. Train traffic between the Netherlands and Germany partly uses other border crossings. This work will run until 22 Friday and results in a total closure of the track section, alternating with single-track train traffic.

Due to this timing, the construction works are expected to have a large impact on rail freight traffic on the Rhine-Alpine corridor. Hupac said that it expects a cancellation rate of 30 per cent of its traffic, while it is able to reroute 70 per cent of its traffic. In other media, DB Cargo is reported speaking of 280 cancellations, while detouring a quarter of its planned departures.

“We ask you to take the infrastructure restrictions into account when planning and coordinating your flexible transport and to inform us in good time about canceled trains so that the available capacities can be used optimally”, DB Netze says.

Repetition of the same?

In the last few months of last year, a similar situation took place. Construction works took place in the Rhine Valley, coincided with construction works on the Third Track and led to several weeks of limited capacity. The impact on the industry was felt well into the new year.

The impact is large because the route is the most-heavily consumed in Europe. The Rhine Alpine corridor connects the sea ports of Western Europe with Switzerland and Italy, and Germany covers a large part of it. Any temporary or partial closure will inevitably impact international rail freight traffic.

But this is not enough as an explanation. The need for sufficient alternatives have been pointed out many times and by many different players. Trains can be rerouted, but the alternatives do not provide the capacity required. There are freight limitations on the route through France, and there is a lack of train drivers familiar with the route. This became painfully evident during the Rastatt incident in 2017, and still does not seem to have been resolved.

No better timing

According to Phillip Hanze from the Rhine-Alpine corridor there is no right timing of construction work. “This could not have been done at a better time, as there will be construction works between Germany and Belgium next month. In the next two years, a lot of construction works will take place on the German network, and this just needs to be done.”

However, there are talks being held between the German and French infrastructure managers to increase the availability of the alternative route through France. “In 2024, there will be a long-time closure of the railway line in Rastatt, and this will have a big impact. There are working groups in place discussing the diversion routes, and this should result in an improved route through France”, Hanze explains.

Importance of the work

Apart from the works on the Rhine Valley, the works on the Third Track will continue to have an impact. A planning document shared by DB Cargo the Netherlands shows that the period of March-April has a high density of works, but more is to come in June and August.

The Third Track is an additional border crossing extending the freight dedicated Betuweroute from the Netherlands into Germany. “The number of trains using the Betuweroute has grown in recent years and is expected to increase further. For example through the new terminals on Maasvlakte 2. In order to manage the expected increase in the right direction, more capacity is needed at the border in Zevenaar and in Germany. The construction of the third track will enable carriers to deploy more freight trains in the future on the European freight transport corridors, such as between Rotterdam and Genoa”, the operator explained.

Reduced performance quality

This being said, European operators often explain that construction works are very little coordinated with neighbouring infrastructure managers. Works are regularly planned in Germany at the same time as major line closures in the Netherlands, for example. This leads to an increasing frustration throughout the sector. “We do understand that construction works need to be carried out, but our customer do not. More and more cargo is shifted to the roads”, commented Mark Jansen from Hupac.

During the capacity crunch in December, Jan Weiser from Kombiverkehr explained: “There are also restrictions and bottlenecks in train drivers, locomotives and wagons, partly due to corona, which leads to severe train delays and an overall situation that is still very difficult to plan. The railway undertakings see the increased construction activities in the German and European rail network as a major cause for the current performance quality.”

The border crossing via Emmerich and Venlo are the two most consumed routes for rail freight traffic between the Netherlands and Germany. Over the weekend, only the route via Bad Bentheim remained available, to the frustration of the industry. The closing of thwo vital border crossings has a huge impact on rail freight traffic, various industry players have said.

Frustration

“DB Netz paralyses the European Rhine-Alpine corridor. Unbelievable, this has ‘Rastatt quality’”, wrote Thomas Knechtel from the Network of European Railways (NEE) on Linkedin this weekend.

“DB Netz closes the Rhine-Alpine corridor as far as possible by closing the Emmerich and Kaldenkirchen border crossings at the same time. Yesterday morning it was already known that the work in Kaldenkirchen would be delayed”, was a comment from Hans-Willem Vroon from industry group RailGood.

