Rail Freight Corridor NL - CZ final version - International ...

Rail Freight Corridor NL - CZ 

This study has been financed by The Ministry of Transport of the Czech Republic and the Ministry of 

Transport, Public Works and Water Management of the Netherlands 

Reference R20080142/30721000/ARC/EGR 

Zoetermeer, May 2008

Title Rail Freight Corridor NL - CZ 

Kind of 

documentation 

Study 

Date of publication June 2008 English version 

Client 

Client 

Contractor 

Contractor 

Cooperation 

Responsible person 

for documentation 

Ministry of Transport 

Nábř. L.Svobody 1222/12 

110 15 Praha 1 

Czech Republic 

Ministry of Transport, Public Works and 

Water Management 

Plesmanweg 1-6 

2597 JG Den Haag 

The Netherlands 

SUDOP PRAHA a.s. 

Department 205 – transport conception 

Olšanská 1a 

130 80 Praha 3 


Tel.: +420 267 094 305 

Fax: +420 224 230 316 

www.sudop.cz 

NEA, Transport research and training 

Bredewater 26 

NL-2715 CA Zoetermeer 

The Netherlands 

P: +31 79 322 2419 

F: +31 79 322 2211 

www.nea.nl 

HaCon Ingenieurgesellschaft mbH 

Lister Straße 15 

30163 Hannover 

Germany 

Phone.: 0511 / 336 99-130 

Fax: 0511 / 336 99-99 

www.hacon.de 

Andrea Plišková (SUDOP) Signature 

Adriaan Roest Crollius (NEA) Signature 

Execution Martin Vachtl (SUDOP) Vladislav Černý (SUDOP) 

of a documentation David Fuksa (SUDOP) Martin Quispel (NEA) 

Stanislav Valdman (SUDOP) Lars Deiterding (HaCon) 

Controlled by Pavel Tikman Signature


CONTENTS 

0 SUMMARY 7 

1 CURRENT SITUATION ON THE MARKET AND IT´S 

POTENTIAL FOR FURTHER DEVELOPMENT 12 

1.1 Introduction 12 

1.2 Specification of freight flows 13 

1.3 Companies and transport services 27 

1.4 Information on costs, tariffs, transit-time and punctuality 29 

1.5 Analyses of segments and position of rail in the future 31 

2 IDENTIFICATION OF BARRIERS TO FURTHER 

DEVELOPMENT 33 

2.1 Transport policy, documents, programmes, trends 33 

2.2 Subjective barriers (as viewed by organizations) 50 

2.3 Fees for using transport infrastructure 64 

2.4 Capacity of the rail network, its allocation 71 

2.5 Availability of necessary equipment 73 

2.6 Steps currently taken to alleviate or eliminate barriers 74 

3 SELECTION OF THE PATH AND TERMINALS 81 

3.1 Terminals 81 

3.2 Routes 87 

3.3 Conclusions and Recommendations of CHAPTER 3 92 

4 ACTION PLAN ‘RAIL FREIGHT CORRIDOR THE 

NETHERLANDS – CZECH REPUBLIC’ 95 

4.1 Introduction 95 

4.2 Main and frequently cited barriers to further development of railway 

transport on The Netherlands - Czech Republic corridor. 96 

4.3 Methodology 101 

4.4 Action Plan 102 

4.5 Implementing the Action Plan 104 

ANNEX 1 DESCRIPTION OF ACTIVE COMPANIES 110 

ANNEX 2 TRAIN SCHEDULES 137 

ANNEX 3 INFORMATION FROM COMPANY SURVEYS 

(QUESTIONNAIRES) – BOTTLENECK 140 

ANNEX 4 TEMPLATE OF QUESTIONNAIRE 144 

ANNEX 5 TERMINALS IN THE CZECH REPUBLIC 148 

ANNEX 6 TERMINALS IN THE NETHERLANDS 163 

ANNEX 7 ROADS AND RAIL ROUTES 168 

ANNEX 8 MAPS 177 

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List of abbreviations 


ABS line Ausbaustrecke (modernization of existing line) high speed line 

AB, ATB Automatic block – interlocking plant type 

AC Alternating current 

ACTS Abroll Container Transport System - combine rail – road transport system 

AEG Allgemeines Eisenbahngesetz (Railway Act) 

AGC Accord Européen sur les Grandes lignes internationales des Chemin de fer 

(European agreement on international main rail lines) 

AGTC European Agreement on Important International Combined Transport Lines and 

Related Installations 

AH Automatic gate - interlocking plant part 

APTU Adoption of Uniform Technical Prescriptions 

APM A.P. Moller – Maersk terminal 

ATMF Technical Admission of Railway Material 

ATP Agreement on the International Carriage of Perishable Foodstuffs and the 

Special Equipment to be used for such Carriage 

BMVBW Bundesministerium für Verkehr, Bau - und Wohnungswesen (german Federal 

Ministry of Transport, Building and Housing) 

BMWA Bundesministerium für Wirtschaft und Arbeit (german Federal Ministry of 

Economics and Labour) 

CDV Centre of transport research 

CEE Central and Eastern Europe 

CEMT Conférence Europeenne des Ministres des Transports 

CEO Chief executive officer 

CER The Community of European Railway and Infrastructure Companies 

CIM Contract for International Carriage of Goods 

CIV Contract for International Carriage of Passengers 

CMR International Carriage of Goods by Road 

COTIF Convention concerning International Carriage by Rail 

CR Czech republic 

CREAM Customer-driven Rail-freight services on a European mega-corridor based on 

Advanced business and operating Models 

CRMF Ministry of finance of Czech Republic 

CT Combined transport 

CTA Container Terminal Altenwerder (container terminal in Hamburg) 

CTB Container Terminal Burchardkai (container terminal in Hamburg) 

CTT Container Terminal Tollerort (container terminal in Hamburg) 

CUI Contract of Use of the Infrastructure 

CUV Contract of Use of Vehicles 

CZ Czech republic 

CZK Czech crown 

CZSO Czech statistical office 

ČD (CD) Czech railways – main czech train operator 

ČD DUSS Czech railways - Deutsche Umschlaggesellschaft Schiene-Straße 

DB AG Deutsche Bahn AG (German Federal Railways) 

DC Direct current 

DIOMIS Developing infrastructure and operating models 

DLC Dillen & Le Jeune Cargo – Belgian railfreight operator 

DN Data not available 

DNCWT German/Netherlands-Czech association rail freight rate 

DÚ Czech Rail Authority 

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EBA Eisenbahn-Bundesamt (German Federal Railway Authority) 

EBO Eisenbahnbau- und Betriebsordnung (Railway Construction and Operation 

Regulation) 

EC European comission 

UN/ECEEU United Nations/Economic Commission for Europe 

ECMT European Conference of Ministers of Transport 

ECT ECN – capable transport 

ECT Europe Container Terminals 

EDI Electronic data interchange system 

EIBV Eisenbahninfrastruktur-Benutzungsverordnung (Railway Utilization Regulation) 

EICIS European Infrastructure Charging Information System 

EIM European Rail Infrastructure Managers 

EMU/DMU Electrical Multiple Unit/Diesel Multiple Unit 

EPR European Performance Regime 

ERS European Rail Shuttle 

ERTMS European Rail Traffic Management System 

ETA Estimated time of arrival 

ETCS European Train Control Systém 

ETD Estimated time of departure 

EU European union 

Euro SIWAL European Single Wagon Load Project 

FCA German Federal court of auditors 

FNC Ferrovie Nord Cargo – Italian railfreight operator 

FRA German Federal railway authority 

GCU General Contract of Use for Wagons 

GDP Gross domestic product 

GE Germany 

GSM-R Global System for Mobile Communications - Railway 

GWB Gesetz gegen Wettbewerbsbeschränkungen (Act Against Restraints of 

Competition) 

HDV Heavy duty vehicles 

HMM Hyundai Merchant Marine - integrated logistics company 

HERMES International database of freight coach 

HHLA Hamburger Hafen und Logistik AG 

HU Hungary 

ICA Intercontainer Austria - European rail haulier for containers and combined traffic 

ICF Intercontainer Interfrigo - an international rail operator 

IFT Intermodal freight transport 

ILN International Logistic Network 

IM Infrastructure manager 

IMS Intermodal solutions - non-asset based organizer 

IMS Integrated Management System 

IP Integrated project 

IRL International Requirement List 

ITL International Trade Logistics 

IVW The Netherlands Railway Safety Authority 

LCL Less Than Container Loads service 

MDCR Ministry of Transport of Czech Republic 

MIT MAERSK Intermodal Terminal 

MoT Ministry of Transport 

NL The Netherlands 

NVOCC Non Vessel Owning Cargo Carrier 

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NST/R Standard Goods Classification for Transport Statistics/Revised 

NYK Nippon Yusen Kaisha (Japanese shipping company) 

ÖBB Österreichische Bundesbahnen (Austrian Federal Railways) 

OPERA Operating Project for a European Rail Freight Network 

OSS One stop shop 

ORT Oostelijke Rail Terminal in intermodal transport Delta Terminal Rotterdam 

OTIF Organisation for International Carriage by Rail 

PACT Pilot Action for Combined Transport 

PLC Public logistic centre 

PTI Pre-Trip Inspection (transportation) 

RETRACK REorganisation of Transport networks by advanced RAil freight Concepts 

RIA Railway Infrastructure Administration 

RID Carriage of Dangerous Goods 

RIV Regolamento Internazionale Veicoli (former international contract of use for 

wagons) 

RNE Rail Net Europe – infrastructure agreement 

RSC Rail service center Rotterdam 

RSCG Rail Service Center Groningen 

RSIO Rail Safety Inspection Office (in Czech republic) 

RTW Rail Terminal West in intermodal transport Delta Terminal Rotterdam 

RU Railway undertaking 

SA Safety authority (in the Czech republic it is Rail Authority) 

SBB Schweizerische Bundesbahn AG (Swiss Federal Railways) 

SFDI State Transportation Infrastructure Fund 

SK Slovakia 

SMGS Agreement on International Goods Transport 

SNCB Société Nationale des Chemins de Fer Belgique (Belgian national railways) 

SNCF Société Nationale des Chemins de Fer Français (French national railways) 

SŽDC Railway Infrastructure Administration (CZ) 

TCT Trimodal Container Terminal 

TEMA Terminal Management project 

TEN Trans European network 

TEN-T Trans-European Network for Transport 

TER Trans European Railways 

TERFN Trans European Rail Freight Network 

TEU Twenty-foot Equivalent Unit - unit of cargo capacity 

TLN Dutch Road Transport Association 

TPS The electronic information system 

TREND Towards new Rail freight quality and concepts in the European Network in 

respect to market Demand 

TSI Technical standard for interoperability 

TZZ Track interlocking plant 

UIC International Union of Railways 

UIC ENEE UIC Enregistrement Normalisé des Etablissements Européens = European 

Railway Location Database 

UIRR International Union of Combined Road-Rail transport 

UK United Kingdom 

UOAB Type of interlocking on a track in CZ 

UN United Nations 

VAT Value added taxes 

VDE Verkehrsprojekte Deutsche Einheit (German Unification Transport Projects) 

VZ Train control (a part of interlocking plant) 


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0 Summary 

The study Rail Freight Corridor NL – CZ” has been submitted by the Ministry of Transport of the 

Czech Republic on the Czech part, and the Ministry of Transport, Public Works and Water 

Management of the Kingdom of the Netherlands on the part of the Netherlands with respect to 

the Working Plan concerning the Memorandum on understanding in the area of transportation 

for the years 2004 – 2008 between the Czech Republic and the Netherlands, which has been 

amended in the year 2006 by an area of cooperation during cargo transport development. 

One of the first tasks resulting from this cooperation is the elaboration of a joint study that shall 

assess the current situation in the market of railway cargo transport between the Czech 

Republic and the Netherlands and evaluate the market potential of further development; 

moreover, it identifies barriers of market development and shall propose specific measures in 

order to improve market conditions. A characteristic trend of recent years that projects itself in 

the purpose of the study itself is the continuously rising amount of exchanged goods between 

the Far East and Europe. Thus transport volumes between ports (in the case of Netherlands, 

Rotterdam in particular) and the European inland increase as well. 

Part of the EU transport policy for railway cargo transport is the increase in overall quality, 

efficiency and capacity of railway cargo transport in order to increase its overall competitive 

advantage in face of other transport kinds. 

Railway companies and organizations, forwarders dealing with intermodal transport, operators 

of terminals and railway infrastructure managers relevant to the corridor track (Czech Republic, 

Kingdom of the Netherlands, Federal Republic of Germany) were contacted during the 

elaboration of the study. 

The study largely concentrates on the organizational measures rather than investment in 

railway infrastructure with regard to the idea of Trans-European railway cargo corridors (Trans- 

European Rail Freight Freeways). 

Although the Ministry of Transport of the Federal Republic of Germany has not been a direct 

participant in the given study, eventual barriers are being observed within the study and 

recommendations for their elimination or removal proposed in order to ensure trouble free 

operation of the considered railway corridor between the Czech Republic and the Kingdom of 

the Netherlands. 

The overall project does include 4 Chapters: 

• Chapter 1: Current situation on the market and it’s potential for further development 

• Chapter 2: Identification of barriers to further development 

• Chapter 3: Selection of the path and terminals 

• Chapter 4: Proposal of an action plan for the next 5 years with specific measures to improve 

the conditions on the rail freight market 

Current situation on the market and it’s potential for further development 

This chapter, by using statistical data, illustrates the evolution of cargo transportation between 

the Netherlands and the Czech Republic in recent years and also presents the forecasts of its 

future development. The amount of transported goods in the year 2020 is expected to reach 

twice the amount compared to the year 2005. Moreover, the chapter offers an overview of 

companies taking part in these transport tasks. 

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Currently the position of rail transport is especially strong in the transit traffic market (e.g. the 

container transport services to/from the port of Rotterdam). Between 2005 and 2020 the share 

of transit traffic will increase and also the direct trade between The Netherlands and Czech 

Republic. The growing transit traffic provides opportunities for expansion of the railway services 

(especially carriers haulage) and market share based on the current systems and services in 

places that are based on carriers haulage (Maersk, NYK lines, Hyundai). 

Also the direct trade flows between NL and CZ show a big potential increase. On this 

continental transport road haulage is the dominant mode. A shift to rail would therefore require 

new types of rail services such as trailers on train systems with a high speed and frequency in 

order to provide a good alternative for road haulage. 

Already a conservative estimation of the rail volumes in 2020 show an increase of 75% 

compared to the volumes in the year 2005. This conservative doesn’t take into account the 

changing market conditions that are in favour of rail transport and tend towards more intermodal 

rail based transports. 

We expect that the railway liberalization and further improvement on the cross acceptance and 

railway interoperability will result in more attractive and more effective rail services that will be 

suitable for shippers and other decision makers on the transport mode. Therefore one can 

easily assume that the volume could also increase with 100% or more if trailer on train systems 

can be put into place. 

Regarding the costs of transport, currently there is a clear cost advantage of rail transport 

compared to road haulage. The advantage is between 10 – 40% compared to road haulage, 

depending on the situation. Also it is expected that the gap between costs between road and rail 

will become larger in the near future. Moreover, especially during the weekends rail transport is 

competitive because of the driving bans. 

As a result not only in the transit cargo segment via Seaport Rotterdam there are opportunities 

but also for the segment of the continental cargo between The Netherlands and Czech 

Republic. For example by means of further integration of maritime flows and continental cargo 

this can be realized. Also dedicated shuttle services for continental cargo could be interesting, 

for example services based on semi-trailers or swap bodies as the main load unit. 

Therefore, the final conclusion is that the position of rail transport is currently already rather 

strong when looking at the modal split figures. However, these rail flows are based on maritime 

flows. Since the framework conditions are becoming more favourable for rail and as a result the 

consultant does expect a further increase of market share for rail transport in the future, 

especially in the continental cargo market. 

Identification of barriers to further development 

The objective of this chapter is to investigate the current status from the point of view of road 

and in particular railway transport with the aim of identifying barriers that have a negative 

impact on the function of the transportation market, especially in relation to the continuously 

growing amount of transported goods within the NL – CZ corridor. Barriers can be of different 

kinds – administrative, technical, insufficient capacity and other. 

