Rhine-Alpine News
20.04.2021
Rhine: railway line to reopen on 2 May
Rhine: Right bank with freight train (Photo: Martin Brandt)
The main rail link on the right bank of the Rhine valley near Loreley mountain, cut off by a mudslide since 15 March, will reopen on 2 May, Deutsche Bahn has announced. From that date, a single track will take the traffic; the other track will still be needed for maintenance trains until further notice. However, this arrangement will allow almost all freight traffic to get back to the route through the Rhine valley. In addition, an hourly regional train service will operate.
Read the details here (external link, German language).
Meanwhile, the association of European freight railways NEE and the international union for road-rail combined transport UIRR have asked the Federal Network Agency to explain how it intends to enforce the German Railway Regulation Act to ensure legally guaranteed network access. „The International Contingency Management procedure should be automatically triggered in such severe cases of Pan-European disruption“, UIRR President Ralf-Charley Schultze pointed out. Therefore, all available bypass train paths should be made available to freight customers.
Read the statement here (external link).
Moonlight Express Brussels – Berlin
The list of night train projects affecting the Rhine-Alpine corridor is growing. Besides the train Brussels-Amsterdam-Berlin-Prague (featured last week), the start-up “Moonlight Express” has announced a through overnight service Brussels – Liège – Berlin, to start from April 2022.
Rhine-Alpine Talks: “The unlocked potential of inland navigation”
Container barge negotiating Loreley rock (Photo: Martin Brandt)
66 participants from 7 countries joined the 8th Rhine-Alpine Talks. Floor Vermeulen, Regional Minister for Transport, Province of South-Holland, held the keynote: “Setting the Scene: How to unlock the potential of IWW to green the Rhine-Alpine Corridor?” Further presentations were held by Hugues Van Honacker, Senior expert Inland and ports unit at DG MOVE: “Inland waterway transport – NAIADES III action plan 2021-2027”, Caroline Nagtegaal, MEP, TRAN Committee: “A strategic agenda for future-proof inland waterway transport in Europe”, Marcello Moretti, Agenzia Interregionale per il Po (AIPO): “An overview on the inland waterways system in Regione Lombardia”, and Dominique Van Hecke, General Manager, Flemish Waterways plc.: “Inland Shipping in Flanders –How to fit for future.”
A panel discussion with Caroline Nagtegaal of MEPTRAN Committee, Karin de Schepper of Inland Navigation Europe (INE), Theresia Hacksteiner of European Barge Union (EBU), and Turi Fiorito of European Federation of Inland Ports (EFIP) was moderated by Gunnar Platz, Planco Consult Essen.
Regional workshop for multimodality
In the name of the EGTC Rhine-Alpine, the town of Lahr, the Chamber of Commerce Südlicher Oberrhein and the Regionalverband Südlicher Oberrhein invite you to the online workshop „Förderung multimodaler Güterverkehre entlang des Oberrheins als Kernbereich des Rhein-Alpen-Korridors“ on 22 April, 14:00 – 16:00. This workshop is held in German language and especially targets the regional logistics operators and logistics industry. Find the program here and register here for individual, non-transferable links.