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2010 saw an important recovery in rail transportation between the port of Rotterdam and the hinterland. Not
only were the pre-economic recession train frequencies increased anew, new train services were launched as
well. In addition, new rail operators joined the track; especially on the Betuwe Route, the special freight line
between the port of Rotterdam and the German border near Emmerich.
The arrival of CapTrain, a sister company of the French state railways SNCF, marked an important expansion
of Rotterdam's logistical rail services. CapTrain arose out of the takeover of a series of railway companies
from the Veolia group, including Rail4Chem, which were separate and private until recently. Additionally,
various foreign SNCF subsidiaries have been incorporated into CapTrain, including SNCF Benelux,
SNCF Germany, SNCF Italia, Freight Europe UK and VFLI Romania. The German railway companies of ITL in
Dresden have also recently been taken over by CapTrain. A second very large player in the rail area
has thus entered the game in the port of Rotterdam, alongside DB Schenker Rail Nederland, which still
commands a market share of 70 to 80 per cent. Due in large part to the takeover of the previously mentioned
ITL companies, CapTrain can expand its corridor between Rotterdam and East-European destinations.
The improved connections to French destinations are another important advantage that CapTrain presents to
the rail shippers in Rotterdam.
The French railway giant can now guarantee fixed train services between Rotterdam and Antwerp. There,
sister company SNCF Fret currently still takes over the trains to other destinations in France from CapTrain.
CapTrain already has its own licence for operating train services to French destinations. Their plan is to
have intermodal trains running directly from Rotterdam to Lille.
This will provide the port of Rotterdam with non-stop rail services to this economically important region in
France. Train services between Rotterdam and other strong industrial centres, such as Lyon and Bordeaux,
are under preparation.
At this time, CapTrain has 23 engines of its own for freight traffic within the Benelux. That number will be
strongly increased in the near future. Additionally, a fleet of around 1000 freight cars is available. In the
event of capacity shortage, CapTrain has access to the extensive pool of SNCF engines in Lille with multiple
traction capability. Since last year, CapTrain runs at high frequencies - via the Betuwe Route - to hinterland
destinations in Germany, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Poland.
In addition to the arrival of CapTrain, various other improvements have been implemented lately in rail
transportation from Rotterdam to the hinterland. Take Swiss rail operator Intercontainer/Interfrigo (ICF) from
Basle, for instance. This intermodal rail operator of the European railway companies has expanded its already
frequent train services between the port of Rotterdam and Basle with a new container shuttle, the Erasmus
Shuttle. Last year, it initially ran once a week in both directions from the Rail Service Centre Rotterdam (RSC)
in the Waalhaven and the ECT terminal on the Maasvlakte. ICF already has five weekly trains
between Rotterdam and the SBB Container Terminal, the rail terminal of the Swiss railways in Basle.
The Erasmus Shuttle from Rotterdam, however, terminates on the Basel Badischer transhipment
station-UBF on German soil, right on the German-Swiss border. That terminal has been added to the ICF
network thanks to its customs clearance facilities for Switzerland as well as the EU countries. ICF started the
new train service to establish a better connection between Rotterdam and the industrial centres of
Southern Germany, Switzerland and Northern France. This is all in line with the wishes of the rail shippers in
the concerned regions. The train service Rotterdam-Basel UBF currently runs twice a week in both directions.
Important enhancements have also been made to hinterland transportation from the port of Rotterdam in
the direction of Eastern Europe last year. For instance, the Rotterdam rail operator Nijhof-Wassink has
increased the frequency of its trains between Pernis Combi Terminal-PCT and Poland from two to three
trains a week. And a new logistical service provider on the Rotterdam-Oslo route has appeared on the
Rotterdam rail front: BRING, a subsidiary of Norway Post. That company has started an intermodal
connection for the transportation of (cooling) containers and trailers between the port of Rotterdam and the
Norwegian capital. The train has a total capacity of 32 (cooling) trailers.
Bring: a new logistical service provider on the Rotterdam-Oslo route.
Photo Bring Logistics
Because the Rotterdam-Oslo journey is covered in only 26 hours - and the high German toll is avoided - the
connection is competitive with road transportation. Last year, during the initial stage, there was one train a
week. Later, the frequency was increased to two trains a week. A further increase in frequency is in the pipeline. The
private German rail company TX Logistik functions as traction supplier for the Rotterdam-Oslo service and
runs it via its Herne hub in the Ruhr.
The small Container Terminal Herne (CTH) near Dortmund is starting to prove itself more and more as a
leading hub for transportation from Rotterdam to Scandinavian destinations. Rail operator Van Dieren
Maritime also uses Herne as departure point for destinations in Sweden and Norway. Recently, Van
Dieren Maritime started a new intermodal train service to Nässjö in Sweden, which runs three times a week.
Currently, this subsidiary of Icelandic shipping company Samskip has as many as 36 container
shuttles to Scandinavian destinations weekly. Containers from Rotterdam that must be placed on the
train of this rail operator in Herne are transported by road to the aforementioned terminal.
Last year, yet another new rail operator appeared on the scene in the port of Rotterdam: Shuttlewise, which started
with an intermodal train service for the transportation of containers and swap bodies between Rotterdam and
Northern Italy. This so-called Lombardia Shuttle runs with a frequency of four trains a week in both directions. The
intermodal train service is carried out from the Rail Service Centre Rotterdam in the Waalhaven. The final
destination is the Terminal Intermodale di Mortara-TIMO, twenty kilometres to the south of Novara. This new
terminal, which should provide relief to the nearby terminal of Busto Arsizio-Gallerate, has an annual
transshipment volume of one and a half million tonnes of intermodal load. The intermodal terminal of Cabooter in
Venlo - near the German border - is also served by the train service that is otherwise run non-stop by traction
companies ACTS and Crossrail. The largest part of the 80 TEU train is composed in the port of Rotterdam, and
a smaller part in Venlo. There, both parts of the train are combined for the onward journey to Northern Italy. This
procedure is carried out in reverse on the return journey from Mortara to Rotterdam.
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