In its introduction the chapter points to main documents issued by the European Union related 

to the transport policy in general as well as the railways, it quotes the main principles of 

transport policy of the Netherlands, Germany and the Czech Republic. It presents main 

international treaties and documents that regulate traffic on railways and characterizes main 


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programs currently in progress within the EU or UIC frameworks - for instance Euro SIWAL, 

TEMA, TREND, RETRACK or New OPERA. 

Chapter 2 also describes the environment in which railway transport is conducted in individual 

countries - the role and competencies of transport ministries, infrastructure managers, railway 

authorities and main railway transport operators. 

Furthermore, barriers to further development are analyzed in more detail in chapter 2. These 

barriers are of various significance; apart from substantial problems, conditions of marginal 

importance are presented as well. An overview of more frequently mentioned barriers has been 

put together which then serves as a basis for the elaboration of the Action Plan (chapter 4). 

From the point of view of the Czech Republic, the fact that there is an insufficient number of 

container transship points with public access is mainly referred to. With an exception of the 

Lovosice CD-DUSS terminal, terminals are operated by companies that are concurrently 

operators of combined transport. They use terminal capacities by their transport and they are 

not interested in the entry of competing operators in their transship points. 

Another, very often mentioned problem is the engines' ability to transit to territories of other 

states. That is an important aspect, since it is presumed - and the practice confirms it - that 

competitive environment in the area of traction power supply helps improve the railway share in 

transports. The transit ability of foreign operator trains to Czech railways is limited due to the 

possibility of affecting the proper function of track circuits. Achievement of a so-called 

electromagnetic compatibility is thus the basic prerequisite for mutual acceptance of engines. 

Insufficient capacity of the corridor concerns all participating countries; however, specific areas 

or segments are concerned; projects for elimination of these bottlenecks shall be implemented 

gradually. 

Selection of the path and terminals 

This chapter more closely describes the main transport routes of the NL – CZ axis; it also 

compares the main railway and road routes in light of distances and costs and details the 

existing terminals of combined transport. 

Recommendation of the choice of particular lines results from geographical location of terminals 

in face of frontier crossings. Furthermore orientation times of transportation, length of lines, 

infrastructure fee and section of congestion were considered for comparing of particular lines. 

In term of road transportation we recommend utilization of main line Rotterdam – Hannover – 

Dresden – Praha. Total length of line is 935 km, time of transportation was estimated on 

average about 15 hours. 

For railway transportation we recommend utilization of main line Rotterdam – Betuweroute – 

Bad Bentheim – Hannover – Dresden – Praha. Total length of line is 976 km, time of 

transportation was estimated on average about 24 hours plus time for technology operations. 

For transit across the Czech republic we recommend freight corridor Břeclav – Brno – Havlíčkův 

Brod – Kolín – Mělník – Děčín. 

Proposal of an action plan 

The goal of the Action Plan for the Corridor The Netherlands-Czech Republic is to increase the 

overall quality, efficiency and capacity of the rail freight transport and the competitiveness of the 

international rail freight transport on the corridor. These aspects can increase rail cargo 

transport considerably. This goes along with the EU policy for rail freight transport and will be 

beneficial to the economy in both countries in general. 

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The Action Plan is focused on actions which refer to public bodies, e.g.: ministries of transport 

(MoT), infrastructure managers, railway inspectorates and regulatory bodies. This Action Plan 

will focus on safety certification (especially important for new entrants to the market), railway 

infrastructure management (especially important for path allocation) and market regulation 

(equal competition). 

Summarizing proposed actions: 

• examination of permanent capacity limitations due to the infrastructure, 

• analysis of bottlenecks with respect to the increase in passenger transport volume (lack of 

traffic carrying capacity for freight traffic, examination of the requirements for further tracks 

and, possibly, the confirmation of reserve routes), 

• examination of the possibilities for simpler approval of locomotives for cross-border traffic – 

it concerns not only the activity of the individual railway authorities, but also the particular 

agreement assembled by ČD and DB for each border crossing, which mentions individual 

engines allowed to travel on the territory of the other state. 

• examination of the need for unification of the compatibility of traction, communication and 

interlocking equipment with CZ and NL. 

• examination of the possibility of providing access to information on the actual state of 

railway infrastructure in English language (information on traffic closures, etc.), 

• examination of the possibility of early informing, or possibly suitable re-routing of 

consignments in a case of extraordinary limitations on the route, 

• on-line monitoring of consignments (trains) on the territory of the individual states. 

Conclusion: 

The corridor the Netherlands – Czech Republic is developing steadily over the years and this 

growth will continue and benefiting both the Netherlands and Czech Republic. Growth will 

especially benefit: 

• increase transport flows; especially to Prague region, 

• the Rotterdam port can utilize its rail capacity better, 

• the modal split will favor rail, 

• the position of the Czech Republic as Distribution Centre would increase, 

• the Prague Hub can increase its position as transfer port to Eastern Europe. 

However this growth is hindered by following items: 

Terminals 

Terminal handling and capacity is an important issue: capacity in both countries is lacking, but 

actions are already planned. On Dutch side a basic problem is punctuality: only 50% departures 

in time. On Czech side only some terminals are accessible to all operators, unfortunately these 

terminals are decentrally located. 

International corridor 

The Czech Republic and the Netherlands have both problems with the accessibility of their 

'main hub (Prague) and port (Rotterdam). Having a rail corridor without barriers would lead to a 

100% international corridor on the European map from the North Sea ports to the Pragueregion. 

Harmonization of technical requirements 

On Dutch side an improvement could be to allow German licensed train driver (among them 

Czechs) access over Betuwe line without administrative constraints and Dutch license. 

Installation of ETCS level 2 will benefit to cross acceptance of locomotives; replacement of old 

track circuits for new ones in the Czech Republic will be another important step on this field. 

Important programs are Europtirails, EICIS, Pathfinder and OSS. 


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In most cases are proposed actions applied already in connection with national priorities in 

railway network modernization and application of equal acces to network within the frame of 

Single European Market. Number of actions is dependent directly on coffers allocation and it is 

very difficult to place them in time schedule of their full application (actions take effect only 

when finished). 

Seeing that the Action plan is designed for the period of five years, it is possible to claim, that 

mentioned actions will be implemented (or if you like will be initiated) in this time and their 

impact will even be above the frame of monitored time period. 

Implementing the Action Plan will develop a framework in which the rail corridor the Netherlands 

– Czech Republic can flourish optimal. 

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11


1 Current situation on the market and it´s potential for 

further development 

1.1 Introduction 

In this Chapter the knowledge base has been developed on the characteristics of the market 

and in particular the rail freight connections between The Netherlands and the Czech Republic. 

In this Chapter an overview was made on the current situation and also the trends and 

developments to make a picture of the situation we can expect in the future. This report 

presents the current situation and the forecast for 2020. For this report data was collected from 

various sources. Also interviews with market parties have been done to validate the information 

and to get a good view on the actual situation. 

For the year 2005 the freight volumes have been composed out of various sources (Dutch and 

Czech statistical offices, market parties, etc.). 

This report will address the following subjects: 

• Specification of freight flows in 2005 and forecast of 2020 

• Actual transport services and transports in the current situation and activie companies on 

the market 

• Information on costs and tariffs 

• Analyses of segments and position of rail in the future 

In this report each subject is addressed in a separate chapter. 


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1.2 Specification of freight flows 

An analyses was carried out about the freight flows for the base year. The base year is 2005, 

since for this year all statistics are available that present the figures on the actual transports. 

However, some differences and gaps appeared when comparing the statistics from different 

sources (Dutch statistical offices, Czech statistics, Eurostat, transport databases). Especially 

the issue of transit traffic is sometimes not very accurate. Transit traffic concerns traffic that is 

crossing one or both countries: The Netherlands and/or Czech Republic. A clear example of 

transit traffic for this corridor is transport between UK and Slovakia, which route could cross 

both The Netherlands and Czech Republic. 

On the other side, the statistics on direct trade (and transport) between NL and CZ are rather 

accurate. Therefore the bilateral trade & transport statistics in the analyses have been 

separated from the transit traffic. 

Moreover, NEA and SUDOP have made a consistent database by means of combining of 

sources and also through validation with market parties. Especially the validation were carried 

out with respect to the transit traffic, e.g. the flows via port of Rotterdam to/from other 

continents (USA, China, etc.). 

13

1.2.1 Historic data 


The following diagram presents the development of transport flows between 2000 and 2006. 

1,400 

1,200 

1,000 

800 

600 

400 

200 

0 

All type of transport - Total 

2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 

Import from NL to CZ (total) 

Export from CZ to NL (total) 

Figure 1.1 - Total freight volume 2000 – 2006 in 1000 tons 

Source: SUDOP, MDČR Transport yearbook 

One can see that the import and export flows are growing and are also rather in balance. 


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The following figure presents the figures for rail transports. 

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800 

700 

600 

500 

400 

300 

200 

100 

0 

2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 

Import from NL to CZ (rail) 

Export from CZ to NL (rail) 

Figure 1.2 - Rail transport NL – CZ in 1000 tons 

Source: SUDOP, MDCR Transport yearbook 

One can observe that the volume transported by rail between The Netherlands and Czech 

Republic has been growing since the year 2000. There have been more and more shuttle 

services during these years between Rotterdam and Prague running on carriers haulage 

(maritime containers). 

However, the growth tends to stabilise the last years (2005 – 2007) based on interviews and 

confidential figures from dominant rail operators. Also one can see that the export from CZ to 

NL declined in 2006 compared to 2005, which resulted in an overall decline of volumes 

transported by rail in 2006 compared to 2005. 

Regarding the year 2007 the rail operators also indicate a stable situation or even a decline in 

the maritime cargo flows to Czech Republic. Therefore we can conclude that the biggest growth 

has been in the period 2002 – 2005. 

1.2.2 Specification Year 2005 

The following table and figure presents the total volumes for the year 2005 for the transports 

between The Netherlands and Czech Republic. 

15


The next figure shows the imbalance between the transport flow NL-CZ and visa versa; the 

Dutch Czech flow is much bigger. Moreover the importance of the port of Rotterdam becomes 

clear looking at the transit transport flow. Especially from Czech Republic the direct and transit 

flow are nearly equal. 

Kilotons 

1,800 

1,600 

1,400 

1,200 

1,000 

800 

600 

400 

200 

- 

Direct trade CZ-NL Transit Total 

NL -> CZ CZ -> NL 

Figure 1.3 - Specification freight flows between NL and CZ 

Source: NEAC & Worldnet & others 

The modal split is presented in the next figure. The modal split is unequally divided between 

Netherlands and Czech Republic. From the Netherlands road is dominant, whereas from the 

Czech side rail is the dominant transport mode. But overall road and rail are nearly balanced. 


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Ktons 

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1,600 

1,400 

1,200 

1,000 

800 

600 

400 

200 

- 

Figure 1.4 - Modal split 2005 

NL -> CZ CZ -> NL both directions 

Source: Czech Ministry of Transport, NEA & SUDOP 

Road Rail 

It can be observed that already in the current situation the railways have a high market share, 

especially on the traffic from Czech Republic to The Netherlands. 

Also analyses were made on the importance of regions. The following maps present the 

regional detail that was taken into account. 

Zeeland 

7% 

N-Brabant 

11% 

Zuid-Holland 

46% 

Limburg 

4% 

Friesland 

0% Drenthe 

1% 

Overijssel 

2% 

Gelderland 

8% 

Picture 1.1 - Regional detail Netherlands Figure 1.5 - Importance of regions in The Netherlands 

Source: NEAC - NEA & SUDOP (constructed data for year 2005) 

Groningen 

8% 

Flevoland 

1% 

Utrecht 

4% 

Noord-Holland 

8% 

17


The figure 6 presents the regional importance. It can be observed that the region of the 

Provincie Zuid-Holland, which includes the port of Rotterdam, is the most important region for 

traffic to/from the Czech Republic, with a share of 46%. 

Stredni Morava 

18% 

Moravskoslezsko 

13% 


Jihovychod 

11% 

Praha 

9% 

Severovychod 

31% 

Stredni Cechy 

14% 

Jihozapad 

4% 

Severozapad 

0% 

Picture 1.2 - Regional detail Czech Republic Figure 1.6 - Importance of regions Czech Republic 

Source: NEAC - NEA & SUDOP (constructred data for year 2005) 

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1.2.3 Forecast freight flows 2020 

1.2.3.1 1. Trade model methodology 

The country-to-country trade forecasts are based on an agent-based simulation model that 

forecasts global trade in dollars between country pairs, and a trend model that determines the 

flow in tonnes, disaggregated into several commodity groups. The methodology behind both 

models will now be described. 

Global trade model 

Global trade flows in dollars are difficult to forecast. There are many macro-economic models 

that attempt to predict the state of the economy in future years, but they are often very data 

intensive and focus more on the equilibrium state rather than the economy’s path towards this 

equilibrium. The trade model developed by NEA attempts to be more practical and dynamic, 

requiring only historical trade data and variables such as GDP and population to obtain 

reasonable forecasts for countries’ total imports and exports. 

Input data (historical value of trade between country pairs) is gathered from the EU Comext and 

the UN Comtrade trade databases. There can be multiple sources for a specific trade flow 

(reported as imports and/or exports, from two different databases). If that is the case, these 

time series are consolidated into one, using a smoothing algorithm. The algorithm removes 

outliers, fills in gaps, and limits annual growth, so that one definite time series is obtained. 

When that is done for all different country pairs, the base origin-destination matrices can be 

constructed. Presently, the last “known” year is 2006, with trade data going back to 1995. 

The global trade model is an agent-based simulation model. This means that countries are 

modelled as autonomous individuals, existing as separate entities within the system. They each 

have their own variables and behaviour. The model simulates one year at a time, starting at the 

base year (2006) with the capability of continuing indefinitely. 

The import and export forecasts are initially produced on a national level (without interaction 

between countries), taking into account the size of the economy and historical trends in the 

country’s trade. Additionally, trade growth is subject to various constraints such as a limited 

trade deficit. After the new import and export levels are determined for each country in the 

system, the agents interact with each other to restore balance (else exports might grow faster 

than imports, or the other way around). 

The model places more emphasis on historical quantitative data analysis as opposed to 

qualitative analysis. Although qualitative information about countries’ economies can be taken 

into account (for example, by using predetermined import and/or export growth rates) this is 

generally not done. The effect this would have on the model as a whole is usually quite 

insignificant, especially in the long run. 

Trend model 

The output of the global trade model (financial trade flows) is used to constrain the 

disaggregated trade flows in tonnes between country pairs. The commodity grouping used is 

the three-digit NST/R coding. Trade flows are already grouped accordingly in the EU Comext 

and UN Comtrade trade databases. Similar to the total trade flows that are used as input for 

19


the global trade model, the disaggregated trade flows (in both tonnes and values) are taken 

from the databases, and the smoothing algorithm is applied to the resulting time series where 

needed. 

Initial tonne forecasts are made by simply extending the series into the future, letting the shortterm 

trend converge to the long-term trend. A monetary value is attached to these figures by 

using historical value-per-tonne rates. Then, the values for each commodity group are added up 

and compared to the output of the global trade model. Finally, the tonne forecasts are adjusted 

up or down based on the discrepancy between the two values. 

1.2.3.2 2. Explanation of Trade Patterns Between the Netherlands and the 


Historical trade data analysis from EU Comext and UN Comtrade shows the overall pattern of 

growth in trade between the Czech Republic and the Netherlands. Total tonnages are 

increasing Southbound at a long term average of 8 per cent per year, accelerating in recent 

years to above 10% per annum. Northbound (CZ to NL) the trend is flatter, but the market is 

growing. 

Annual Tonnes 

1,000,000 

750,000 

500,000 

250,000 

0 

Trade Between NL and CZ, 1995-2006 

1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 

Czech to NL NL to Czech 

Figure 1.7 - Direct trade between NL and CZ (no transit flows) 

Source: NEA, Worldnet forecasting model 

The main trade categories tend to be intermediate manufactures such as metals, chemicals and 

basic foodstuffs, i.e. inputs for manufacturing industries. 