According to Vroon, the Botlek and Europoort terminals in Rotterdam were working over the weekend. “Other freight stations in and near the port of Rotterdam are therefore operating at full capacity. The rail logistics line in Europe’s largest port Port of Rotterdam will again be severely affected by the middle of next week”, he predicted on Sunday.

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Cooperation

The frustration of the industry is also about the lack of coordination between the respective infrastructure managers, as they should work out contingency plans in times of line closures. This is something that was decided after the Rastatt debacle, which paralysed the same corridor for a long time.

Vroon added that this cooperation was even more important considering the construction work in Belgium, due to which the border crossing at Aachen had limited capacity. “Such factors should be taken into consideration when planning construction work.”

“Infrastructure managers are organised differently in all EU countries, and therefore their plans are totally different”, commented Roland Scholten from Rolsch Rail rail-logistics on LInkedin. “The railway is no longer a system, but many completely self-sufficient sub-organizations.”

“The damage to customers and utilities is enormous. Once again, it should be noted that when building, it must be ensured that the alternative routes have been made afloat beforehand and that spare parts and mobile service have been brought into position if something does happen”, added Sven Flore from SBB Cargo to the post.

Impact

The largest operator on the route, Hupac Intermodal, said on Monday that the line closure has had a high impact on their operations. “We are only able to run a part of our scheduled departures, but most of our trains have not been able to run”, says a spokesperson of the company. The company operates several trains per week on the corridor.

Distri Rail, a forwarding company from the Netherlands may have been impacted a little less, but that is only because it deals with less volume on the route. “But we have felt the impact. Last week we lost two roundtrips. This week, considering that the line reopens after Wednesday, we lose five roundtrips”, says Managing Director Dennis de Roo.

Alternative routes

Why do operators lose out on business? This time, traffic did not come to a complete standstill. There are alternative routes available, based on the off-the-shelf rerouting plan that was drafted after the Rastatt incident. There are several alternative routes, explains a spokesperson of the Regional Association Southern Upper Rhine, which is part of the crisis management. ”In Germany, there is the route via Singen and the route via the Black Forest, passing Offenburg. There is capacity for 60 trains per day via these routes.”

An alternative routes via France is also available, explains a spokesperson of the North Sea-Mediterranean Corridor. This route leads via Strasbourg and follows the Rhine on the French side. In total, seven trains have been redirected via this route. “This is despite the restrictions on the French network at the moment”, the spokesperson said. France is facing a shortage in staff due to the coronavirus, leading to limited availability on the railway network.

Not enough

Yet, this is not enough capacity to operate all daily trains, the operators explain. “Over the weekend these routes were already heavily used, and there is more traffic during the week. Despite a slowdown on passenger traffic, there is simply not enough capacity via these routes”, says Hans-Willem Vroon from RailGood, a lobby organisation in the Netherlands.

Furthermore, there are restrictions on these lines that make that not every type of train can be operated on these lines. “There are train length and tonnage restrictions”, explains Vroon. Hupac says it is unable to operate its P400 semitrailers via the reroutings. The P400 trailer has 3 metres of internal height, good for three levels of pallets.

Why not more?

According to the spokesperson of the North Sea-Mediterranean Corridor, the French infrastructure manager has done a good job in providing capacity under current circumstances. “This met almost all demand for capacity on this rerouting.” However, there was limited demand, as most prefer the routes via Germany.

According to the Regional Association Southern Upper Rhine spokesperson, not all reroutings have been utilised. “We are dealing with a short-term line closure. In such a case not all the alternative lines are allocated. In case of a long-term line closure, more lines could be opened. But we expect that the Freiburg-Basel is re-opened on Wednesday evening, or Thursday morning.” It is worth noting that the lines are allocated by the infrastructure manager, in this case DB Netze.

Lessons learned

The opening and allocation of alternative routes are all processes described in the Handbook for International Contingency Management. This is a set of rules formed after the Rastatt incident, which paralysed rail freight traffic on the Rhine-Alpine Corridor for seven weeks in summer 2017. The handbook was published in May 2018. An international disruption was been defined as a disruptions with a forecasted impact on the affected section of more than three calendar days and high impact on international traffic. Hence, it was applicable to the Freiburg-Basel closure.

