Rhine-Alpine News
05.04.2022
H2 Mobility to increase hydrogen refuelling network in Germany
H2 MOBILITY Presentation on 29 March 2022 in Berlin, © H2 MOBILITY Deutschland/Anthony Icuagu
H2 MOBILITY Deutschland announced a €110m investment round, provided by Hy24, the world’s largest clean hydrogen infrastructure investment platform, alongside significant investments from existing industrial shareholders. Next to Hy24 managed fund, Air Liquide, Daimler Truck, Hyundai, Linde, OMV, Shell, and TotalEnergies contributed to the capital raise. The investment will be used to upgrade the existing network and build new stations to meet rising hydrogen demand for commercial and intensive use vehicles. H2 MOBILITY, a leading operator of hydrogen refuelling stations which already operates over 90 stations across Germany, intends to use the funding to further expand its network to 300 stations by 2030 – becoming the backbone of zero-carbon private and commercial traffic in Europe. The expansion of H2 MOBILITY Deutschland’s network will be focused on ten high-traffic transportation corridors, giving it a cornerstone role in the future mobility system of the European Union. In the Rhine-Alpine Corridor, the regions Mannheim/Heidelberg and Rhine-Ruhr will be in the focus. See full press release here: https://h2.live/en/news/2326/
After a massive technical disruption: rail traffic in the Netherlands back to normal
NS Train, Source: Pixabay
On Sunday, 3 April 2022, rail traffic in the Netherlands almost completely collapsed. The reason was a malfunction of the system relevant to the safety of rail traffic around 10 a.m. Many travelers were stranded at the train stations. The disruptions also affected long-distance traffic between Germany and the Netherlands, which experienced significant problems on Sunday afternoon. On the ICE route from Frankfurt (Main) to Utrecht, trains between Utrecht and Mönchengladbach were canceled in both directions. According to media reports, thousands of travelers were affected after no more Nederlandse Spoorwegen (NS) trains had run since around 12 noon on April 3rd. Taxis were quickly in short supply everywhere, and regular buses were completely overloaded. Travelers told reporters they missed flights or put plans to the wind for the rest of Sunday. A rail replacement service was not set up by the Dutch railways. It was not possible to use as many buses as would have been necessary to transport the affected train passengers, the reasoning was said. Since Monday, train traffic in the Netherlands is running again without major disruptions. Source (in German): https://rp-online.de/panorama/niederlande/nach-stoerung-im-bahnverkehr-zuege-fahren-in-den-niederlanden-fast-wieder-normal_aid-67742015
Swiss Rhine ports and Rotterdam renew cooperation
Deborah Strub, Simonetta Sommaruga, Matthijs van Doorn, Martina Gmür, Photo: Ries van Wendel de Jood
The Swiss Rhine ports, the logistics cluster region of Basel and the Port of Rotterdam renewed their cooperation agreement on 23 March 2022. With the signing of a renewed Memorandum of Understanding (MOU), there will be even more intensive efforts in the coming years for digitization, green energy sources and the sustainable design of the important Rotterdam-Basel-Genoa freight corridor. The MOU renews the agreements made in 2016. The use of hydrogen as a future fuel for freight transport, the circular economy and efficient handling of inland waterway transport are included as new topics. Further coordination between the digital port management systems RheinPorts Information System (Swiss Rhine ports) and Portbase (Rotterdam) remains a focus of future exchange. Furthermore, it is a major concern of the ports with an expansion of intermodal logistics infrastructures, as is the case with the trimodal container terminal Gateway Basel-Nord with ship connection (port basin 3), to promote goods transport by inland waterway and rail. More than 50 percent of the transport volume between Switzerland and Rotterdam is handled by inland shipping; a third by train and only 1 percent by truck. Source: https://www.portofrotterdam.com/en/news-and-press-releases/region-basel-and-rotterdam-renew-logistic-partnership