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Annual Tonnes 

2,500,000 

2,000,000 

1,500,000 

1,000,000 

500,000 

0 

1996 

Forecast Trade Between NL and CZ, 1995-2020 

1998 

2000 

2002 

2004 

2006 

2008 

2010 

2012 

2014 

2016 


Figure 1.8 - Forecast of direct trade between NL and CZ 


The forecast projects the historical growth rates, adjusted for the financial constaints, with 

Soothbound traffic rising to approximately 2 million tonnes per annum, and Northbound traffic 

rising to around 650,000 tonnes, and then flattening out between 2015 and 2020. 

Part of the reason for the lack of growth between 2015 and 2020 is the assumption made in the 

model about the changes in value per tonne. Historically, this has risen sharply in dollar terms, 

partly due to the weakness of the dollar, and partly due to the product mix. The Czech Republic 

is manufacturing higher value goods than ten years ago. While the product mix effect might be 

expected to continue, the currency effect is less certain. 

Therefore, if the value per tonne stabilises between 2010 and 2020, in the Northbound direction, 

there are likely to be higher tonnages. It is estimated that under these circumstances Czech 

exports to the Netherlands would increase to approximately 1 milion tonnes in 2020. The 

adjustment is shown below. 

2018 

2020 

21

Annual Tonnes 

2,500,000 

2,000,000 

1,500,000 

1,000,000 

500,000 

0 

1996 

Forecast Trade Between NL and CZ, 1995-2020 

1998 

2000 

2002 

2004 

2006 



2008 

2010 

2012 

2014 

2016 


Figure 1.9 - Forecast direct trade between NL and CZ with adjustment for value 

per ton 


Also most recent data from the statistical office in Czech Republic (CZSO) showed a further 

increase of trade flows between The Netherlands and Czech Republic for the year 2007 

compared to previous years. The following figure presents the development of the trade flow 

from Czech Republic to The Netherlands. 

2018 

2020 

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Ktons 

800 

700 

600 

500 

400 

300 

200 

100 

0 

Direct trade from CZ to NL according to CZSO 

2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 

Figure 1.10 – Direct trade from Czech Republic to The Netherlands 

Source: SUDOP based on CZSO 

Altough these data from CZSO can’t be cross-checked and validated yet with data from Dutch 

or European statistical offices, this could indicate that the trend for the growth as presented by 

the model could be too low. According to the most recent data from CSZO (published March 

200*) the volume of trade from CZ to NL was over 700 K tons already. Moreover, there is the 

uncertainty in the period after 2015 as presented in figure 2.11. 

As result we deviate from the model output and we assume that in 2020 the direct export from 

Czech Republic to The Netherlands will be 1,000,000 tons per year. 

Besides the direct trade between The Netherlands and the Czech Republic the development of 

transit flows is quite important. For example these are the flows between other parts of Europe 

or the world (e.g. UK, China, India, USA, South-America) and Czech republic which are 

imported or exported via The Netherlands (e.g. the port of Rotterdam). 

The following figure presents the expectation of the growth of the transit flows for the route 

Netherlands – Czech Republic. 

23

Growth factor (1995 = 1) 

5.0 

4.5 

4.0 

3.5 

3.0 

2.5 

2.0 

1.5 

1.0 

0.5 

- 

Expected growth of transit flows 

1995 

1996 

1997 

1998 

1999 

2000 

2001 

2002 

2003 

2004 

2005 

2006 

2007 

Figure 1.11 - Growth of transit flows 

Source: NEA, Worldnet model 



2008 

year 

2009 

2010 

2011 

2012 

2013 

2014 

2015 

2016 

2017 

2018 

2019 

2020 

It can be seen that the transit flows are expected to increase further. During 1995 and 2005 the 

volumes already were doubled. Between 2005 and 2020 it is expected that the volumes will also 

double. 

While combining the expectations for the transit flows and the direct trade between The 

Netherlands and Czech Republic it is possible to make the forecast towards the year 2020. 

The following figure presents the freight flow forecast for the year 2020. Again the transport flow 

from the Netherlands increases more than the Czech – Netherlands transport flow. In 2020 it is 

doubled. 

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6,000 

5,000 

4,000 

3,000 

2,000 

1,000 

- 

NL -> CZ CZ -> NL both directions 

Figure 1.12 – Comparsion year 2005 and 2020 

Source: NEAC & Worldnet & others 

2005 2020 

One can observe in the next table that both the direct trade and also the transit flows show high 

growth rates. Especially the transit traffic is suitable for rail transport since in many cases the 

port of Rotterdam will be a vital link in the supply chains and transhipment is needed. 

The following table presents the forecasted modal split for 2020 based on the current market 

shares of rail transport in transit traffic and direct traffic between NL and CZ. It can be observed 

that the direct trade from CZ to NL decreases compared to 2005. This trade will be replaced by 

trade to other countries, especially those countries outside the EU. 

Direction (from – to) Road Rail Other / unknown 

NL -> CZ 2,236 1,108 70 

CZ -> NL 774 956 26 

both directions 3,010 2,064 96 

Table 1.1 - Modal split forecast 2020 

Source: NEA 

25


In the rail transport there seems to be a good balance in the volumes in both directions which is 

important for the competitive position. 

Direction (from – to) Road Rail Development modal 

share of Rail 

in percent points 

2005 - 2020 

NL -> CZ 66% 32% -3% 

CZ -> NL 44% 54% -4% 

both directions 58% 40% -4% 

Table 1.2 - Modal split forecast 2020 (relative shares) 

Source: NEA 

It can be observed that the forecast assumes that the share of rail changes slightly; on the 

direction from NL to CZ there is a change from 35% in 2005 to 32% in 2020 in the market share 

of rail. In the other direction also the share decreases with 4% from 58% in 2005 to 54% in 

2020. 

The following table shows the differences in the rail volumes between 2005 and 2020. 

2005 2020 Difference 

NL -> CZ 578 1,108 530 

CZ -> NL 581 956 375 

both directions 1,160 2,064 904 

Table 1.3 - Rail volumes 2005 and 2020 (*1,000 tons) 

Source: NEA 

The potential based on current market volume of rail in transit traffic is already an increase of 

78% compared to the situation in 2005. 

However, we already know that the market share of 2005 is an under estimate if we also apply 

this on 2020, because of changing market conditions which are in favour of rail transport. 

For example the railways will become faster and more competitive due to liberalisation and 

increasing interoperability. On the other side road haulage is becoming more and more difficult 

(e.g. congestion, shortage of drivers, external costs etc.). 

Therefore the figures in the table for rail volumes of 2020 must be seen as conservative 

forecasts for the rail market. It is rather likely that the actual share in 2020 will be higher 

because we expect that rail mode will be more competitive in 2020 compared to the situation in 

2005. Therefore instead of a growth of 78% also an increase of 100% or more could be realistic. 


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1.3 Companies and transport services 

1.3.1 International services 

Currently only container shuttles are going directly from the Netherlands to Czech Republic. The 

only exemption at this moment is the ITL ketelwagon train (stereen) which has a round trip 

every two weeks. Railion transports wagon load using German hubs to compose wagonload 

trains for Czech Republic. 

Following operators are on the market: 

Name operator from to Direct 

European Rail 

Shuttle (ERS) 

Rotterdam RSC 

or RSC & 

Maasvlakte 

Melnik - MIT 

Service 

Kombiverkehr Rotterdam RSC Lovosice - TSC X 

NYK NCO Ceres 

CSKD Intrans 

(customer: 

Hyundai) 

Amsterdam 

Rotterdam RSC Sladkovičovo (SK - 

Via hub in 

Germany 

Number of trains 

per week 

X 10 regular + 3 in 

(Duisburg) 

Lovosice – ČD DUSS X 1 

Intrans terminal) 

CSKD Intrans Rotterdam RSC Prague-Zizkov (Intrans 

Railion (Only 

single wagon load) 

terminal) 

Table 1.4 - Transport service providers by rail between NL and CZ 

Source: NEA & SUDOP 

X 1 

X 3 

X 

case of need 

The market is dominated by the big shipping line operators. Only Kombiverkehr from Germany 

(a subsidiary of Railion) and CSKD Intrans (CZ) do not have these shipping line links. 

In the Netherlands the market can be described as open and competitive, whereas in Czech 

Republic the market is rather closed and CD is quasi monopolist. But, from next companies we 

can mention Viamont, OKD, ODOS, etc. 

3 

27

The following table specifies the providers that provide the traction: 

Name Direct 

European Rail 

Shuttle (ERS) 

Service 

Via hub in 

Germany 

Number of 

trains per 

week 


In NL In Germany In CZ 

X 13 ERS ERS CD 

Kombiverkehr X 5 Railion Railion CD 

Rail4Chem X 1 Rail4Chem Rail4Chem Viamont 

ITL X 4 ITL ITL CD 

ITL (styrene 

transport) 

Railion (Only 

wagon load) 

Table 1.5 - Traction providers 

Source: NEA & SUDOP 

1 every 2 

weeks 

ITL ITL CD 

X Railion Railion CD 

The following table presents the service providers for all cargo (NL – CZ): 

Service provider Specialisation 

Trimodal Europe Group Rail Freight forwarder 

Global Intermodal B.V. Rail Freight forwarder 

Cabooter Railcargo Venlo Rail Freight forwarder 

DHL Rail Freight forwarder 

Optimodal Rail Freight forwarder 

Railco Europe B.V. Rail Freight forwarder 

Schenker / Railog Rail Freight forwarder 

De Rijke Intermodal B.V. Rail Freight forwarder 

Agility logistics Rail Freight forwarder 

Mov’on Logistics Rail Freight forwarder 

IMS intermodal solutions B.V. Rail Freight forwarder 

Table 1.6 - Rail Freight Forwarders 


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Source: NEA & SUDOP / Railcargo Information Centre 

The abovementioned forwarders will use one of the rail operators and traction providers. For 

detailed information on each company named (company profile and address), please see Annex 

1. 

1.3.2 Domestic rail companies in Czech Republic 

In Czech Republic more than 50 railway companies are active. Fourteen of them are serious 

active as a railway freight company (2007). The most important railway companies at the market 

are shown in the next table. 

Name of company 

ČD Cargo a.s. 

Ostravská dopravní společnost a.s. (ODOS) 

OKD, Doprava a. s. 

Slezkomoravská dráha a. s. 

UNIPETROL DOPRAVA a. s. 

Viamont Cargo a. s. 

Table 1.7 - Rail transport companies in Czech Republic 

Source: SUDOP 

The following are the intermodal rail operators in the Czech Republic: 

• Metrans – own terminal in Prague en Želechovice-Lípa, also terminal in Slovakia – Dunajská 

Streda; 

• CSKD-Intrans – own terminals in Prague, Brno (out of order) and Prerov, terminals in Slovakia - 

Bratislava, Žilina, Košice. 

• ERS – own Maersk Intermodal Terminal in Melník; 

• Bohemiakombi – none own terminals 

Source: SUDOP 

For detailed information on each company named (company profile and address) please see 

Annex 1. 

1.4 Information on costs, tariffs, transit-time and punctuality 

1.4.1 Costs and tariffs 

In general freight tariff levels are regarded as confidential. An indication for the market prices 

for containers Rotterdam-Prague is between €400 and €600 per 40 foot container (=2 TEU). 

This tariff depends partly on the season, operator, on type of container and weight. This 

mentioned price is the price per freight forwarder on the market. However, a large share of the 

29


market (the consultant estimate around 90%) is dedicated to the container flows of the owner of 

the operator (Maersk, NYK and Hyundai). 

According to one of our sources a round trip price per train costs around €44.000,-. This sum is 

paid to the traction provider and does not differentiate by the occupancy rate of the train. The 

occupancy rate is the risk of the operator. In general (according to our sources) 66% of the cost 

are covered on the NL-CZ leg and 33% on the CZ-NL leg. 

Of course also the transshipment costs need to be paid and also the pre-/end haulage to the 

client. Depending on the distance to the client or shipper, the additional costs can run up to € 

200. Therefore, a total “door-to-door” price would be between €600 and €800 for a 40 foot 

container. 

For road haulage NEA made use of cost models for international road haulage. 

A trip by road haulage between The Netherlands and the Czech Republic is between €900 and 

€1050, depending on the nationality of the driver. A truck can carry a 40 foot container. 

However, in the next years the costs of road haulage will further increase due to: 

• Introduction of the 48 hour working week 

• Shortage of truck drivers 

• More expensive diesel fuel 

• Further introduction of road pricing systems and higher charges 

This makes clear that the rail transport option has a lower cost price, an advantage of roughly 

between 10% to 40% depending on the situation. Furthermore the expectation is that these cost 

differences will increase, which is in favor of the rail transport. 

1.4.2 Transit-time 

The transport schedules of the most important rail shuttle services are presented in Annex 2. 

They show that the time between the last deliverance and departure of the train is between 6 

and 7 hours. The travel time depends per operator: ERS takes around 20 hours for one leg, 

whereas CSKD Intrans around 30 hours. 

If we take into account also the time needed for loading/unloading at the client, the total cycle 

time would be between 32 and 40 hrs, again depending on the situation. 

The door-to-door time for road haulage operations is about 28 hrs. Therefore the road haulage 

is is most cases faster than rail transports. However, during the weekends, road haulage is not 

possible due to driving bans. Over the weekend rail transport can be competitive or even faster. 

Especially the rail transport services during the weekend are therefore a strong potential 

alternative for road haulage between CZ and NL. 

1.4.3 Punctuality 

There is no general remark to make on train punctuality, especially not on the departure 

punctuality. 

Punctuality depends firstly on the operators policy on punctuality. ECT has two trains leaving 

per day. Punctuality is therefore quite important; missing a train does not have much influence 


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on the container’s journey time. NYK Line has one train per week and can only leave once the 

NYK Line container vessel has arrived in Amsterdam and the containers are put on the train; 

missing this train would mean the container has to wait for another week. An other departure 

punctuality factor is the terminal service. 

Arrival punctuality is for most operators equal. Arrival punctuality depends on: departure 

punctuality, border congestion, infrastructure maintenance, missing train paths, etc. 

Border crossings 

Delays are most often in the areas around the Dutch/German border crossings. 

Congestion 

The infrastructure is full. For example in Germany there were 3000 minor and mayor 

maintenance projects in 2007. Moreover, the rolling stock, drivers and train paths are optimal 

used. All flexibility and reserve capacity is used. Small disturbances lead directly to lost train 

paths and delays in the whole corridor. 

Maintenance 

Most delays are due to track maintenance. Recent extensive construction/maintenance works 

contributed significantly to delays which seriously disrupts round trip continuity 

Delays 

Delays do not only harm the single train load, it directly influences the company results as it is 

impossible to catch up. So the delay not only has consequences for the customers of the 

delayed train, it also means that you miss income of the missing train. However there is a 

conflict of interest between the occupancy of the train and the punctuality. Some operators wait 

for additional cargo and accept a delay. 

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1.5 Analyses of segments and position of rail in the future 

Currently the position of rail transport is especially strong in the transit traffic market (e.g. the 

container transport services to/from the port of Rotterdam). Between 2005 and 2020 the share 

of transit traffic will increase and also the direct trade between The Netherlands and Czech 

Republic. The growing transit traffic provides opportunities for expansion of the railway services 

(especially carriers haulage) and market share based on the current systems and services in 

place which are based on carriers haulage (Maersk, NYK lines, Hyundai). 

Also the direct trade flows between NL and CZ show a big potential increase. On this 

continental transport road haulage is the dominant mode. A shift to rail would therefore require 

new types of rail services such as trailers on train systems with a high speed and frequency in 

order to provide a good alternative for road haulage. 

Already a conservative estimation of the rail volumes in 2020 show an increase of 75% 

compared to the volumes in the year 2005. This conservative doesn’t take into account the 

changing market conditions that are in favour of rail transport and tend towards more intermodal 

rail based transports. 

We expect that the railway liberalization and further improvement on the cross acceptance and 

railway interoperability will result in more attractive and more effective rail services that will be 

suitable for shippers and other decision makers on the transport mode. Therefore on can easily 

assume that the volume could also increase with 100% or more if trailer on train systems can be 

put into place. 