In general, the response to this short-term crisis has been well-organised, thinks the Regional Association Southern Upper Rhine. “All relevant steps were taken.” According to the spokesperson, there were no cancellations of train operations, but operators have had to delay their departures.

“As European rail parties, we have learned from the major incident at Rastatt that we want to and can help each other”, commented Dutch infrastructure manager ProRail. “That is why we participated in international consultations on Friday morning to find joint solutions in this area, in order to keep the much-needed freight transport flows moving wherever possible.”

More to be achieved

But, if you ask Hupac, the capacity was simply not enough for the impacted operators. “There are still things to be achieved and lessons to be learned. It would be interesting to carry out an analysis, or add a new lesson learned based on this incident in Augen”, said a spokesperson of the company.

The reroutings were certainly better organised than with the Rastatt closure, agrees Vroon. “But that is not surprising, it could not be worse than that. There is still a lot to be achieved, but change happens only slowly in the railway sector.”

Also read:

• These are the alternative routes for Freiburg-Basel traffic
• Fatal accident on Rhine Valley railway after bridge collapse
• The lessons learnt from Rastatt now formalised in Handbook

The Handbook describes how railway undertakings should cooperate with each other and with infrastructure managers. It closely aligns with the Contingency Management Handbook of Infrastructure Managers. Furthermore, the Handbook outlines scenarios of resource pooling between Undertakings in order to best manage large incidents, and the regulatory mitigation measures that would be needed to make that possible.

Infrastructure capacity

These measures will allow the rail sector to maximise use of infrastructure capacity during a major international disruption. Such an incident can, both in duration and scale, jeopardise major trade flows and risk undermining customer confidence in rail’s resilience as a transport mode.

The Handbook has been endorsed by BLS Cargo, CFL Cargo, DB Cargo AG, the ERFA Board -representing its 30 members, Fret SNCF, Lineas, RCG and SBB Cargo. All other Undertakings have been invited to join this effort to improve the resilience of European Rail Freight. The first Undertakings will start implementation in 2020

In 2018 the Swiss intermodal transport operator carried 926,414 road consignments or 1,720 thousand TEUs. These were 163 thousand road consignments more than in the previous year. Non-transalpine traffic showed the most dynamic development with an increase of just under 38 per cent.

Non-transalpine

Rail traffic that did not pass the Alps amounted to 251,870 consigments last year. This was 98 thousand trips more than the previous year. This was almost exclusively attributable to the volumes of operator ERS Railways, which was integrated into the Hupac Group in June 2018 . The operator contributed to the overall result with about 92 thousand train journeys.

ERS Railways, with its operational headquarters in Hamburg, specialises in maritime hinterland services and thus complements the portfolio of Hupac with its traditional focus on continental traffic. ERS offers connections between the North Sea ports and numerous destinations in Germany as well as supplementary services such as port connection traffic, local delivery and customs procedures.

The expansion of the network to the western ports by exploiting synergies with Hupac Intermodal is in the development phase. “We have achieved important successes with ERS Railways; the entire Hupac Group benefits from this”, commented Bernhard Kunz, CEO of the Hupac Group.

Transalpine traffic

Transalpine traffic through Switzerland also developed positively. Compared to the previous year, Hupac Intermodal was able to shift 67 thousand additional road consignments to railways, which corresponds to an increase of 14.4 per cent. The majority of these trips were via Switzerland, accounting for 535,777 trains. Via Asutria and France, another 38,767 journeys were made.

Almost half of total transalpine traffic is attributable to the recovery of volume losses due to the seven-week blockade of the Rhine valley route in August/September 2017. Revised the Rastatt effect, traffic volumes in transalpine traffic through Switzerland increased by about 8 per cent. Growth was again driven by the semi-trailer segment. These services are currently routed via the Simplon axis to the Novara terminal.

Future

The furture looks positive for Hupac Group. The opening of the 4-metre corridor via the Gotthard Base Tunnel and the connection of the Busto Arsizio-Gallarate terminal at the end of 2020 will create new opportunities for the shift to rail.

In 2019 Hupac expects transport demand to stabilise as a result of the economic downturn. “Now is the time to focus on the quality of the services,” emphasises Michail Stahlhut, director of Hupac Intermodal. “We must ensure a stable environment on which new growth can be built.”

