Berlin, Aug 12 (dpa/GNA) – Germany’s national rail operator, Deutsche Bahn, is trying to help out with the cargo crunch produced by low water in rivers by offering more freight transports by rail, according to information obtained by dpa on Wednesday.
DB Cargo, the group’s freight subsidiary, could mobilize around 400 additional freight wagons at short notice, chief executive Bernhard Osburg said at a meeting at the Transport Ministry, according to the information. Up to 500 more freight wagons could be made available in the coming months for a long-term standby concept to deal with low water, though funding would still need to be clarified.
Osburg said DB Cargo could in the short term replace up to 100 inland cargo vessels and in the long term around 200 vessels with a standby concept. “A single freight train can replace up to 10 inland cargo vessels due to higher turnaround speed,” he reportedly said.
Some 4,500 freight trains run daily on the German network operated by rail infrastructure company DB InfraGO, and more than 220 railway companies use the network, according to the information given to dpa. DB InfraGO has a special low-water coordinator who focuses and manages north-south traffic along the Rhine and Elbe, it said.
Freight services are currently also being made possible via diversions. Several German states have recently suspended the Sunday driving ban for lorries to shift transports at least partly onto the roads.
Meanwhile, Transport Minister Steffen Bilger is also calling for further waterway expansion, as some of the country’s key maritime thoroughfares, like the Rhine, reach record lows. “If we want freight to be shifted from the road to waterways, then there must be trust in inland shipping,” Bilger told a morning programme on RTL/ntv. “That is why we cannot afford to be regularly confronted with such serious low-water problems.”
Climate adaptation also includes expanding use of the waterways in some places, he said, adding that great care would be taken to ensure ecological compensation. “There have often been low-water situations in the past, too, but for it to come so early and so massively is unusual, certainly also as a result of climate change,” he said.
Bilger said there are many good examples of reconciling waterway expansion with environmental concerns. He’s campaigning for waterway transport “as the most environmentally friendly mode of transport we have”.
He also plans to speak about this with environmental organizations, the minister told the RND media group.
GNA