31


Regarding the costs of transport, currently there is a clear cost advantage of rail transport 

compared to road haulage. The advantage is between 10 – 40% compared to road haulage, 

depending on the situation. Also it is expected that the gap between costs between road and rail 

will become larger in the near future. Moreover, especially during the weekends rail transport is 

competitive because of the driving bans. 

As a result not only in the transit cargo segment via Seaport Rotterdam there are opportunities 

but also for the segment of the continental cargo between The Netherlands and Czech 

Republic. For example by means of further integration of maritime flows and continental cargo 

this can be realized. Also dedicated shuttle services for continental cargo could be interesting, 

for example services based on semi-trailers or swap bodies as the main load unit. 

Therefore, the final conclusion is that the position of rail transport is currently already rather 

strong when looking at the modal split figures. However, these rail flows are based on maritime 

flows. Since the framework conditions are becoming more favourable for rail and as a result the 

consultant does expect a further increase of market share for rail transport in the future, 

especially in the continental cargo market. 


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2 Identification of barriers to further development 

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2.1 Transport policy, documents, programmes, trends 

2.1.1 Documents with international relevance 

2.1.1.1 European Community’s transport policy – fundamental documents 

The objective of a European Union (EU) sustainable policy is that our transport systems meet 

society’s economic, social and environmental needs. Effective transportation systems are 

essential to Europe’s prosperity, having significant impact on economic growth, social 

development and the environment. The transport industry accounts around 7% of European 

GDP, around 5% of employment in the EU and for 30% of total energy consumption in EU. 

The fundamental document that defines transport policy of EU is the 2001 White Paper, 

accepted on September 12, 2001 „European transport policy for 2010 – Time to decide“. This 

document substitutes former White Paper published in 1992. Its aim predominantly was an 

opening of transport market. The new White Paper proposes some 60 specific measures aimed 

at revival of railway transport, support of sea and inland water transport and controlled 

development of airborne transport. 

The White Paper perceives rail transport as a sustainable mode of transport despite the fact 

that terminals, through which goods are routed to their final destinations or in which trains are 

made up again constitute major bottlenecks. In freight terminals open to all operators, public 

incentive investment in marshalling yards and transhipment equipment can play an important 

role in increasing capacity, particularly in intermodal terminals. This is interesting from the point 

of this study as well. 

The so called first railway package aims to define the general framework for the Trans 

European Rail Freight Network (TERFN) in total length over 50.000 km, open up international 

rail freight services to competition within the TERFN, introduce a detailed and transparent 

framework for infrastructure capacity allocation, infrastructure charging and safety certifications 

and require a regulatory body for licensing of railway undertakings to be set up in each Member 

State. This package was endorsed by European Parliament in January 2001. 

On January 23, 2002 European Commission accepted new body of measures, the so- called 

second railway package. It aims to speed up the process of regulated opening up of 

international goods transport and extend it to national goods transport operations (cabotage). In 

addition it improves safety and allows greater interoperability, as a result of a number of specific 

directives and the setting up the European Agency for Rail Safety and Interoperability. These 

new proposals set out: 

• to develop a common approach to rail safety with the objective of gradually integrating the 

national safety systems; 

• to bolster the measures of interoperability in order to operate transfrontier services and cut 

costs on the high-speed network; 

• to set up an effective steering body - the European Railway Agency - responsible for safety 

and interoperability; 

• to extend and speed up opening of the rail freight market in order to open up the national 

freight markets; 

• to join the Intergovernmental Organisation for International Carriage by Rail (OTIF). 

33


A mid-term review of White Paper was carried out in 2005/2006 by European transport 

commission under presidency of Mr. Jacques Barrot. Compared to 2001 new circumstances 

have happened that largely influence former considerations. E.g. other countries became EU 

members the EU has all-continental character and new important transport corridors lie inside 

EU, including inland water transport (Rhine – Danube). White Paper envisaged an average 

economic growth at 3,0% per year, but reality was only 1,8% in 2000-2005. Now forecast till 

2020 is 2,1% and freight transport should be growing roughly at the same rate. Proposed 

measures was put into practise unequally and consequences are: 

• Unequal growth in the different modes of transport. While this reflects the fact that some 

modes have adopted better to the needs of a modern economy, it is also a sign that not all 

external costs have been included in the price of transport and certain social and safety 

regulations have not been respected, notably in road transport. Consequently, road now 

makes up 44% of the goods transport compared with 41% for short sea shipping, 8% rail 

and 4% for inland waterways; 

• Congestion on the main road and rail routes, in cities and at certain airports; 

• Harmful effects on the environment and public health, and of course the heavy toll of road 

accidents. 

Next economic growth with enlargement of EU can deepen these negative trends. Findings and 

conclusion of the review are published in „Keep Europe moving – Sustainable mobility for our 

continent“. 

In road transport further next increase of volume of transported goods is expected. Much of this 

growth is due to international haulage. Forecasts for 2010 point to a 50% increase in freight 

transport alone unless action is taken to counter the trend. Road transport is viewed as reliable, 

customer-oriented and with competitive prices. The greatest competitive advantage of road 

transport is its capacity to carry goods all over the European Union, and indeed the entire 

continent, with unequalled flexibility and at a low price. And, especially in short distances, let´s 

admit that there is no efficient alternative transport mode. But this capacity has been built up in 

highly paradoxical circumstances that are described in detail in the document. On the other 

hand, some smaller road-haulers are hardly surviving, congestions are more frequent and 

bigger and road traffic alone accounts for 84% CO2 emissions attributable to transport. Various 

forms of protectionism can be identified on national levels but on international level the market 

is liberalised. Cabotage accounts to 1,2% of all volume and it will be open for new Member 

States in 2009, al the latest 

A large number of proposals are designed, in particular: 

• to reorganise working time of drivers, establishing an average working week of 48 hours and 

a maximum of 60 hours and to harmonise weekend bans on lorries; i.e. to align the national 

rules in this area; 

• to encourage systematic exchanges of information and to promote efficient, uniform 

interpretation, implementation and monitoring of Community road transport legislation; 

• to increase the number of checks which Member States are required to carry out with aim to 

increase safety on the roads and to decrease a death toll by 50%; 

• to harmonise a fuel tax for commercial road users in order to reduce distortion of 

competition on the liberalised road transport market. 

In railway transport the co called third railway package was approved in September 2007 and 

includes: 

• a directive on train driver licensing; 

• a directive on liberalisation of international rail passenger services; and 


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• a regulation on international rail passengers´ rights and obligations. 

The objective is to shift the balance between modes of transport by means of a pro-active policy 

to promote intermodality and transport by rail, sea and inland waterway. In this connection, one 

of the major initiatives is the Marco Polo Community support programme to replace the current 

PACT (Pilot Action for Combined Transport) programme. The balance between modes of 

transport must cope with the fact that there is no close connection between sea, inland 

waterways and rail. 

Bottlenecks and trans-European networks: the main objective is improving parameters and to 

eliminate bottlenecks in main freight corridors defined by TEN agreements. A few of the priority 

projects: 

• completing the Alpine routes on grounds of safety and capacity; 

• completing the Barcelona-Perpignan rail link; 

• project for construction of high-speed line Stuttgart – Munich - Salzburg/Linz - Vienna that 

will be used for combined transport, too; 

• use of Galileo project for transmitting data that can be used in transport sector; 

• improving tunnel safety by having specific safety standards for both railway and road 

tunnels. 

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2.1.1.2 Fundamental documents, programmes involving railway transport 

The principal aim of the Intergovernmental Organisation for International Carriage by Rail 

(OTIF) is to establish a uniform system of law applicable to the carriage of passengers and 

goods in international through traffic by rail between Member States, and to facilitate the 

application and development of this system. This system may, in addition to rail transport, also 

be applied to international through traffic by road, maritime transport and on inland waterways. 

In 1999 the new COTIF Convention was approved by OTIF and entered into force on July 1, 

2006 when two thirds of OTIF Member States approved it. All changes and revisions of 

Convention COTIF are made with accordance to EU legislation. Full version of Convention 

COTIF with all appendixes is available at www.otif.org. 

Convention COTIF has following appendixes: 

• Contract for International Carriage of Passengers CIV – appendix A; 

• Contract for International Carriage of Goods CIM – appendix B; 

• Carriage of Dangerous Goods RID – appendix C; 

• Contract of Use of Vehicles CUV – appendix D; 

• Contract of Use of the Infrastructure CUI – appendix E; 

• Validation of Technical Standards and Adoption of Uniform Technical Prescriptions APTU – 

appendix F; 

• Technical Admission of Railway Material ATMF – appendix G. 

While EU conceives and puts into practice visions and trends of further development of 

transport sector including railways and Convention COTIF sets rules in international carriage of 

both passengers and goods, activities of UIC are essential on field of technical cooperation. The 

International Union of Railways (UIC) is the world-wide organisation for international 

cooperation among railways and promotion of the rail transport mode. It was founded in 1922. 

Its initial purpose was standardisation and improvement of conditions for railway construction 

and operations, especially in view of international traffic. 

In 2005 a “New UIC” has been designed in order to cope with a series of new challenges, in 

particular railway liberalisation, increasing competition from other modes, the growing economic 

35


constraints on railways together with the challenge of globalisation of the transport market, 

which creates new opportunities for railways. 

The UIC mission in 2006 consists in promoting Rail transport at World level in order to meet 

challenges of Mobility and Sustainable Development. 

UIC´s key tasks are: technical cooperation, rail system coherence, interoperability. There are 

many projects under way in UIC, with respect to the topic of this study only those projects are 

mentioned, which pertain to freight and combined transport: 

DIOMIS (Developing infrastructure and operating models) – the project aims to increase 

productivity in freight and combined transport. It means: 

Encouraging new types of cooperation between all stakeholders in combined transport (CT): 

terminal operators, CT operators, shippers, railway undertakings, infrastructure managers, 

national and European authorities; 

• Describing and helping to implement optimal capacity management models at terminal level 

in order to use the available capacity in an optimal manner 

• Describing the benefits of an international approach towards planning and production, and 

lay down the basic principles for a common approach towards improvement of intermodal 

services; 

• Learning to grow Rail Freight traffics on a saturated railway infrastructure 

Standard of loading Rules - Draft European Norm defining a basis for loading safety in rail 

freight transport. Objective is to create a uniform European basis for the protection of freight 

goods on rail vehicles, with the aim of ensuring a common safety standard. To achieve 

unlimited interoperability by defining such a standard. 

Euro SIWAL (European Single Wagon Load Project) – Single Wagon Load is for most members 

of UIC a large but unprofitable business segment. While being currently not competitive with 

road, international SIWAL appears to have market potential and aim is to make use of it. 

Intramodal competition appears to be unlikely because of high costs for duplicating the 

production system of home players. UIC tries to initiate the emergence of a European Single 

Wagon Load System. The project will be supported by individual members (currently 

Stinnes/Railion) and by external consultants. 

TEMA (Terminal Management) – The project contributes to the development of the intermodal 

freight transport and will help to set up a benchmark for best practices in the access, the 

allocation and the cost of freight terminals. As independent studies forecast an expansion of the 

combined traffic on the most European freight corridors in the next years, it is necessary to 

improve the knowledge of the quality of freight terminals (access rules, capacity availability and 

cost. The project aims at analysing and defining an optimised management model for railways / 

intermodal freight terminals with special reference to linkages to major harbours. UIC intends to 

disseminate information on access to terminals and to report on best practices as well. The 

project is of particular interest along the main European corridors, with special linkages to 

harbours. 

The former RIV (Regolamento Internazionale Veicoli) – the General Contract of Use for Wagons 

(GCU) provides to railways and wagon keepers a multilateral contractual framework based on 

the Uniform Rules CUV for the use of the wagons of all wagon keepers in international freight 

traffic. It contains all relevant mutual rights and obligations of railway undertakings and wagon 

keepers regarding the use of wagons taking into account and balancing the different interests of 


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the parties of the contract. In other words – only wagons with RIV label can be used for 

international transport. 

UIRR – International Union of Combined Road-Rail transport companies has 20 members now. 

Among others Hupac NV from the Netherlands, Kombiverkehr a Polzug from Germany and 

Bohemiakombi from Czech Republic. Basic task is to support and to promote combined 

transport. UIRR is a partner in negotiating with EU and other bodies (UIC/CER, CEMT, 

UN/ECEEU etc.). It keeps on developing its own projects and co-operates with UIC to solve 

DIOMIS project. 

Let us mention definition of Combined transport as have been accepted by The European Union 

as well as by the European Conference of Ministers of Transport (ECMT) and the United 

Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UN/ECE): „Intermodal transport where the major 

part of the journey, in Europe, is by rail, inland waterways or sea, and any initial and/or final 

legs carried out by road are as short as possible.” 

There are a number of bilateral agreements beside many international agreements, contracts 

and activities. These agreements typically set detailed rules for cross border operations. Lot of 

tariffs exist how to calculate a price for transportation in dependency on distance, class if 

goods, weight etc. Le us mention, with regard to the topic of the study, DNCWT – 

Germany/Netherlands – Czech Republic tariff. Nevertheless as current practice goes, the 

ultimate majority of consignments are carried for individually arranged prices. 

Project TREND – the abbreviation comes form Towards new Rail freight quality and concepts in 

the European Network in respect to market Demand. The project was funded under 6th 

Framework Programme for Research and Technical Development of the European Commission. 

It has been finished in July 2006. Co-ordinator of TREND is HaCon, German consulting 

company. TREND is interconnecting link between measures that has been taken yet and both 

present and incoming research and studies with main objective to improve a position of railway 

freight transport. TREND gives two main inputs of European transport policy: 

• TREND gathers all information that is necessary to assess a progress in creating European 

rail sector, predominantly from point of view of integration and interoperability. These facts 

are an important source for activities of European Railway Agency. 

• TREND recommends cohesive conception of particular projects and activities. If these 

projects are introduced in coordinated manner within a rational time schedule they can bring 

a significant improvement – esp. as far as quality, efficiency and volume of transport are 

concerned. Another key result is the elaboration of the „Terms of Reference“ for the 

envisaged Integrated Project (IP) „New Concepts for Trans-European Rail Freight Services“ 

and the support of the potential proposers for the IP during the preparation phase. 

Some of TREND goals are adapted and implemented into CREAM project that it focused to help 

in creating of customer-oriented railway services in corridor Netherlands/Belgium – 

Turkey/Greece. 

Another activity that should be mentioned regarding to the aim of this study is RETRACK 

(REorganisation of Transport networks by advanced RAil freight Concepts). It is funded under 

the European Commission (EC) FP6 Programme. The project started in May 2007 and will run 

for four years. The RETRACK project aims to contribute to the Commission’s aspirations of a 

modal shift of freight traffic from road to rail with a market share of 15% by 2020 to achieve 

commercial viability and contribute to sustainable mobility. The main objective of the RETRACK 

project is to develop, demonstrate and implement an innovative and market-tested rail freight 

Final report 

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37


service along an East-West trans-European corridor. This axis will be composed of a backbone 

corridor connecting Rotterdam with the Black Sea seaport Constanza in Romania. 

Subsequently, this business plan is extended to service of the Bratislava-Budapest logistical 

hub located at the new Central European industrial cluster which covers Poland, Czech 

Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, and Austria. The RETRACK rail freight service will connect 

traditional Member States (the Netherlands, Germany, Greece and Scandinavia) with new EU 

Entrants (Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary and Lithuania), the Candidate Countries 

(Romania, Bulgaria and Turkey), with important EU trade partners (Ukraine and Russia), and 

overseas production centers in South-eastern Asia. This will be effectuated by a business 

project offering high-quality of rail intermodal service applying the latest rail transport 

techniques, information and communication technologies, and logistics solutions for safe and 

secure transfer of goods in trans-European corridors. For more see www.retrack.eu. 

Concept of European Freight-Oriented Rail Network is new project of The European 

Community. The aim is to promote the creation of a strong European rail network, which will 

offer a better quality of service in freight transport than today in terms of journey times, 

reliability and a capacity. Improving service throughout this network should have a positive 

impact on all segments of the freight market, including that of the single wagonload. This 

network might be created out of existing trans-European network, including the freight network 

described in Directive 2001/12/EC and the corridors identified and having priority for the 

deployment of ERTMS or defined in the framework od European research projects (Eufranet, 

Trebd, Reorient and New Opera). 

