prompt Kombiverkehr aids for 250 million euros to the operators hit from the interruption of the railway corridor the Rhine-Alps



The intermodal society German Kombiverkehr asks 250 million euros for measures of immediate aid the operators who are enduring the impact negative on their activity determined from the interruption near Rastatt, in Germany, of the railway corridor the Rhine-Alps because of a yielding of the line, closing to the intermodal transit that has created serious problems to the rail shipment and that is denounced by the European Rail Freight Association (ERFA) in an open letter addressed to the German federal minister to the Transports and the European commissioner to the Transports ( on 4 September 2017).

Kombiverkehr has evidenced that in the last weeks the railway connections between Germany and Italy are through the Gottardo that through Brenner negative repercussions have quickly unprecedented because of incidents, opening of yards and controls to the frontiers and that the operators have extreme difficulty to program regular services of arranged transport. The German company has specified that this situation hits in particular the small and averages houses of shipment and the companies of logistics that have transferred the majority of their services to the railroad and that day after day they are accumulateing losses financial institutions.

Kombiverkehr has specified that I use it of railway lines alternatives, especially for obstacles of technical nature, of staff availability and of traffic flows, it is not resolving the problem in spite of the societies that manage railway infrastructures, the railway operators and the transport companies are going to any length in order to assure for the how many possible railway services. Because of the incident to Rastatt - it has emphasized the intermodal society - in always increasing measure the companies are forcing their shippers to transfer shipments from the track to the road, what that is almost impossible to realize as their means are adapted in specific way to requirement of the arranged transport.

"To our opinion - it has found Kombiverkehr - the closing of the line of the valley Rhenish to Rastatt represents the most serious blow to the railway infrastructures that Europe has never seen".

"The situation relatively to the planning of the transports and the operational control by the shippers, of the operators of the transport and the operating societies in the railway field - Armin Riedl has denounced, managing director of the Kombiverkehr and the Lokomotion, the society of traction specialized in the services from and for Italy - is more and more slipping out of the hands and has economic consequences of great capacity. For us, but above all for our customers, this he is not more acceptable, in particular to light of the fact who for a long time are advanced demanded for the effettuazione of work coordinated to international level and for the management of the lines alternatives and that, recently, our observations on the times of control of the frontiers to Raubling have not obtained some answer by the authorities. We - he has accused Riedl - doubt that in the current situation the railroads, with their importance for the transport, environmental and social politics, still benefit of a some support".

"We - he has continued Robert Breuhahn, also he managing director of Kombiverkehr - cannot afford simply to attend without to make nothing. We see the danger that the railway system intermodal transalpine, that he is constructed in the course of decades, that has worked well for years and with which many companies of logistics has collaborated in effective way, falls to pieces".

From here the demand for the German company to the government of financial aid pairs to 250 million euros in favor of the enterprises that are enduring the serious impact negative caused from the interruption of the Rhine-Alps corridor. Between these beyond 270 societies of shipment and logistics that are customers of the Kombiverkehr, company that every year enlivens a railway traffic pairs to beyond 350.000 shipments of truck on the lines of the Gottardo and Brenner from and for the Italy, customers - Kombiverkehr has explained - for the majority constituted by small and averages enterprises that years have dedicated to invest in intermodal equipments, that they have oriented their parks of vehicles and all the processes of planning to the transport goods on track.