Railweb Reports
An activist in European rail freight
Posted by George Raymond on May 25, 2023
In recent years, the Swiss transport operator Hupac has emerged as an activist in European
rail freight. The initiatives of the company’s management comprise new lines and terminals;
industry-wide data interoperability to foster digitalisation: a consolidated trimodal terminal at
the head of the navigable Rhine in Basel; denunciation of the deteriorating capacity, reliability
and flexibility of the European and particularly German rail network; easier train driving in a
foreign country; and political action to develop a north-south line on the Rhine’s French left
bank to relieve – and at times replace – the chronically congested rail route on the Rhine’s
German right bank. Here’s my report.
Limmat Valley Railway opens Zurich’s northwestern suburbs
Posted by George Raymond on January 18, 2023
Capping 15 years of planning and construction marked by two hard-fought
referendums, the 13-km Limmat Valley Railway, or Limmattalbahn, opened on 11
December 2022. The LTB runs northwest from Zurich through towns south of the
main line of Swiss Federal Railways (SBB), stopping 27 times in both densely settled
and emptier areas that planners have earmarked for development. Here’s my report.
French rail freight: what progress in 12 months?
Posted by George Raymond on November 21, 2022
The 12th annual Paris conference on French rail freight (Fret ferroviaire du Futur et OFP) of 23 November 2022 is fast approaching.
A year ago, the 11th annual conference of 17 November 2021 reviewed the laws and consultations among French stakeholders since 2019 that had led to the new national strategy for rail freight and new arrangements for funding.
Stakeholders also pledged to monitor progress. As a basis for judging the progress French rail freight has made over the last 12 months, this report reviews the November 2021 conference.
Rail freight from Europe to China and back: brakes and potential
Posted by George Raymond on October 31, 2021
Containers have been rolling by rail between Asia and Europe for decades. The proposition is simple: rail should be faster than sea and cheaper than air. In recent years, China has subsidised trains to Europe. In the process, operators and customers have had to deal with problems of shipment visibility, political conflicts, different track gauges, inflexible trains from city to city and now the Covid crisis. Nevertheless, one major operator’s rail traffic between China and Europe has grown by 324% since 2017. Here’s my report.
Le rail Chine-Europe-Chine : freins et potentiel
Posted by George Raymond on October 30, 2021
Des conteneurs empruntent les rails entre l’Asie et l’Europe depuis des décennies. La proposition est simple : le rail doit être plus rapide que la mer et moins cher que l’air. Ces dernières années, la Chine a subventionné les trains vers l’Europe. Les opérateurs et les clients ont dû faire face à des problèmes de visibilité des envois, aux conflits politiques, à la congestion des frontières, à la rigidité des trains de ville à ville et maintenant à la crise Covid. Le trafic ferroviaire d’un opérateur clé entre la Chine et l’Europe a néanmoins augmenté de 324 % depuis 2017. Voici mon rapport.
Schienenverkehr China-Europa-China: Bremsen und Potenzial
Posted by George Raymond on October 29, 2021
Seit Jahrzehnten rollen Container auf der Schiene zwischen Asien und Europa. Die Aussage ist einfach: Die Bahn sollte schneller als der Seeweg sein und billiger als der Luftverkehr. In den letzten Jahren hat China Züge nach Europa subventioniert. Betreiber und Kunden mussten sich dabei mit Problemen der Sichtbarkeit von Sendungen, politischen Konflikten, unterschiedlichen Spurweiten, starren Zügen von Stadt zu Stadt und nun der Covid-Krise auseinandersetzen. Dennoch hat der Schienenverkehr eines großen Betreibers zwischen China und Europa seit 2017 um 324 % zugenommen. Hier mein Bericht.
More chemicals on the rails to China?
Posted by George Raymond on October 15, 2021
Despite obstacles, rail freight between Europe and China has potential. With their high value and balanced flows, chemicals seem well suited for the railway between China and Europe. The biggest brake on this is perhaps the easiest to release: the dangerous-goods ban on the Chinese railways. Here is the translation of my article on this subject, which appeared in issue 10/2021 of CHEManager.