When we talk about initiatives to create or to revitalize European corridors form point of view of 

freight transport, then New OPERA project should be mentioned as well. The name comes from 

New European Wish – Operating Project for a European Rail Freight Network. Project was 

launched on January 1, 2005 and it is supposed to last 3,5 years. New OPERA will study the 

necessary step changes for achieving a long-term scenario 2020 of a core network 

predominantly dedicated to rail freight in total length about 15.000 km. The NEW Opera 

objectives will be assessed through a Scenario Exercise (4 scenarios) and is organised into 6 

main work packages. Proposed length of transport axes in West-East and North/South 

directions are about 2000 km, mainly double-tracked, with maximum speed up to 100 km/h and 

max. gradient 8 ‰. An important parameter is an axle-load that should be up to 30 t and 

possibility of double stacking of containers on wagons. An electric traction is not required; 

a diesel traction is better from the point of interoperability. 

A cross acceptance of rolling stock and especially of locomotives is an issue of big importance. 

Communication of the commission to the council and the European parliament named 

“Facilitating the movement of locomotives across the European Union” describes present 

situation, encountered difficulties and outlines measures how to face this barriers. Task force 

for cross acceptance of rolling stock compiled a Guideline for Cross Acceptance of Rolling 

Stock (draft) that recommends procedures for cross acceptance, identifies difficulties that can 

be encountered and how to overcome them etc. For more on cross acceptance see chapter 

2.6.1. 

2.1.2 Transport in the Netherlands, legislation, trends, aims 

2.1.2.1 State transport policy 

Rail transport is a much-discussed topic in the Netherlands in the last few years. Especially 

because the infrastructure of this modality is used for both passengers and cargo transport. At 


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the moment the number of trains on the “Betuwe” line (the new constructed cargo line from 

Rotterdam to the German border) is increasing week by week after a difficult start up phase. 

The Dutch government encourages the liberalization of railway freight and the development of 

competition between the various operators in the country. It encourages new railway operators 

to enter on the market. The Dutch government aims for a level playing field between all 

transport modes. 

Within this framework the Ministry optimises the conditions for rail cargo. THis involves agreements 

with other countries, to adjust law and regulations, to monitor closely the railway market, to provide 

information and by constructing new railway tracks. The Betuwe Line is the finest example of this 

policy. 

Moreover the Ministry cooperates with the Ministry of Environment to reduce noise produced by cargo 

trains. To learn more on this type of noise the MoT started an innovation programme on this topic. 

The Dutch intentions for the quality of the cargo rail corridors are described in the ‘Rijksbegroting’ 

(National budget). Several projects to increase the capacity are included in the Infrastructure Fund. 

Especially mentioned is the new cargo rail track to Vlissing harbour. Other topics include small 

infrastructure changes which are not included in the Infrastructure Fund, the policy relating public 

terminals. 

An other topic mentioned in the Rijksbegroting deals with the efficiency of rail cargo transport. This 

included the harmonization of technical standards and includes following actions: 

• Implementation of EU regulation and providing input to EU regulation 

• Evaluation the system of access charges 

• Optimalisation international rail corridors, to improve the quality and speed on the corridors 

• providing shortterm sudsidy to assist rail operators in buying and building-in of the ECTS 

safety system in their locomotives 

Finally the Rijksbegroting focuses on the reducing the noice around the railways tracks. The 

efforts are focused on 

• Updating the Law on Noise Nuisance by creating maximum noise levels which should lead 

to simplyfing of the rules, more protection for the civilians and efficient implementation of the 

Law 

• Some tests with the LL-blocks on cargo trains 

• The MoT will sponsor a programme to have railway terminals and shunting yards to meet 

the environmental criteria of the environmental laws. 

The dutch policy document ‘NOTA MOBILITEIT’ especially mentions the rapid elimination of 

maintenance backlogs as priotity for the MoT, 

Underinvestment in recent years has led to management and maintenance backlogs for all 

infrastructure networks. These backlogs must now be tackled. The aim is to minimise costs over the 

entire life. The state is studying whether the maintenance level can vary per location to achieve 

greater cost effectiveness. 

Final report 

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2.1.2.2 Road transport 

The Netherlands has a large road haulage industry. On almost every industrial estate you find a 

(international) road transport company. Though the Dutch government and the European 

Commission stimulate the use of intermodal transport, transport by road is always (partly) 

39


necessary. Especially for transport of unitised cargo, road transport is essential in pre- and end 

haulage, when delivering the cargo on the doorstep of the customer. 

The Dutch government and the Port of Rotterdam pursue a policy to decline the share of 

trucking; the accomplishment of a “modal shift”. 

2.1.2.3 Rail transport 

With new Railway Law the Dutch railway legislation is in line with the requirements of the EU 

railway packages of open access to all transport operators. The Infrastructure management is 

outsourced to a separate company ProRail (100% state owned). ProRail is responsible for the 

development and maintenance of rail network. 

ProRail is only responsible for the capacity of the rail network and the distribution of the 

capacity between freight and travellers. Moreover ProRail is responsible for: Safety, Traffic 

control and Infrastructure Charging. It is up to the State to finance in investments for capacity 

and renewal. 

Beside Railion Nederland there are ten other rail freight operators in The Netherlands with 

different sizes; these new operators have up to 25% market share. 

The competition authority “NMa” has special powers to ensure the correct functioning of the 

market on the basis of the Railway Law. Most important is that the Nma controls the equal track 

access and access charges for all transport operators. 

Following topics are in place to assist competition on the railway transport market: 

network statement; 

• infrastructure charging framework / capacity allocation framework; 

• track access to other railway companies than state railway; 

• organisational separation of infrastructure and operations 

• open access arrangements. 

2.1.3 Transport in Germany, legislation, trends, aims 


Aim of the German governmental transport policy is to encourage its top position for the 

challenges of a globalized market, climate change, demographic change and accelerative 

competition. 

Decrease of detraction for man and nature is first task in the development of traffic 

infrastructure and logistic systems. 

For an integrated traffic policy it is important to connect all common carriers in a way that they 

can point out there potentials. 

Thereto belongs: 

• Optimized traffic routes and a better connection of the common carriers 

• Highly educated personnel and enforcement of humane working conditions 

• Utilization of innovative logistic concepts and new technologies 

• More efficient and gentle use of resources within the transport chain 

• Tapping of capacity reserves in the navy and railway sector 


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Guaranteeing mobility is one of the Federal Government’s central transport policy objectives. 

Due to the complexity of the related tasks, optimisation of transport sector sub-systems is no 

longer sufficient to meet the future challenges facing German transport system. With its 

integrated transport policy concept, the Federal Government is therefore implementing a multidisciplinary 

policy to optimise the overall system. Besides transport infrastructure framing and 

funding, all other transport policy sectors, e.g. price and innovation policy, will also be brought 

together in an overall approach within this. 

An "integrated transport policy" working party was set up to examine the political process 

requirements resulting from the strategic thrust of an integrated transport policy, etc. The 

working party included economic, industrial, political and scientific representatives. 

The working party’s report deals with the following topics, e.g.: 

• Acceptability of an integrated transport system as regards economic, ecological and social 

sustainability, also in terms of the development, reconstruction and maintenance of transport 

infrastructure. 

• Important integration effects resulting from the consolidation of transport infrastructure, 

regional planning, regulatory planning and technology. These particularly include low-traffic 

regional development, reduction of infrastructure requirements and the best possible usage 

of infrastructure capacities. 

• Convergence of political areas such as regional planning and transport, with which 

integration effects can be enhanced, e.g. promotion of settlement development on important 

transport arteries, traffic-reducing settlement and location decisions, greater regional 

orientation, e.g. in the case of production and procurement requiring less traffic. 

• Creation of multi-modal networks and an improved interface infrastructure with which, e.g. 

intermodal transport chains, market placement of intermodal products such as "Rail and Fly" 

and the market establishment of modern logistical services can be created. 

• More efficient capacity utilisation throughout the entire transport infrastructure and the 

related optimisation of traffic flow thanks to integration effects. 

Federal Ministry of Transport, Building and Urban Affairs pays attention to freight transport and 

logistics. Freight transport and logistics are a pre-condition and at the same time a 

"consequence" of economic and social action. They are the backbone of the manufacturing 

industry that is characterized by division of labour. Efficient logistics systems and networks are 

therefore a key factor of success for businesses and business locations in international 

competition. 

As the most significant industrial nation and as a transit country in the centre of an enlarged 

Europe, Germany has to face a special challenge: the efficiency of its transport system must 

continuously be improved in order to strengthen its economy, to back structural changes and to 

promote sustainable development. For this, appropriate, high-performance transport routes, 

networks and hubs are needed that meet both, modal and intermodal needs. 

Final report 

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Germany’s inter-urban road network has a length of more than 231,000 kilometres. Federal 

trunk roads account for about 53,400 kilometres of this network, with motorways making up 

around 12,400 kilometres - of which more than 3.000 kilometres consist of six or more lanes - 

and federal highways making up around 41,000 kilometres. 

The federal trunk roads are of vital and continuously increasing importance for Germany due to 

the country’s location at the heart of Europe. Although they only account for 23 percent of the 

total inter-urban road network, they absorb more than half of the total annual mileage. Germany 

is Europe’s number one transit country. 

41


The federal motorways are the central element of the trunk road network. Despite accounting 

for only 5 percent of all inter-urban roads, almost one third of total mileage is clocked up on the 

motorways. 

If Germany’s trunk roads are to remain modern and of a high capacity, gaps in the network must 

be closed, the existing infrastructure - a valuable public asset - must be maintained in a good 

condition and interlinkages with the other modes must be optimized. 

Highly developed economies need to establish close links between private and public transport 

in order to ensure highly efficient passenger and freight transport operations. 


Deutsche Bahn has been in a reform process over the last 15 years. The discussions on the 

privatization of Deutsche Bahn only recently came to end as DB will be privatised for 25%, with 

the exeption of the infroastructure and stations (DB Netz). 

However, DB AG will be responsible for managing and operating the network and for 

accounting. 

The bill ensures that the Federal Government can meet its constitutional obligation to provide 

public services. On the other hand, it also aims to make DB AG more competitive and to 

preserve its ability to perform accounting for the railway infrastructure companies, thereby ruling 

out any additional debts and risks for the federal budget. 

Within this decision tracks, stations and signal boxes will remain government property. No 

investor will have access to a single metre of rail. The state will take great pains to ensure this. 

But the group is to be partially privatized in an integrated form, with infrastructure and 

operations. This will safeguard jobs. And the Federal Government will always have a majority of 

the shares. 

The implementation of the heavy goods road charge is an important step towards achieving a 

more correct proportioning of the costs of freight traffic related to the originator. The Federal 

Government is advocating a national and European fortification of the railway. Because of the 

positive characteristics of the railway, particularly in respect to environmental and safety 

considerations, it is the aim to shift a major contingent of the additional freight traffic volume 

onto the railway. This requires to maintain and where necessary to extend the German rail 

infrastructure (approx. 34.000 km) to decrease technical obstacles in the European railway 

network (e.g. connection from sea port to hinterland), and to reduce and to guarantee a 

competitive price policy for the track utilization for a foreseeable time. It is also important to 

safeguard the competitiveness of the Railway. 

Inventory of railway undertakings (RU) 

Description of situation as per 29/09/2005 

RUs licensed in Germany for freight operations: 

Thereto: 

• difference between federal and non-federal railways according to Railway Act (Allgemeines 

Eisenbahngesetz, AEG); 

• high number of non-federal Railways (230) in the freight transportation sector 

• not all RUs owning an operating licence do operate freight transportation 


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Final report 

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Federal Railways 

(01.01.2004) 

Non Federal Railways 

(01.01.2004) 

Licenced RU 30 298 

Freight Transportation 19 230 

Passenger Transportation 28 228 

Licenced IM 5 174 

Railways Total 

34 

370 

336 

Table 2.1 - RUs licensed in Germany for freight operations 

The four largest long-distance players in freight operations in Germany are: 

• Railion Deutschland AG (Stinnes-Logistic/Deutsche Bahn Group) 

• TX Logistik AG 

• SBB Cargo GmbH (in co-operation in particular with SBB Cargo AG 

• Rail4chem Eisenbahnverkehrsgesellschaft mbH 

2.1.4 Transport in Czech Republic, legislation, trends, aims 


The Czech government passed Transport policy for 2005-2016 on July 13, 2005. Principles of 

transport policy are more detailed implemented into two documents: Master plan for 

development of transport infrastructure and Strategy for supporting regional transport services. 

Transport policy begins with „starting points“ where is stated, i.e.: „Due to the insufficient 

harmonization of conditions on the transport market, railway and inland waterway transport is 

not capable of full integration into logistic chains, which contributes to a growth in road transport 

and the occurrence of congestion.“ Priorities are as follows: 

• achieving a suitable division of transport jobs by individual transport modes by ensuring 

equal conditions on the transport market; 

• ensuring a quality transport infrastructure; 

• securing financial resources for the transport sector; 

• improving transport safety; 

• supporting transport development in regions. 

In freight transport the document supposes that rail transport will focus primarily on quick 

transport integrated into the logistic process (in connection with public logistics centres), 

ensuring door-to-door services. Road transport should gradually focus on comprehensively 

serving areas and, in case of freight transport, on shorter distance transport, where road 

transport is indispensable. The share of inland waterway transport in transport performance is 

very low. With respect to transport distances, international transport especially via the Elbe 

waterway has a future in the Czech Republic. But navigability problems of the Elbe between 

Pardubice and the state border with Germany in terms of nature and landscape protection 

requirements must be solved. 

Unsatisfactory situation is in logistics. There are about 60 logistic centres connected to more 

transport modes within EU that were built with support of public resources. It is desirable to 

support the formation of an analogical network of logistics centres in Czech Republic. The 

current logistics infrastructure in the Czech Republic is, however, connected especially to the 

motorway and road network. The biggest concentration of these logistic capacities can be found 

primarily in the vicinity of Prague or the D1 and D5 motorways, respectively. All these centres 

43


were established as a result of business activities, they are not a product of any integrated 

approach. Major customers are served by providers of logistics services virtually by road only 

because road transport, in contrast to rail transport, has not yet been fully subject to road 

infrastructure user charging and also because rail transport has not yet been able to adapt 

flexibly to changing transport demands and requirements for providing higher value-added 

transport services. 

A gradual change can be expected in this respect, since: 

• the growing costs of road transport are starting to be reflected in overall logistics costs; 

• the unfinished road and motorway network reduces the capacity of road transport and 

significantly compromises its reliability, the environment and public health, and 

• the rail transport is capable of improving the quality of services. 

Transport policy 2005-2013 proposes measures for achieving given objectives; let us mention 

some of those that have relation with topic of this study: 

• to elaborate concept of public logistics centres (PLC) in freight transport, to prepare drafts 

for creating a legislative framework for the implementation and application of PLC in 

transport, to select a suitable locations for PLC and to support development of PLC through 

direct investments, purpose-specific financial aid; 

• to support combined transport and better utilization of railway and inland waterway transport 

capacity and support development and implementation of new multimodal technologies and 

to secure co-financing for combined transport projects and related existing and newly 

constructed infrastructure; 

• to optimize the railway network as a whole, … in order to create … lines with preferential 

utilization for long-distance freight transport …; 

• to reconstruct other lines included in international treaties (e.g. TEN-T, AGC, AGTC) as well 

as other major lines with the objective of achieving recommended parameters; 

• to finish the transformation process in the railway process in the railway sector, demand and 

check consistent adherence to legal regulations governing non-discriminatory and 

transparent allocation of railway infrastructure and granting licenses to railway carriers. 


The Czech National Legislation relevant to the traffic of the cargo trucks on the road network is 

based primarily on Act no. 361/2000 Coll., On Road Traffic as amended. The Act governs in 

particular the rights and duties of the road traffic, road traffic changes and control, matters 

relating to driving licences and certificates, and defines the scope of powers and authority of the 

state administrative bodies as well as the Police of the Czech Republic. 

