Published by Freight Select Journaal,
September 2006.

Rail freight in the Netherlands looks set to enjoy a massive boost in traffic, which is good news for Rail Cargo information Netherlands, the organisation set up to promote the sector. Graeme Kirk reports

The total tonnage of freight carried on the Netherlands' railway tracks has increased quickly in the past 12 years and is expected to really take off next year when a new, dedicated, route for freight trains opens for business.

Although commercial sensitivities mean that up-to-date figures are not available, data for the nine years from 1994 to 2003 saw the total weight of rail freight increase from 17.9 million tonnes to 29.7 million tonnes.

Compared to the tonnages carried by road haulage (600 million tonnes) and inland shipping (253.4 million tonnes) in 2003, the rail sector would appear to be the poor relation of those other two modalities - and in some ways that has been true.

According to Gilbert Bal of Rail Cargo information Netherlands, the Dutch agency charged with promoting rail transport to the freight sector, the recent growth in using trains for freight transport has been due to an influx of new train operators.

"Rail has become cheaper for carrying high volumes of goods for long distances since the sector was liberalised here in the Netherlands," Bal told Freight Select Journal.

"Before there was only one freight operator, the state-owned NS Cargo, but since that was sold to German train operator Deutsche Bahn and other new companies have also started offering services, moving freight by rail has become less expensive and offer better customer services.

The new companies are offering new services and are competing for business on service and price."

There are currently eight train operating companies in the Dutch freight sector: ACTS Nederland BV, ERS Railways BV, Railion Nederland BV (the former NS Cargo), Rail4Chem Benelux BV, Dillen & LeJeune Cargo, Rotterdam Rail Feeding BV, Häfen und Güterverkehr Köln AG and Veolia Cargo Nederland BV. These will be joined by two more this year when French operator SNCF Fret, and Belgian company B-Cargo also start to operate in the Netherlands.

"The new companies both got their licences to operate in the Netherlands and should make an important contribution to the amount of freight carried by rail," Bal said. "adding two new operators to the existing eight is a big increase."

There are two very good reasons for these new operators wanting a slice of the Dutch rail freight market: the first is the pending liberalisation of the French rail market, while the other is the opening of the Betuweroute, which will give the Netherlands its first freight-only railway line to help speed the movement of freight to inland Europe.

"Both of these developments are very exciting for Rail Cargo information Netherlands and will present new opportunities for us to promote rail freight in the Netherlands," Bal said.

Pointing at a map of railway routes in Western Europe, he outlined the possibilities that the opening up of the French market would have.

"When the rail market in France gets more liberalised it will have a positive effect on freight from the Netherlands to France, Spain and Portugal. There is growing interest from road haulers in alternative transport by rail to these destinations."

The Betuweroute is potentially an even more exciting development.

From 2007, it will provide new opportunities for rail freight traffic from the Port of Rotterdam. Logistics service providers and shippers will then benefit from the possibility of transporting freight in a single operation and without delay from the Maasvlakte to Germany and the rest of Europe.

It will be the shortest route from the container and other terminals to the European customers in the south and east of Europe, but what makes the new line unique is that it is exclusively for freight trains. That means logistics service providers and shippers will have shorter waiting times, fewer stops and higher availability, punctuality and, therefore, reliability.

From the outset it will be possible for 10 freight trains an hour to run on the route in each direction, totalling 480 trains a day. In practice, some 150 trains a day will run initially, but the capacity is sufficient to satisfy the growing transport demand into the distant future.

The Dutch and German governments have both entered into agreements on linking the Betuweroute to the German core network. Indeed, the freight rail line is part of the Trans European Rail Freight Freeways Network.

The Betuweroute is now complete and is undergoing a major testing programme ready to start operation early in 2007. Running from Rotterdam to Zevenaar, just a short distance from the Dutch/German border, there is little doubt that it will considerably boost the tonnages of rail freight carried through the Netherlands.

"With Eastern Europe growing to catch up with the rest of the Continent, there is huge potential for rail freight to grow," Bal said. "New services to Central Europe, for example Poland, will be made much more accessible than they are now and even existing traffic - like the six or so massive coal trains each day that take the route from Rotterdam to Germany will find their journey much easier.

"Just like the coal train, the new route has the ability to take a huge number of trucks off the roads to reduce traffic congestion."

Thinking ahead, the Betuweroute is already an integral part of the planned expansion to the Port of Rotterdam at Maasvlakte 2. This major project will reclaim land from the sea to allow a 20% expansion of the port, directly on deep fairways.

With a target completion date of 2013, the infrastructure on Maasvlakte 2 is intended to blend seamlessly with the existing infrastructure in the Rotterdam port area - including the Betuweroute. Indeed, according to Bal, industry wishing to set up in the new area will be required to use rail for a proportion of its freight transport requirements.

All of these developments are excellent news for Rail Cargo information Netherlands, which was established with government funding to promote rail as a viable alternative to road transport for moving freight across the Netherlands.

The organisation still gets about half its annual running costs from the state, with the rest coming from the rail operators and a few major sponsors like the Port of Rotterdam.

"We work with logistical companies and shippers to try and persuade them that they should consider rail to move their containers and other cargo inland, but we also talk to large manufactures here in the Netherlands to see if rail freight could have a role in helping their businesses," Bal told Freight Select Journal.

"If they are situated close to a railway line, there could be an opportunity to build a dedicated siding for their use, while those that are close enough to the growing number of rail container terminals could look at the possibilities of replacing road haulage with the cheaper and more environmentally friendly option that rail presents."

"The Betuweroute should also improve the public image of the rail freight sector in this respect because it should remove large numbers of trucks from the European Motorways," he said, "but it will also reduce the number of delays that freight trains undergo when they are forced into sharing railway lines with commuter trains."

To help in its role of promoting rail freight, Rail Cargo information Netherlands keeps a database of all the freight routes that the intermodal rail operators have to offer from the Netherlands to the rest of Europe.

"It's an important first step for anyone looking at using rail for moving freight to find out what options are available to them," Bal said. "Anyone can come to our website and look at the routes on offer.

"Of course they can also approach us directly and we will explore the options with them and put them in touch with the supporters of Rail Cargo information Netherlands, but as an independent organisation, that's where our involvement stops.

"We supply information and will try and put shippers, logistical companies and the supporters of Rail Cargo information Netherlands together, but it is up to them to work out a contract and make a deal."