Here’s an article recently published in Lloyds about the current capacity problem caused by the “Rastatt emergency”. The Rhine-Alpine Freight Corridor is one of the busiest rail freight routes on the continent.
An extended closure on a core corridor of this scale has knock-on effects across multiple countries and several transport modes, with congestion building at intermodal terminals and connected ports across the network.
See our comments at the bottom regarding the effect on road freight traffic.
Impact of the Rastatt Emergency on European Rail Freight
Shipper and freight representatives have written to European transport ministers calling for urgent action to address the “Rastatt emergency” and its effects on European logistics flows.
In an open letter signed by around 20 transport associations, the representatives said the disruption of the Rhine-Alpine Freight Corridor in Rastatt, near Karlsruhe in southwest Germany, was “causing immense damage to the rail logistics sector”. They highlighted European intermodal traffic as being “particularly disadvantaged” by the ongoing rail disruption, with only 15% of its “habitual volume” currently being accommodated by alternative routings.
The letter was addressed to the German Minister of Transport Alexander Dobrindt and the EU Commissioner Violeta Bulc. A copy was sent to the transport ministries of the Netherlands, Belgium, Switzerland, Italy, France, Luxembourg and Austria.
Representatives including the European Shippers’ Council and European Association for forwarding, transport, logistics and customs services (Clecat) stressed that the Rhine valley line was “the main line for intermodal traffic in Europe. Around 50% of the trade between Northern Europe and Italy via Switzerland is normally performed by intermodal transport on this axis.”
They told European ministers: “The Rhine valley railways will be interrupted for almost two months because of the Rastatt construction site accident. Once the route is reopened on the announced date of 7 October 2017, railway logistics will have suffered immense damage.
Outlining the current situation faced by shippers and freight operators, the representatives stated that, typically, 200 freight trains operate daily in the Rhine valley during September. According to the infrastructure managers, there is, in theory, diversion capacity for 150 freight trains via Stuttgart-Singen, Brenner, and Alsace.
“At present, the freight railways can manage only 25% of the normal volumes on the re-routings via Germany, France and Austria. Intermodal transport is particularly disadvantaged: the diversion volumes of this strongest market segment reach less than 15% of its habitual volume.”
Key Challenges and Disruptions in the Supply Chain
They said a lack of locomotive drivers in the Brenner and Alsace regions was “the main reason why most of these capacities are not used – even three weeks after the disruption.
“Because of the difficult operational conditions of the diversions via Stuttgart-Singen, the majority of the trains have to be cancelled or run with extreme delays of several days,” they added.
As a consequence, they said “the European system of rail logistics is about to collapse”. The representatives noted:
- “The transhipment terminals of intermodal transport along the Rhine Alpine Corridor are congested with containers and are refusing to accept additional loading units. Supply shortages and production stops have already occurred in a large number of plants north and south of the Alps – a very large number of production sites are about to come to a standstill.”
- Decades of investments in the European intermodal rail system were being damaged or destroyed, with the potential to cause “damages running into billions” for the economy, for industry, for the railways, operators and transport companies.
- “Part of the rail traffic will be lost to the road, and it will not be possible to win it back for years. The EU modal shift aims are endangered.”
The representatives said the Rastatt disruption and the current crisis management was “a perfect example of what is wrong with European rail freight transportation.
“On important freight transport corridors, there are not enough diversion routes that are planned as standbys and that can be readily used in case of traffic disruptions. A transnational corridor perspective for infrastructure planning and management is still very basic,” they explained.
“There is no international coordination of construction sites on the railway infrastructure. Alternative and diversion routes that are suitable for freight traffic were partially or completely closed during the construction of the risky tunnelling in Rastatt because of other construction works.”
The representatives pointed out that “national railway particularities make it difficult to divert to lines of other countries. German-speaking train drivers, for example, cannot be deployed on the diversion lines via France.”
They added: “There is no structure for international crisis management in rail freight transport. The much-needed day-to-day coordination between national infrastructure managers, railways, terminals and operators is extremely slow and inefficient.”
In terms of what must now happen in the short term, they said: “It is still unclear for many railway experts to understand why the total closure of the line could not have been avoided or significantly shortened by the building of a temporary, single-track replacement line immediately after the damage of the Rhine valley line due to construction works.
“In order to avoid the blackout of the system and a permanent loss of trust of the market, the following measures are needed:
- Establishment of a task force at the ministerial and/or EU level with crisis competencies, including the infrastructure managers.
- Support to the railway undertakings to perform short-term reinforcement of the driver pool on the diversion lines via Brenner, France, and the Stuttgart-Singen-Schaffhausen area by releases in favour of freight traffic: by this measure, the diversion capacity can be increased from 20% today to 50-60% within 2-3 days.
- Simplified operating procedures on the re-routing lines, with the coordination of ERA European Union Agency for Railways.
- Examination of exceptional, temporary measures to support the freight companies that are directly affected by the Rastatt interruption and that face severe existential problems.
- Implementation of a special commission for the short-term review of the largest and most serious freight traffic blockade in recent decades, including contingency plans, construction site planning, prioritisation of traffic, etc. Rastatt must never happen again.”
The representatives concluded: “Europe relies on the railways as the eco-friendly mode of transport of the future. Hoping not to lose our chance of guaranteeing a competitive railway logistics, we rely on your full support. Together, we are committed to make rail logistics work also in this emergency situation.”
Cross-Border Coordination and the Wider Transport Industry
The Rastatt situation has thrown a long-running issue in the European transport industry into sharp relief. Freight operators routinely move goods across multiple countries on a single corridor, but the infrastructure, regulatory frameworks, and operational practices supporting that traffic remain largely organised along national lines. Driver certifications, signalling systems, and crisis-response procedures all change at the border, which creates friction even in normal operating conditions and serious bottlenecks when a major route goes down.
For multinationals shipping across the continent, the practical question is how much resilience exists in the corridors they depend on. Recent years have seen growing volumes move through a relatively small number of cross-border routes, which raises the stakes when any one of them is disrupted. The coordination challenges exposed by Rastatt extend across rail, road, intermodal, and inland waterway networks. Addressing them will require a more integrated approach across countries than the industry has produced to date.
What the Rastatt Emergency Means for European Road Freight
Analysis of the current situation points to a clear short-term squeeze on European road freight capacity. With factories standing idle and many lanes not moving, road carriers are seeing a knock-on effect for clients waiting on empty trailers and delayed inbound loads. At the same time, rail traffic that would normally move through the Rhine-Alpine corridor is being pushed onto the roads, consuming what little spare road capacity exists across the affected region.
For shippers, the immediate consequences are likely to include longer transit times, less flexibility in scheduling, and upward pressure on pricing as carriers absorb additional demand.
Road operators trying to support the displaced rail volumes are running into the same constraints the rail diversions face: limited driver availability, congested terminals, and infrastructure that was not designed to absorb crisis-level volumes.
The longer-term concern is the one the shipper representatives raised in their letter. If even a portion of the affected rail traffic permanently shifts to the road, it will be very difficult to win it back.
Road freight operators may benefit from the additional volumes in the short term, but the wider transport industry has reason to be cautious about welcoming a modal shift driven by a single point of failure on a core European corridor.
http://www.lloydsloadinglist.com/freight-directory/news/Shippers-and-freight-operators-complain-to-EU-ministers-over-%E2%80%98Rastatt-emergency%E2%80%99/70261.htm?mc_cid=004c8783c5&mc_eid=f2d7fc2386#.Wa6iGsiGO70