The mentioned Act further regulates conditions applicable to the freight transport in terms of the 

stocking methods, maximal weights and measurements of the cargo, and the loading and 

offloading methods. 

The conditions of carriage for the international relations are laid down by the Convention On the 

Contract for the International Carriage of Goods by Road (CMR). For the Czech Republic it is 

obligatory from 3. December 1974 in the form of the Foreign Affairs Minister’s Regulation 

no. 11/1974 Coll. 

Conditions for the carriage of foodstuffs are laid down by the Regulation no. 61/1983 Coll., the 

Agreement on the International Carriage of Perishable Foodstuffs and the Special Equipment to 

be used for such Carriage (ATP), as amended. 

Another important regulation in terms of this issue is the Act no. 111/1994 Coll., On Road 

Transport, as amended. This Act governs the conditions for the road transport operation as well 

as the rights and obligations of the legal and physical persons with it connected, and the scope 


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of powers and authority of the state administrative bodies in this sphere. Applicable to the 

freight transport is especially part III On Carriage of Dangerous Items in Road Transport, part IV 

On the International Road Transport Operation, and operation of the road transport on the 

territory of the Czech Republic by foreign carriers. 

Just as any other entrepreneur, so must also the owner of a company in the field of freight 

transport abide by the Act no. 16/1993 Coll. On Road Tax. 

The Act On the Road Tax further defines the possibilities of tax exemption, which the taxpayers 

are and the rates, as well as discounts and other adjustments made to the above road tax. 

To carry on with the activities in the field of the road freight transport, it is necessary to fulfil the 

requirements stipulated by the Act no. 455/1991 Coll. On Trade Business, which regulates the 

conditions of the trade business and controls the observance of the provisions thereof. 

Final report 

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Czech republic is a signatory state of all international treaties, agreements etc., that in some 

way arrange or organize railway operations. In appropriate manner EU Directives, published by 

Transport Commission, are applied. Directive concerning interoperability is very important and 

thus became a part of Czech legislature as a decree of the Czech government No. 

133/2005 Coll. 

An important step in area in railway transport was ratification of COTIF Convention according to 

Vilnius wording on June 26, 2002. Czech republic was 22nd country of 39 then, where 

ratification procedure was successfully completed. 

Significant change took place in sector of railway transport in 2002. Following the Act of the 

Czech Republic No. 77/2002 Coll. on transformation of Czech Railways, state organization, on 

31.12.2002 the Czech Railways, state organization, ceased to exist, without liquidation. On 

1.1.2003, two successor organizations - Czech Railways, joint-stock company, and Railway 

Infrastructure Administration, state organization (RIA) - were established. RIA has taken over 

management of the state property mainly represented by the railway infrastructure. It fulfils the 

role of a rail owner, providing operation, operability, modernization and development of the 

railway infrastructure. It allocates path capacity on a national and regional rail owned by the 

Czech Republic. Based upon Act of the Czech Republic No. 266/1994 Coll. other licensed 

railway operators have an open access to rail infrastructure. There is an agreed price for 

utilizing the rail (see § 24 art. 5 Railway Act). The price is set and collected by RIA. The 

collected charges are used to cover cost for maintenance and operation of the railway 

infrastructure and are based on marginal costs. The price for utilizing the railway infrastructure 

is regulated. 

ČD Cargo a. s., a subsidiary company of ČD a. s., was established in December 2007. This 

step should improve freight services. So far profit from the business was partly used to cofinance 

passenger services, this practise was often criticised. 

2.1.5 Railways – infrastructure management, key authorities with 

influence on railway operations 

2.1.5.1 Netherlands 

ProRail is responsible for the infra-management of the railway infrastructure/network, capacity 

management and traffic control. i.e.: 

• ProRail is responsible for distribution of rail capacity and for directing trains on the network; 

45


• ProRail advices IVW (Netherlands Railway Safety Authority) about the accession of rolling 

stock; 

• ProRail is responsible for the management and maintenance of rail infrastructure and the 

stations; 

• Pro Rail is responsible for planning of revision and extension of the infrastructure, building 

of rail infrastructure and stations; 

• ProRail gathers up-to date information about the rail network, etc. 

ProRail has to operate within the limits of the public tasks, which are specified in a contract with 

the Ministry of Transport (MoT). The framework of the relation with the MoT is the management 

concession. Being a limited company and having a contractual relation with the MoT gives 

ProRail an independent position. Within the Infrastructure Management Unit technical 

disruptions (shortcomings) are resolved. 

Cross border links: ProRail has close connections with the infrastructure managers along the 

Rotterdam – Genova railway corridor. These infrastructure managers of Italy, Switzerland, 

Germany and the Netherlands strengthened their cooperation by developing a management 

committee and a business plan to develop the corridor. 

The Netherlands Railway Safety Authority (IVW) guards, inspects and promotes transport safety 

on rail. The IVW develops procedures and controls the proper implementation. IVW certifies the 

operators, the rolling stock and the workplaces. Examples are: infrastructure control, rail 

tunnels, system control etc., IVW judges upon applications for new rolling stock in line with the 

expertise reports of the Notified Bodies. IVW provides also the operators’ licences and issues 

the safety certificates. 

The development of the rules of locomotive admission standards has been delegated to the 

IVW. IVW developed the “Normbladen” that indicate the norms for locomotives. These 

“normbladen” are published on the Internet at www.ivw.nl. 

2.1.5.2 Germany 

Infrastructure Managers 

Authorised infrastructure managers in Germany are: 

• DB Netz AG (main IM with a network length of about 36,000 km) 

• DB Regio Netz Infrastruktur GmbH (as part of DB Regio AG) 

• DB Station & Service AG (administers the stations and charges for their use) 

• Energiewerke Nord GmbH (quayside railway) 

• Usedomer Bäderbahn GmbH (100% subsidiary of DB AG) 

Deutsche Bahn Netz AG (DB Netz AG) 

Legal status: 

State owned, incorporated company 

100% subsidiary of Deutsche Bahn AG (German Railways), within Management Board 

department “Infrastructure and Services” 

Tasks: 

• responsible for the rail network and for the organisation of the entire rail operations 

• publishes the Network Statement which contains the specific conditions for track access 

within the overall legal framework 


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• responsible for the allocation of capacity (regulated and monitored by EBA and in the future 

Federal Network Agency) 

• establishes the charges for the use of rail infrastructure 

Note: DB Netz is not responsible for energy supply; this is task of DB Energie GmbH. 

Federal Railway Authority (Eisenbahn-Bundesamt, EBA) 

EBA was both a regulatory and an authorisation body, but as from 1st January 2006 the Federal 

Network Agency is the regulatory body for the rail sector 

Legal status: 

• subordinated to the Federal Ministry of Transport, Building and Housing (BMVBW) 

• in charge of mandatory regulations on behalf of the federal government 

There are legal division, installations department, vehicles and operation department and 

finance department. Tasks and competences covers, i. a.: 

• Licensing of federal and non-federal railways 

• Regulating cases of discrimination in network access 

• Licensing of specific railway constructions 

• issuing safety certificates as from 30th April 2005 

• the registration of new vehicles and operating systems 

• Handling the funds of the Federal Government for the preservation and upgrading of federal 

railway infrastructure. 

Federal Railway Administration is, too, responsible for safety on railways – there is no separate 

safety authority in Germany. 

The German FRA (Federal Railway Authority) as the regulatory authority of the Railway sector 

in Germany pointed out that due to a report of the FCA (German Federal Court of Auditors) a 

major amount of shortcoming have originated through out the last years. This study pointed out 

that the DB Netz AG as the accountable company is in behind of 1.5 billion € with its 

maintenance and repair of the rail network. As a cause for that deficit, inadequate qualification 

of the personnel, a lack of personnel and a small budget is mentioned. 

Federal Ministry: Federal Ministry of Transport, Building and Housing 

(Bundesministerium für Verkehr, Bau- und Wohnungswesen, BMVBW) 

Tasks and competencies are, i. a.: 

• responsible for strategically developing of basic policies (integrated transport policy, 

European transport policy, railway policy) 

• ensures that the policies are implemented 

• key aspects of German railway policies: continuation of railway reform, new building and 

upgrading of federal railway infrastructure, environmental protection especially against 

railway noise, promotion of side tracks, regionalisation of regional rail transport 

• represents the interests of the Federal Government as owner of German Railway (Deutsche 

Bahn AG, DB AG) 

• regulates by directives and supervision Federal Railway Authority (Eisenbahn-Bundesamt, 

EBA), a direct intervention is not possible. 

Transport Ministries of Bundesländer 

Tasks and competencies: 

responsible for supervision and licensing of: 

• non-federal railways based in Germany 

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• non-federal railways not based in Germany concerning operation of railway infrastructure 

within Germany 

Note: Transport Ministries of Bundesländer can hand over their tasks all or part to EBA; at the 

time the EBA exercises the supervision and licensing for 13 Bundesländer (total 16) 

Competition authority is Federal Cartel Office (Bundeskartellamt, BKartA) 

Legal status: independent higher federal authority under the Federal Ministry of Economics and 

Labour (Bundesministerium für Wirtschaft und Arbeit, BMWA) 

Tasks: 

• main task: implementing the Act Against Restraints of Competition (Gesetz gegen 

Wettbewerbsbeschränkungen, GWB) 

• BKartA exercises parallel competences on network access with the Federal Railway 

Authority (EBA). In 1998 the two institutions agreed informally on cooperation in handling 

competition cases of priority train paths. It was agreed that rail operators would refer 

disputes on technical issues to EBA, whilst commercial issues would be dealt with by 

BKartA 

Competencies: 

• BKartA makes decisions in merger control, public procurement law, and acts generally to 

prevent anticompetitive practices 

• The power of BKartA is limited to cases, which extend to more than one Federal State; the 

competition authority of the relevant State handles other cases. 

Approval and safety authorization of rolling stock Railway Construction and Operation 

Regulation (Eisenbahnbau- und Betriebsordnung, EBO) 

Legal basis: Railway Act (Allgemeines Eisenbahngesetz, AEG) 

Tasks: 

• EBO defines technical conditions for the use of railway rolling stock. 

• It includes authorisation of new or foreign rolling stock and of changes in these as well as 

the follow-up inquiries at regular intervals (normally every six years) 

Approval and authorisation of railway rolling stock is the task of the Federal Railway 

Administration (Eisenbahn-Bundesamt, EBA) Department 32 (for non-federal, federal and 

foreign railways). Approval of rolling stock depends on the route and type of vehicle; there are 

differences between rolling stock used on the TEN Network and other networks 

2.1.5.3 Czech Republic 

The sector of railway transport is under influence of five main bodies: Ministry of Transport, 

Správa železniční dopravní cesty (RIA – infrastructure manager), ČD (Czech Railways), Drážní 

úřad (Rail Authority) and Drážní inspekce (Rail Safety Inspection Office). 

Ministry of Transport of Czech Republic – its activities and competence 

Ministry of Transport – Department for Railways, Railway and Combined Transport is 

responsible for the following (among others): 

• Execution of state administration in matters concerning rails and ensuring the execution of 

ultimate state supervision and state supervision in matters concerning railways; 

• Executing the conceptual, norm-drafting, and professional work of a central administration 

body pertaining to railway transportation routes and railway vehicles; 

• Ensuring legislative activity in the matter of rail systems and combined transport; 


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• Drafting of conceptual plans for the development and modernisation of railway 

transportation routes and combined transport, in line with the Czech transport policy, and as 

tied to the development of the European railway network, and dealing with initiatives related 

to the modernisation and renovation of the railway transportation route; 

• Assessment and elaboration of opinions on conceptual materials for the development of 

railways, railway transport and combined transport; 

• Preparation (discussions of experts) and discussion on proposed bilateral and multilateral 

international conventions, which regulate co-operation in the sphere of railway and 

combined transportation across the border of the Czech Republic with another convention 

party (primarily neighbouring states), the compliance with bilateral international treaties on 

combined transport (mixed committees), and evaluation of compliance with signed treaties 

(within the Section’s scope of responsibilities); 

• Ensuring the work which arises for the country from its membership in the TER project in 

ECE/UN; 

• Creation of conditions for the operation of combined transport, including its system support, 

also in connection to the implementation of international projects as well as work of working 

committees in matters concerning railways and combined transport. 

Ministry of Transport – Department for Railways, Railway and Combined Transport cooperates 

with (among others): 

• With the State Transportation Infrastructure Fund (SFDI) and the Section for EU funds on 

matters concerning the provision of a subsidy for the maintenance and repair of 

transportation routes of railway operators other than ČD a.s.; 

• With the Czech Railways (ČD, a.s.) and Railway Infrastructure Administration (SŽDC, s.o.) 

management bodies; 

• With the Authority for Technical Normalisation, Metrology, and State Testing in determining 

the person authorised for the certification of elements, parts, and subsystems of the railway 

system. 

Správa železniční dopravní cesty, s. o. (SŽDC) 

Following the Act of the Czech Republic No.77/2002 Coll. on Transformation of Czech 

Railways, state organization, on 31.12.2002 the Czech Railways, state organization, ceased to 

exist. On 1.1.2003, two successor organizations - Czech Railways, joint-stock company, and 

Railway Infrastructure Administration (Správa železniční dopravní cesty), state organization 

(RIA) - were established. RIA has taken over management of the state property mainly 

represented by the railway infrastructure. It fulfils the role of a railway network owner, providing 

operation, operability, modernization and development of the railway infrastructure. It allocates 

path capacity on a national and regional lines owned by the Czech Republic. RIA manages with 

defined payables and receivables of Czech Railways, s.o., arising before establishment of 

Czech Railways, joint-stock company 

Drážní inspekce 

The Rail Safety Inspection Office (RSIO) is an independent state body, which investigates rail 

accidents and incidents and performs state supervision of the whole Czech rail system. RSIO 

was established on 1 January 2003 in compliance with Act No. 77/2002, and was among the 

first of its kind in Europe. 

• RSIO performs state supervision in rail-related matters of more than 900 rail infrastructure 

and transport operators. It works to ensure that the rail system and its transport are as safe 

as possible. Its long-term goal is reducing accidents and incidents within the Czech rail 

system (including railway and underground, tram and trolley bus systems, and cableways). 

The core objective of the Office is for the prevention of accidents and incidents 

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49


Drážní úřad 

The Rail Authority has been established by Section 53 of the Act no. 266/1994 Coll., as 

amended on rail systems. It is an administrative authority independent from the Ministry of 

Transport. It is an organisational element of the State with a registered office in Prague. The 

Rail Authority is independent from the Ministry of Transport and is financed from the state 

budget through the budget of the Ministry of Transport. 

Clients are rail transport operators, railway infrastructure operators etc., keepers of private 

wagons, railway undertakings and producers of rail vehicles. 

Autonomy of organisation: the Rail Authority exercises the function of state administration in the 

matters of rail systems except matters in which the Ministry of Transport or the municipalities 

are responsible. 

The Rail Authority is responsible for issuing official permits for the operation of rail systems and 

for licensing to railway undertakings. It also issues safety certificates for carriers, for operating 

the rail transport on the national railway network and regional railway network, driving licence 

for drivers of rail vehicles, operability certificate of specified technological pressure, gas, 

electric, lifting and transport equipment and certificates of vehicle operability. The Rail Authority 

is also responsible for registers of rolling stock, infrastructure and vehicle keeper marking. 

The Rail Authority makes the decision when railway undertakings, rail system operator and rail 

network the infrastructure administrator do not succeed to reach an agreement on matters 

concerning the manner of railway operation, infrastructure allocation, infrastructure charging, 

network statement, contractual party’s obligations, and so on. 

ČD České dráhy, a.s. 

is according to Act No. 77/2002 Coll. mainly the biggest passenger and freight operator. Based 

upon mutual agreement between SŽDC and ČD, Czech Railways conducts other activities, in 

particular: 

• ensures operation – e.g. it means that all train dispatchers, pointsmen etc. are employees of 

Czech Railways; 

• organization of transport, capacity allocation – in particular to accept requirements of all 

operators (RUs) for path allocation and to compile timetables; these activities are to move 

from ČD to RIA during 2008; 

• ensuring maintenance – the whole railway network is divided into 13 areas with 

administrations that care of maintenance and common repairs. In particular maintenance of 

tracks (superstructure and substructure), electric overhead supply systems, signalling, 

bridges buildings, tunnels etc. These administrations will be part of RIA from April 2008. 