Davantage de produits chimiques sur les rails vers la Chine?
Posted by George Raymond on October 14, 2021
Malgré les obstacles, le transport de marchandises par rail entre l’Europe et la Chine a du potentiel. Avec leur valeur élevée et leurs flux équilibrés, les produits chimiques semblent bien adaptés au chemin de fer entre la Chine et l’Europe. Le plus gros frein à cette évolution est peut-être le plus facile à résoudre : l’interdiction des marchandises dangereuses sur les chemins de fer chinois. Voici la traduction de mon article à ce sujet, paru dans le numéro 10/2021 de CHEManager.
Mehr Chemie auf den Schienen nach China?
Posted by George Raymond on October 13, 2021
Trotz Hindernissen birgt der Gütertransport per Schiene zwischen Europa und China Potenzial. Mit ihrem hohen Wert und ihren ausgeglichenen Strömen scheinen chemische Produkte gut geeignet für die Bahn zwischen China und Europa. Die grösste Bremse dabei ist vielleicht am einfachsten zu lösen: das Gefahrgüterverbot der chinesischen Eisenbahn. Hier mein Artikel dazu aus der Ausgabe 10/2021 von CHEManager.
Polish intermodal rail freight, Europe and the Silk Road
Posted by George Raymond on January 21, 2021
For decades, rail freight has been losing market share in the EU. In recent years, however, rail-based intermodal services have been growing. Both these trends are particularly pronounced in Poland. EU policies and its Green Deal are upgrading infrastructure. What further intermodal growth will result in Poland by 2030?
At the same time, China is subsidising intermodal Silk Road services to and through Poland. Most Silk Road traffic is westbound Chinese exports. Can more eastbound EU exports bolster the Silk Road’s economic and political sustainability?
In any case, intermodal growth in Poland will require longer and faster trains, easier border crossings, attractive hubs and ports, ways to load non-cranable truck trailers, and robust operator networks. And digitalisation. The North Sea – Baltic, Rail Baltica, GUAM and Aegean-Baltic corridors can also help.
Saying YES to Port Basin 3 in Basel
Posted by George Raymond on November 2, 2020
George Raymond on the 29 November 2020 referendum in Basel:
YES to Port Basin 3
I work in logistics and have been living for 30 years next to the city of Basel in Switzerland. The Swiss economy – and above all, our small and mid-sized companies of the Basel region – live from imports and exports. That’s why we need an international transport system that is high-performance, but also safe and environmentally friendly. With fewer traffic jams, accidents and CO2 emissions. This means that much more of our goods need to ride on trains and ships.
Here in Basel, Port Basin 3 offers a unique opportunity to connect trains with ships directly and efficiently – within Switzerland. That’s why I’m saying YES to Basel’s Port Basin 3.
YES is what 57.1% of the voters also said in Basel’s 29 November 2020 referendum on Port Basin 3.
Getting freight to change trains like passengers do
Posted by George Raymond on September 2, 2020
To reduce road congestion and emissions, public policy in Europe seeks to shift freight from lorries to trains. Today, the railway offers three main production concepts: block trains, intermodal/combined transport (CT) and wagonload (WL) service. Each has its place. But none of these concepts address the lorry’s main market: shipments of lorry size or less travelling 100 to 300km.
Stefan Karch has a solution. See George Raymond’s September 2020 article in IRSE News.
Consolidating control in the Port of Switzerland
Posted by George Raymond on February 2, 2020
Some 1000 river-kilometres south of Rotterdam, the Swiss city of Basel and its Port of Switzerland mark the end of the navigable Rhine. The river’s waterway network is part of the Rotterdam-Basel-Genoa freight corridor, Europe’s busiest. PoS is a major import gateway for Switzerland whose backbone is its railway. The Swiss Port Railway serves PoS’s three Basel-area riverside zones in Kleinhüningen, Birsfelden and Auhafen. SPR has now replaced four aging interlockings and centralised control. more…
Rail freight: Is France waking up?