On the 12th of August 2017, water and soil penetrated part of the new Rastatt tunnel in Germany. As a result, the ground subsided and the railway tracks above the tunnel warped. The line between Karsruhe and Basel was closed for all traffic until 2 October 2017 – one-and-a-half month later- causing significant damage to the industry. “Never again must the closure of a small stretch of railway line lead to such chaos and wide-reaching economic damage”, said the lobby organisations in a joint statement.

Where are we now?

Since the Rastatt incident all sides of the rail sector have committed to tackling the main challenges facing rail freight. A major milestone was the adoption of English as the main language of communication between infrastructure managers and railway undertakings during international disruptions. At least one English speaking dispatcher in national traffic control centres will be guaranteed in every shift from 2020.

“Off the shelf” rerouting options and traffic management scenarios that minimise disruptions are being prepared, including information on technical parameters and other operational requirements. “This will help to keep trains running in the event of disruptions.”

Decision-making

From now on, one infrastructure manager takes the lead in case of a disruption. This party must coordinate the international cooperation and manage the available international re-routing capacity. Relevant re- routings and mitigation decisions should be taken within the first 24 hours. Within 36 hours of an incident taking place, a rough indicative timetable should be provided.

Moreover, new rules regarding the allocation of capacity on disrupted lines have been formed. These rules guarantee a share of capacity between annual timetable traffic and ad-hoc traffic. All these improvements are meant to be adopted by infrastructure managers from the start of the 2019 Timetable. This was concluded in the European Handbook for International Contingency Management (ICM), published on 23 May 2018.

Steps to be taken

ERFA, NEE and UIRR believe these changes are a good step in the right direction. However, further actions are needed, they state. Contingency management procedures for incidents that last less than three days should be developed. Disruptions of a short duration can also have a negative impact on the quality of rail services offered, the parties believe.

“Off the shelf rerouting options should include an estimation of the capacity of trains that can be absorbed. Where the re-routing options provide insufficient capacity and are technically and/or operationally incompatible, investment in the infrastructure and in the single European rail network should be identified as a priority.”

Simplified language requirements

The parties also plead for lowering the current B1 level language requirement for train drivers and moving towards English as the main operational language for rail at a much faster pace. They suggest considering screen-based technical solutions to effectively address the problem of communication between traffic controllers and train drivers, and the replacement of telephone conferences and complicated communication chains by digital communication.

The parties point out that apart from the plans outlined in the ICM, railway undertakings should also identify and put in place their own contingency management plans to ensure back-up options in the event of disruptions. “The new rules should be used as an opportunity to improve coordination and management of traffic disturbances.”

The drilling started mid-May and will continue until the end of July. During this period, sixty holes are made, some of which are 25 metres deep. The activities take place in the area of ​​the damaged site and in its surroundings. The drilling of one hole takes about a day. At the end of the project, the findings should provide further information about the causes of the accident.

The collapse

On 12 August 2017, a landslip occured at the construction site of the new 4.27 kilometre tunnel being built at Rastatt. The movement destabilised the construction site and the existing railway, which led to a disruption of railway services between Karlsruhe and Basel. This disruption continued until 7 October and resulted in economic damage of more than two billion Euros for the industry.

In order to restore services, a 120-metres long, one metre thick concrete slab was installed to stabilise the ground, provide structural support for the loads above and serve as the foundation for the new tracks. The project had suffered serious delays, but until now no clarity has been given about a new timeframe. “Results and further consequences for the project schedule may be presented mid-2018”, was written in the annual report of the Rhine-Alpine Corridor 2017.

Construction 2018

Today, further work is carried out in the concrete, pipe-filled part of the eastern tube. Since last week, concrete is being removed over a length of six metres, allowing for an opening through the tunnel ceiling. This opening serves as an escape route from the tunnel tube as well as for the logistic supply of the further construction work, the German site Ka-news reported. The work is expected to continue until the end of July 2018, according to the site.

Rastatt Tunnel provides only one link on a wider stretch of upgraded railway between Karlsruhe and Basel. The new line will include four continuous tracks and its operational efficiency will be increased. While several sections have been opened, others are still under construction or in the design phase. Most important are the Offenburg Tunnel (preliminary design expected mid-2018), the Katzenberg Tunnel (construction to start soon) and a western bypass of Freiburg for freight (under study).