2.2 Subjective barriers (as viewed by organizations) 

Interview results and the used questionnaire are attached in Annex 3, 4 and in the Chapter 4 

Action Plan. 


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2.2.1 Barriers as viewed by road and rail transport operators 

2.2.1.1 Barriers as viewed by road operators 

2.2.1.2 Experience in this field in the Netherlands 

The Dutch Road Transport Association TLN does not know „real“ obstacles for road transport to 

the Czech Republic. The borders are abolished, the toll does not give special problems and the 

future 48 hour working does not give problems because of the distance NL-CZ. General 

obstacles, which also count for this trace, are the increasing congestion and enormous growth 

of cargo transport, shortage of drivers, the strict environmental requirements and the 

introduction of environmental zones in some cities. The last one is not really an item in the 

Netherlands due to the age of the fleet. 

Let us mention giga-liner heavy duty vehicles (HDV). Giga-liners are admissible and some 162 

giga-liners have already been in operation in the Netherlands for several years. The traffic 

ministry there concluded in 2005 that giga-liners are, if anything, contributing to overall traffic 

safety because they help reduce the number of vehicles on the roads. Now a discussion has 

taken place whether to decrease maximal weight limit from 60 tons down to 50 tons due to state 

of some parts of road infrastructure, esp. bridges. From the point of view of this study gigaliners 

are not a competitive factor for railway because they are not allowed in Germany and 

Czech Republic so far. 

2.2.1.3 Experience in this field in Germany 

Due to budget and time constriction no inquiry was conducted. Yet no substantial barriers are 

known, what can be said is that German truck operators always complain that their labour costs 

are much higher as for the competitors from Eastern Europe. 

Several German states are presently conducting trials of so-called giga-liners. These consist of 

a tractor-trailer towing a second large trailer, for a combined length of up to 25.25m (82.8ft). 

Costing little more to purchase and operate than conventional tractor-trailer rigs, each giga-liner 

can transport 50% more cargo. Transportation ministers are hoping this could help unclog 

Germany’s autobahn network. On long-haul routes, giga-liners could reduce diesel consumption 

per ton of cargo by almost 1/3. In addition to reduced CO2 emissions and dependence on 

foreign oil, reduced overheads should permit profitable operations without jeopardizing traffic 

safety. On the other hand it is necessary to say that International Union of Combined Road-Rail 

transport companies UIRR and Kombiverkehr from Germany have quite different opinions. 

Increasing length and weight limits would bring negative consequences. A study conducted by 

TIM Consult brings conclusion that it would have harmful effect on combined transport, shifting 

freight form rail to road, with increasing of road congestions, negative impact on environment 

and worsening of road safety. It can be expected that 55 % of goods that are carried by 

combined transport would be carried by road only. Road traffic would increase by 24 %. To 

operate giga-liners free is in contradiction with principles of European transport policy. 

2.2.1.4 Experience in this field in Czech Republic 

In Czech Republic we can identify following barriers or „hot issues“: 

Time bans are following: for vehicles > 7,5t on Sundays 13–22 + during vacations on Saturdays 

7–13 and on Fridays 17-21 on motorways and 1st class roads. A proposal of Ministry of 

51


Transport for enlarging the ban on Fridays 14-22, on Saturdays 7-13 and on Sundays 7-22 all 

year is under consideration. Road operators strictly disagree pointing out that in many other 

European countries there are no time limits; they are viewed as a relic. Proposed enlarging 

would heavily harm the business. Another opinion is that these bans should but unified within 

EU. 

Lack of drivers: this problem is emerging in last years and all road-haulers must tackle with it. It 

is recommended to improve working conditions and image of this job. Another proposal is a 

recruitment of drivers from other East European countries – new EU members. 

Lack of parking places: an estimate is that about 2.000 places are missing only on motorways. If 

time limits were enlarged, this problem would be even bigger. Drivers must stop and take a 

break according to law but there are no „rest areas“ in the vicinity of motorways and 1st class 

roads. This problem emerges especially on Friday when trucks and lorries return to the country. 

Toll: is not viewed as a particular barrier for vehicles > 3,5 t on motorways and selected 

sections of 1st class roads. Some politicians want to enlarge the toll duty to 2nd and 3rd class 

roads. Road operators strictly oppose to this proposal. 

Pressure of foreign competition: concerns mainly middle and small road-haulers, which struggle 

to survive. One way how to survive is to join – there is successful project Truck Alliance, 

conducted under auspices of Economic faculty of South-Bohemian University. 

Others: HDV (Giga-liners) – not allowed in Czech Republic and their introduction is not on an 

agenda now. From one source a slow reaction of operators in the beginning of the week in The 

Netherlands was mentioned. 

In general: 

Road operators are oriented to offer the shortest delivery time from a sender to final destination 

while a total price for transportation including transhipment and „to-house“ delivery must be 

competitive and must create an adequate profit. Usage of terminals or combined transport is not 

a priori excluded nor there are any prejudices against it. But a source points that to prepare a 

contract with railway is time-consuming sometimes and there is lack of some demanded series 

of freight wagons. 

2.2.2 Barriers as viewed by rail operators 


Based in interviews, following barriers were identified: 

Safety aspects - signalling 

Currently many different types of signalling exist on the corridors, at country level, but also 

within one country: 

NL: ATB EG, ATB NG, ATB ++, ETCS 

BRD: INDUSIE, ETCS 

CZ: AB, UOAB, elder systems with two-aspect signalling 

This is a well-known topic, but interferes heavily the cross border railway operations. Most 

international locomotives have both the Dutch and German safety system on board. The 

advantage of also having the Czech system on board would make it possible to use the loc also 

in Slovakia and Hungary. It is not only expensive to build locomotives with all these safety 


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systems on board, physically the loc can not accommodate all these different systems, there is 

lack of space to equip the loc with the required transmitters. 

Drivers 

Language barrier: Crossing the NL-German border no obstacle anymore. Most drivers can 

speak Dutch and German. However fewer drivers speak German and Czech. 

Optimizing working time: missing slots does not only makes that the train is running late, it also 

means that the driver should start later; however the driver has only a limited working day. It is 

not possible to make a shorter trip, once started the trip should be completed. 

Traction supply 

Different traction supply between NL (1.500V DC), Germany (15.000V AC) and CZ (3.000V DC / 

25.000V AC), but also within CZ. This explains partly the popularity of the Diesel locomotives. 

Diesel locs do not have to be changed at the border or need adopters if they have interoperable 

safety systems on board. 

Delays 

Delays do not only harm the single train load, it directly influences the company results, as it is 

impossible to catch up. So the delay not only has consequences for the customers of the 

delayed train, it also means that you miss income of the missing train. However there is a 

conflict of interest between the occupancy of the train and the punctuality. Some operators wait 

for additional cargo and accept a delay. 

Terminals 

Terminals function optimal 80% occupancy. Higher occupancy leads to overloaded terminals 

and extra handling costs to load trains. Especially Intrans is at the top of its capacity (170.00 

TEU) and not open for new operators. 

Terminal loading and unloading delays makes that the rolling stock is less utilised and leads to 

loosing slots. However compared to the container handling to inland shipping it is said to be 

better. 

Locomotive 

• Investing in new locomotives: Some operators are afraid that the new ordered multi system 

electro locomotives, which have also the safety system and traction supply of the Betuwe 

Line, cannot be used coming months on the BetuweLine, because the Bombardier ECTS 

system is not yet approved by the IVW. ITL, and other operators, made quite some 

investments, after quite some pressure of V&W to have the locomotives ready, but now the 

authority is not ready. ITL is afraid that the Bombardier safety system is less accepted than 

the Alstom and Alstom locs will get priority. 

• Subsidy: Not all operators are familiar with Dutch or EU subsidy to install the ECTS safety 

system. 

• Approving locomotives: The procedures of approving locomotives are very time consuming 

and cost a lot of money and efforts. Especially as each country has its own procedures. 

• Changing loomotives at the CZ/German border: The mutual trust between CD and ERS 

makes that the trains are only checked at departure and at the arrival, and these checks are 

not necessary at the border. This saves time. The same applies for Railion locos class 180. 

ČD Monopoly 

Although most operators are content about the cooperation with ČD, there is not really any 

alternative in CZ; nor for transport nor for handling. This (quasi)monopoly is nearly impossible 

to bypass, because for Dutch/German operators both the locomotive and the driver only can 

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53


pass in a few cases the border due to different safety system, traction supply, loc recognition, 

driver license, etc (these different topics are individually dealt with above). 

Moreover the distances in CZ are quite small, especially to Melnik. Not changing locomotives at 

the border would decrease interruptions in the trajectory. 

Congestion 

Dutch/German border crossings: Recent extensive construction/maintenance works contributed 

significantly to delays, which seriously disrupts round trip continuity. In the TREND report on 

Corridor D the average processing time for border crossing procedure (according to schedule) 

is mentioned: 

Table 2.2 - Activities in Dutch/German crossings (TREND, deliverable work package 

B2, page 104) 

Additional aspects mentioned in TREND report on Netherlands/Germany border crossing 

(Corridor B-West and Corridor D): 

• The Infrastructure Managers criticised that the border staff did not communicate 

sufficiently and suggested regular meetings; 

• In some cases locos are still changed because Alstom and Siemens locos are not 

compatible and an upgrade is regarded as too expensive by Railway Undertakings; 

• There are only 3 tracks for interchange purposes in Emmerich (but used for national 

trains as well). 

Imbalance of the cargo flow 

Some operators have full loaded trains NL-CZ, but have only 50% occupancy rate on the return 

leg. Low-level exports from CZ to NL prevent those operators to increase the services. 

Small items 

Safety vests are orange in Germany, will be orange in NL and yellow in CZ. 

Loc front should be white/yellow in NL and all colours in Germany/CZ. 


Temporary limitations on the infrastructure 

Documents published in the internet: 

Information on line construction is available on Internet. 

DB Netz AG publishes weekly by mail and fax and monthly in book information about lines 

subject to speed restriction. An electronic information system would greatly facilitate operations. 

This information is considered clear but not complete. 


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Other observations made by RUs 

• DB Netz AG’s online information is not suitable for train path calculation, because of a lack 

of information on ongoing construction works and on lines subject to speed restrictions 

• A real time allocation map/plan of train path use would be desirable for improved interaction 

between RUs and IMs in the train path planning process. 

• One German RU thought the online information of the Austrian Federal Railways (ÖBB) 

better than that of DB Netz AG 

• Complete online information is available only in German, information in English is 

fragmentary. 

• It has been stated that one main impediment for an increase of the services between 

Germany (or the Netherlands) and the Czech Republic is that on several Czech lines 

modern AC locomotives are not allowed to run, because they interfere with the “clear track 

signalling system” that is used on railways in Czech Republic (a different frequency in track 

circuits). These systems should be replaced by modern systems as soon as possible, 

because there is a severe lack of (old) locomotives, which are compatible with the old 

system. It has been mentioned by Railion that CD Cargo a. s. has ordered locomotives at 

Skoda, which should be compatible, but this has not been proved so far and it is not clear 

when these might be available. Railion would be in the position to re-equip several 

locomotives 189 for the additional use in the Czech Republic, as soon as the “clear track 

signalling system” has been replaced. 

• it was reported by one RU that at the moment DB companies get a 9% discount from prices 

for supply of traction current, whereas other RUs get 1% at best; DB Energies quantity 

discounts that starts at a high level may be discriminatory and indeed a Frankfurt regional 

court judged them to be so in January 2005. However a higher court decided that such a 

quantity discount was allowed 

Other observations from various sources; this could be personal opinions or more general 

supported observations 

More general supported observations: 

• The growing demand for traffic services led to capacity bottlenecks in the rail and road 

network. These appear in locomotives, rolling stock (particularly special wagons) and 

drivers. On local spots trains could not be cleared in time. 

• Generally a major amount of construction sites in the rail network caused speed restriction 

sections that led to an increase of costs and to a decrease of capability in the rail network. 

• The continuous rise of the transport quantity caused bottlenecks at important intersections, 

terminals and ports. This affected the on-time departure performance in a negative way. 

• As a cause for the lack of punctuality the intermodal operators mentioned a high increase of 

shipped goods and a major amount of construction sites that caused speed restriction 

section on the network. 

• The amount of transported goods between German terminals for inland transport and 

terminals in the Czech Republic has risen in 2006. Different intermodal operators have 

shown their interest to enter the market, but they consider intermodal transport - despite 

increasing fare in the border crossing road freight traffic - not yet fully competitive. 

• Higher velocities and operating cycles of passenger traffic lead to decrease the availability 

of the main tracks for freight traffic. Separated freight traffic tracks do not exist. In most 

cases the possible distributed load is not enough, to allow an efficient utilization. 

Personal observations, mostly supported by the private operators: 

• Free accessible, public transhipment centres connected to the rail network are barely 

existent due to insufficient connections to railway network. 

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55


• While the route allocation is mostly free of discrimination, the collaboration with the DB still 

bears some problems, e.g. with the accessing to shunting yards or garages. The access 

should be neutral to all potential users. At the moment there is a difference between DB 

companies and other companies. 

• Notwithstanding a rising demand and there from resulting local capacity bottlenecks, the 

inter- and intramodal competition intensity remained high in the year 2006. This is reflected 

in a continuous pressure of prices, i.e. decreasing fees for traction services. 

• Private rail enterprisers increasingly criticize the condition of the German rail infrastructure. 

They say DB Stock Corporation neglects the maintenance. 

• Customers tolerated delays in intermodal services in 2006 because of the also existing 

bottlenecks in road freight traffic for deliverance on schedule. 

Thereto: 

To eliminate the above mentioned lack of maintenance DB infrastructure has started several 

large maintenance projects, which will last for a longer time and which especially hinder the 

current operations in the section around Dresden and towards the border. This leads very often 

to significant delays and/or re-routings, which not only leads to delays but also increase the 

respective costs (operating costs e.g. energy and rolling stock). As soon as the German 

infrastructure has made up the delay in providing appropriate maintained infrastructure on this 

corridor the capacity is basically sufficient. But there are certain bottlenecks that could only be 

eliminated by building additional tracks. For some sections (e.g. the following section from the 

Betuweline to Oberhausen) these extensions have already been agreed, for some others (e.g. 

Minden – Hannover, around Leipzig) the problems are known but there are no agreed solutions. 

Border crossing bottlenecks as impediments 

One of the main current impediments for rail freight traffic on Corridor C of TREND results from 

border crossing operations. Nevertheless as far as Děčín/Bad Schandau is concerned, cross 

border performances has been rated as good. The involved Railway Undertakings provided 

adequate data, as stated in following table. 

Border Processing 

time 

per train 

Germany/ 40 - 60 min 

Czech Rep. 

(Děčín hl. 

nádr. or Děčín 

východ) 

Included activities Remarks 

Operational activities: 

on German side trains are 

PVG data input 

operated by ERS 

if necessary, change of loco further activities and time 

driver 

need in case of customs 

commercial inspection, 

clearance (only for goods to 

RID inspection, 

district of the DECIN 

make out the list of end owner, cross border performance 

acceptance of the train, checking rated as "good" 

documents, 

generate Wagon list, 

hand out documents to engine 

driver 

Technical activities: 

loco change, if necessary 

brake test, 

generate Brake sheet, 

technical inspection 


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Border Processing 

time 

per train 

Germany/ 

Czech Rep. 

(Děčín hl. 


východ) 

Germany/ 

Czech Rep. 

(Děčín hl. 


východ) 

Germany/ 

Czech Rep. 

