“Nightjet” started on Rhine-Alpine Corridor

Departure from Amsterdam ©Hugo van Vondelen

After some Covid-related delay, new overnight rail services have started from Amsterdam and Brussels. Austrian rail operator ÖBB operates them under the Nightjet brand.

The train from Amsterdam runs daily to Vienna and Innsbruck and vice versa, via Cologne, Frankfurt, Nuremberg, and some more intermediate steps, with the Innsbruck section also serving Munich. The train from Brussels runs tri-weekly to Vienna, via Liège and Aachen, and joins the train from Amsterdam outside Cologne. All services offer sleeper cars, couchette cars and coaches.

For the time being, availability of night trains is a limiting factor. ÖBB plans to run more services, each with more cars, when the new equipment will be available in a few years. Find the details here (external link, German language)

Four pipelines planned, parallel to railway tracks

Photo: Port of Rotterdam

The construction of four new pipelines between Rotterdam, Chemelot and North Rhine-Westphalia for the transport of C4-LPG, propylene, hydrogen and CO2 will yield several benefits. This is the conclusion of a feasibility study commissioned by the Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management, the Port of Rotterdam Authority and Chemelot chemical industrial park. The initiators have agreed to move swiftly forward with the plans under the title “Delta Corridor”.

Pipelines, usually running underground, are a substantial means of transport for liquid bulk commodities. Installing them along the northwestern part of the Rhine-Alpine corridor will reduce the number of freight train and the amount of hazardous goods on rails and waterways. Read the whole news here (external link)