Posted by George Raymond on February 1, 2020
One word has dominated French rail freight in recent weeks and indeed years: strikes. They have been spawned by new laws affecting workers’ job security, retirement age and pensions. Less noticed in late 2019 was another law that pushes the French government to strengthen rail freight’s role in the logistic system underlying the country’s economy. A November conference examined difficulties, innovations and signs of progress in French rail freight. more…
Is this rail’s decade on the Silk Road?
Posted by George Raymond on January 10, 2020
Rail freight between China and Europe is generally faster than sea freight and cheaper than air. Rail attracts high-value goods that can’t wait for a ship but can’t afford to fly – or no longer want to. In recent years, Chinese subsidies, better infrastructure and faster trips have fostered rail services on what is now called the New Silk Road. And climate awareness is growing by the month. Traffic on these services is booming. The “New” in Silk Road is starting to disappear. A late November 2019 conference in the Dutch city of Venlo focused on Silk Road growth, restrictions and tensions – and its potential in the new decade. more…
French rail freight: act locally, but know the bigger picture
Posted by George Raymond on November 18, 2019
Rail freight conferences in October 2019 in Paris and Orléans illustrated a central issue in rail freight: ensuring that political and business units at regional, national, European and intercontinental level work together. The events spotlighted both international intermodal operators and one of metropolitan France’s 13 regions. more…
The Grand Narrows Bridge to Sydney
Posted by George Raymond on April 15, 2019
The cover of the April 2019 issue of IRSE News and my accompanying short report presented the Grand Narrows Bridge in Nova Scotia, Canada and prospects for the only rail link to the urban community and port of Sydney.
Calais–Le Boulou rail motorway service resumes
Posted by George Raymond on February 7, 2017
The VIIA subsidiary of French National Railways (SNCF) says that better security in the port of Calais allowed resumption on February 7 of VIIA’s rail motorway service between Calais and a terminal at Le Boulou in southern France near the Spanish border. more…
Europe’s inland terminals in a fast-changing world
Posted by George Raymond on January 9, 2017
New technology, trading patterns and consumer demands are bringing ever-greater complexity and ever-faster change to the world of logistics. Participants at a November 17-18, 2016, conference on inland terminals in Basel, Switzerland, examined how European inland terminals are adapting their roles and organisation in this environment. The conference also focused on collaboration among ports in the upper Rhine valley and the work of a “last-mile captain” in Belgium. more…
A quantum step for freight in the Basel area
Posted by George Raymond on September 5, 2016
A group of leading Swiss logistic companies hopes to engineer a quantum step in multimodal connectivity for freight by completing a new tri-modal terminal in Basel by 2022. The terminal was one focus of an April 26-27, 2016, conference on railway issues in the Basel area, which covers corners of Switzerland, France and Germany. more…
Finally: a wagon to carry standard semi-trailers throughout Europe
Posted by George Raymond on March 6, 2016
French company Lohr Industrie is now deploying what trucking companies have been dreaming of for decades: a wagon that can carry standard, 4-metre truck semi-trailers throughout the European rail network. more…
For a vote against the second Gotthard road tunnel on February 28
Posted by George Raymond on February 19, 2016
The Swiss will vote on February 28 whether to build a second Gotthard road tunnel. The existing 17-km, two-lane road tunnel opened in 1980 and takes users of Switzerland’s main north-south motorway under the Gotthard Pass. The Swiss Federal Council – which heads Switzerland’s executive branch of government – is leading the campaign for the second, parallel tunnel. But as the referendum approaches, polls show ever-stronger opposition. The authoritative Neue Zürcher Zeitung (NZZ) newspaper has recommended a no vote. Here is my view of each side’s arguments. more…
Sorting wagons and interfacing the interlockings near Lausanne
Posted by George Raymond on February 1, 2016
A November 2015 event of the Swiss Section of the Institution of Railway Signal Engineers (IRSE) focused on the control system of the Swiss Federal Railways (SBB) marshalling yard near Lausanne and on the interfaces that connect the yard’s interlocking system with those of connecting lines. The interlockings are of different age and makers. See the article, which originally appeared in IRSE News.