(Děčín 

východ) 

Final report 

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Included activities Remarks 

5 min no activities, only handing over 

instructions for next run and 

changing loco-drivers 

20 min in case that loco is changed, 

simple brake test must be done 

only for intermodal trains: 

transport, technical and 

RID confidence 

Railion locos going through 

90 min no “confidence”, all operational it applies for transit trains, 

and technical activities must be e.g. to Slovakia or Hungary 

made 

Table 2.3 - Average processing time for Germany/Czech Republic border crossing procedure (according to 

schedule) 

Railion has stated that the joint disposition centre with CD Cargo a. s. is in operation and that 

besides minor coordination problems, which occurred due to the separation of between the 

operator and the infrastructure in the last time, it has started successfully. The number of “trust 

trains” has been increased and in the meantime nearly all trains are operated on technical trust. 

Processing of consignment notes and other commercial handlings are limited to special trains 

(e.g. hazardous goods) and single wagonloads. For more from TREND see next chapter. 


Capacity: 

In general only lack of capacity in particular sections and border crossing stations are 

mentioned, some legislative clauses or administrative regulation are viewed as restrictive, in the 

concrete: 

� Extensive administrative procedures resulting from Czech Act no. 353/2003 Coll. on 

Consumer Tax when goods are transported between tax storage areas in CZ and NL, 

esp. in case of ethylalcohol, antifreezers etc. 

� Getting permission to run block train had been complicated and time consuming, but 

the procedure changed in December 2007 and it goes smoothly now so it is not an 

issue any longer. 

Cross-border operations: 

Czech – German agreement concerning cross-border operations define all technical and other 

specifications including particular classes of locomotives that are allowed to enter territory of 

each country (i.e. to Bad Schandau or to Děčín). But there are experiences that locomotives, 

which are agreed on Cheb / Schirnding and Domažlice / Furth im Wald crossing lines were not 

allowed to haul the train to Bad Schandau. It seems illogical to the operator. 

Note: These agreements are arranged between SZDC (CZ Rail infrastructure manager) and CD 

(Czech Railways) on Czech side and DB Netz on German side. There are a frame agreement 

between CZ and GE and supplemental agreements for every particular crossing point. Any 

railway operator that wants to have its locos on a list has to do this by means of One Stop Shop 

57


(OSS). One of main tasks of OSS is to enable access to railway infrastructure for every 

authorized operator. 

Access to terminals: 

A RU (not ČD) can haul a block container train to a terminal railway station but the same RU 

cannot do the final leg – i.e. to haul the train from the railway station to the container terminal – 

because the company that owns and operates the terminal does not give a permission for it. 

And for Czech Railways to make this final leg alone is not profitable enough so ČD refuses to 

do it. 

ČD Monopoly 

There are some opinions that ČD has monopoly in Czech Rep. An operator from Slovakia has 

filed a complaint that ČD misuses its monopoly position. Office for Protection of Competition is 

solving the file; a verdict has not been issued yet. To prove allegations like is difficult. New 

operators want to get a share on freight transport market and it is not easy in stabilized market 

environment. And incumbent Czech Railways, as a big player, has advantages – e.g. when a 

locomotive has a failure it is no big problem to substitute it for another. 

Others 

In general can be said that to start a RU can be done smoothly, there are no legislative or 

administrative obstacles and railway freight market is liberalized. There are a few RUs in Czech 

Republic; in addition to Czech Railways important operators are Viamont Cargo a.s., OKD 

Doprava, a.s. and Unipetrol Doprava a.s.. Minor operators are Slezskomoravská dráha a.s., 

ODOS (Ostravská dopravní společnost a.s.) and Argo Group a.s.. Other small operators exist 

but these operate only on sidings in big factories, mines etc, not on state railway network. 

Above-mentioned operators operate only within Czech railway network, international haulage is 

done in cooperation with other foreign operators (ITL Dresden or rail4Chem). 

Transported goods are often damaged (due to shunting in marshalling yards or to theft). 

Trend report information on the German/Czech border crossing 

The main border problems, leading to this time loss can be assigned to the following groups of 

impediments: 

• Different technical/infrastructural railway equipment (current systems, signalling systems. 

The different current systems require multiple loco changes (multi-system-locos are not 

available or only exceptionally used at present). 

• Missing operational co-ordination and administrative problems on the two sides of a border. 

Because train passing is not based on the rule of mutual trust in most cases, a technical 

examination of the train is done on both sides of the border.A lack of co-operative rolling 

stock and personal dispatching: 

– Common loco dispatching is still an exception and mostly restricted to multisystemengines. 

More rare is the interoperable employment of loco drivers. Apart from Railion/CD Cargo, where 

loco drivers are changed on all Corridor C cross border 

stations. 

Quick improvement – without long term and expensive infrastructure and technique measures – 

of the current situation could be reached for example by consequent mutual train trusting. 

Electronic data interchange (for customs clearance as well) could also provoke great effects; 

however, short-term realization prerequisites dedicated hard- and software conditions which are 

not yet fulfilled within all Corridor C countries. To improve flexibility of personal dispatching the 

European engine driver license, as implemented by ÖBB, is a step forward, too. 


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In addition to loss of time, border crossing activities also require considerable infrastructure 

resources and costs. Within the border stations the following infrastructure resources are 

provided for interchange purposes: 

Final report 

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Table 2.4 - Number of tracks for interchange purpose 

in crossing stations between Germany/Czech Republic 

Other infrastructural impediments for rail freight quality 

Other infrastructural impediments mainly concern the lack of capacities and operational quality 

within the stations/nodes or along the lines. These handicaps make it difficult or even 

impossible to acquire additional rail freight traffic on the corridor. Furthermore they lead to 

expensive operational modes – especially within the nodes – which increase the total costs and 

deteriorate the market position of rail freight traffic. Next Figure shows the current infrastructural 

impediments within the stations and lines on Corridor C, as stated by the Infrastructure 

Managers. 

Table 2.5 - Other infrastructural impediments for rail freight quality in Germany/Czech 

Republic 

Exchange of data and transport documents 

As shown in the next figure, data exchange with rail production systems and exchange of 

wagon list is done via HERMES interface between Germany and the Czech Republic. 

59


Nevertheless, in most cases this transport document is exchanged via fax (from Germany to the 

Czech Republic) or exclusively (Czech Republic to Germany/Austria). However, operational 

tests for electronic data exchange are currently in progress, especially by CD. 

Table 2.6 - Exchange of data and transport documents between Germany/Czech Republic 

The Hermes tool for Electronic Data interchange is developed by the UIC and used only by the 

incumbants. Rumours go that it is outdated. 

2.2.3 Barriers as viewed by forwarders, terminal and combined 

transport operators 


Cargo 

There is more cargo currently available than traction. Both ERS and Intrans are full booked. 

Even with fixed financial commitments the traction is not guaranteed to third parties. There are 

too limited, especially independent, services and operators. 

Terminals: 

There are 2 terminals in Prague: 

• Metrans owned by HHLA, focused on Hamburg and not open to other operators. 70% of the 

continental transport is handled in Metrans. 

• Intrans: very limited capacity and in the middle of the city. Some Dutch operators can use 

this terminal, whereas others cannot be served at this terminal due to lack of capacity. Plans 

for replacing the terminal are foreseen, but currently blocked due too administrative and 

political procedures. NYK was running on Intrans but had to change to Lovosice. 

Other terminals: 

• Melnik: operated by Maersk and mostly dedicated to ERS 

• Lovosice: This terminal is 60 km outside Prague and missing “hinterland”. The positive thing 

is that this terminal is public – open to every operator. 

On Dutch side: 

• Rotterdam lacks competitive rail terminal facilities. Principally there are only the ECT/RSC 

terminals. 


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Punctuality 

The infrastructure is full. For example in Germany there are 3000 minor and mayor maintenance 

projects foreseen in 2007. Moreover the rolling stock, drivers and train paths are optimally used. 

All flexibility and reserve capacity is used. Small disturbances lead directly to lost train paths 

and delays in the whole corridor. 

Delays are most often in the areas around the border. Most delays are due to track 

maintenance. Often the operator does not know in advance that track maintenance in planned 

as this information is forwarded to the traction providers and not to the operators. A more “pro 

active” attitude of ProRail in this respect would make it possible for the operator to anticipate 

and change the planning. As most operators are not a contract partner of ProRail, (because 

they are not the traction provider) they are not a discussion partner either. 

Dutch custom procedures 

Rotterdam customs operation viewed with suspicion (relates also to recent implementation of 

sharpened procedures) Moreover the RTO status makes that it is not possible to load the train 

last minutes. All documents should be dealt with 6 hours before departure. 

Czech customs procedures 

Customs are no problem since CZ is EU member and T1 document is accepted. 

Railway Culture 

There is difficult cultural acceptance of changing procedures in railways. Especially the 

incubators face these difficulties. 

Number of operators: 

In the interviews some shipping lines expressed that they preferred to have their own or a 

neutral railway operator. It is said that railway operators owned by other shipping lines can trace 

their client’s information easily. With this information it would be easy to contact the client with a 

better offer. 

Again it is said that the former ERS position was both a blessing and disgrace. They started the 

CZ connection, what was the blessing. The disgrace was that other shipping lines did not use 

this line and without the Maersk container flow it was impossible to operate a container line. 

Only recently the container flow to CZ was heavy enough to start new services without the 

Maersk containers 

Rolling stock 

Lack of traction providers within NL private rail sector, leading to lack of wagons, locomotives, 

experienced personnel – Railion is too dependent on German mother company policy and 

politics. The wagons have also sometimes technical failures, what makes that the load cannot 

be optimized. Nor is it possible to have an extra wagon on the train at the last minute. 

Currently there is a trend to have more and more own wagons, as these are better maintained 

and have less technical problems 

Image Rotterdam 

Among the reasons for this, Czech freight owners have positive view of Hamburg as natural 

gateway to/from CZ market. Among the reasons a much more robust marketing exposure for/by 

Hamburg rail community. Moreover when the recent unrest in the Port of Rotterdam and the 

ECT congestion are taken into account, potential Czech exporters do not easily tend for 

Rotterdam as preferred gateway. However this is only additional information, it is not a barrier 

for railway connection CZ-NL in a sense of this study. 

Final report 

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61


Fragmented interest 

There is a fragmented interest of the market - each shipper, shipping line, forwarder, and 

consignee etc referencing own internal need in place of a mutual focus 

Small items 

It is said that Railcargo has the highest theft risks over all transport modes. 


For more information see 2.1.2.2 


The following problems are pointed out in the results of a survey: 

• It is stated that while in Europe the continental carriage amounts to approx. 60% and the 

share of carriages from and to the seaports approx. 40%, the share of the seaport carriages 

in the Czech Republic is clearly dominant, as the share of the continental carriage after 

termination of the carriage Ro-La Lovosice – Dresden is practically nil. The situation has 

begun to change somewhat with the commencement of the carriage line Lovosice – 

Duisburg and Lovosice – Hamburg Billwerder. However, the state subsidy is valued as being 

insufficient. 

• The state program titled “The combined carriage subsidies for 2006 – 2010“ is not being 

adhered to. Earmarked in 2006 was 0,6 mil. CZK, and no money in 2007. Without the state 

subsidy intended to reduce the initial loses, i.e. loses of temporary nature incurring during 

the first 2 to 3 years, and in the absence of the road carriers’ investment support, the 

development of new lines will be slow or nonexistent. This program does not give 

preferential treatment to the combined carriage lines over the road semi-trailers’ and 

exchangeable trailers’ carriages. 

• The road carriers are not equipped sufficiently by the necessary technology (in relation to 

the fulfilment required by the program). 

• The Czech road carriers cannot execute collection and distribution of consignments abroad, 

for instance in Germany. This cabotage is not permitted due to the EU admission 

agreements. 

• For the operator which does not own a terminal, accessible freely are only the terminals ČD 

DUSS Lovosice and TSC Lovosice. DUSS Lovosice terminal has an advantage – it can be 

enlarged, if necessary. In Moravia, there isn’t accessible one single public terminal. The 

capacities of the remaining terminals are fully used by their owners, and without allowing 

access to other operators (apart from insufficient capacities they also represent 

competition). The terminal ČSKD Intrans in Přerov is partially used by other operator. DUSS 

terminals are used in Germany, which are neutral and accessible to all operators. 

• There is dissatisfaction with the trains’ timeliness – especially in relation to the DB Railion – 

problems are being experienced with the locomotives and the personnel. Mentioned also is 

the low exactitude of the Railion workers at the Netherlands railways’ dispatch stations, and 

constant price increases. 

• The same rates’ level for the usage of the rail carriage route for the combined carriage lines 

of the continental type with carriage of the road semi-trailers or exchangeable trailers with 

lines to the seaports. In addition these rates are high in comparison with the road tollage 

and reduce the competitiveness of the railway. 


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• ČD Cargo a. s. does not own any wagons suitable for carriage of the road semi-trailers (so 

called pocket wagons) and the number of the ready-to-operate container wagons is also 

insufficient. 

• The problem lies in incorrectly loaded containers in Asia, which exceed the weight limit of 

the road vehicle axis. 

Carriage reliability (route adherence) 

It is stated that if the train arrival is delayed, the delay usually does not exceed 2 hours: The 

usual reason for this is the ports’ capacity overload. 

Own investigation, showing comparison of the actual arrival and departure times at the railway 

station Praha-Uhříněves during one-week period: 

Final report 

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Deviation from the set down 

time 

On arrival On departure 

Lead bigger than 2 hours 4 1 

Lead 120 – 60 minutes 2 0 

Lead 60 – 0 minutes 2 3 

Delay 0 – 60 minutes 5 9 

Delay 60 – 120 minutes 1 6 

Delay greater than 2 hours 3 0 

Table 2.7 - Deviation from the set down time in Praha – Uhříněves railway station 

From the above it is evident that the variance at departure is small; the trains depart within the 

time span of –60 to +90 minutes against the planned time. On the arrivals the variance against 

the planned time is much higher. Note: data in the table concerns container trains to/from 

German ports. 

Others: 

Mr. Bernhard Kunz, CEO of Swiss intermodal operator Hupac, expressed interesting ideas on 

Logistics Forum 2007 in Basle. Despite he was talking in general, his thoughts can be applied 

for The Netherlands – Czech Republic corridor as well: 

• He attributes Hupac´s success at least in part to the fact that it has remained independent. 

Hupac, ERS and RailLink are the only independents left. E.g. Kombiverkehr is owned half 

and half by DB and various forwarding and logistics companies, but nearly 90% of the 

wagons are owned by DB, so it can’t be truly independent. Hupac by contrast owns its 

wagons – it is very important factor. 

• When an operator has its own terminals and IT – as Hupac does – it is a big advantage over 

other private operators. 

• A big advantage is when only one traction provider can be contracted for each route, end-toend. 

It is big improvement in quality of service. Hupac currently employs six traction 

providers: SBB Cargo, Railion, Trenitalia, rail4chem, FNC and DLC. 

• There is a direct correlation between the market share occupied by incumbents and growth 

in rail freight. Where there is competition, there is growth. At one end of the scale is France, 

where the incumbent (SNCF Fret) has almost 100% of the market and rail freight is 

decreasing. At the other end id Britain, where smaller private operators account for 30% of 

the rail freight market and overall performance in tonne km’s leapt by 70% in the 10 years to 

2004 and The Netherlands, where growth was nearly as high with 25% market share for the 

private operators. 

• Another factor for successes is a smooth homologation processes. But instead of simple 

non-discriminatory processes for homologation and certification on a Europe-wide basis with 

63


neutral, independent agencies, in reality there is everything from a European system (RIV) 

to national and even local procedures, which is time and money consuming. 

• There is a big shortage of terminal capacity in general, not only in Italy but also in the 

Netherlands, Belgium and Germany, which is partly due to resistance by incumbents (as 

SNCB, NL, DB) and partly because of local political opposition. 

• Reasons to be worried: lack of political support, infrastructure that is not always neutral, 

high entry barriers, high risks for small operators and national laws protecting incumbents 

instead of neutral arbitration for cases of discrimination. 

2.3 Fees for using transport infrastructure 

2.3.1 Costs of access to the road network 


In the Netherlands no toll, motorway coupons or other fees exists now. Yet government bodies 

are considering an introduction of toll recently. 


Toll collect: automatic charging system for fees to use the motorway in Germany. The union 

increased the charge rates for the German HGV (heavy goods vehicle)-toll since 1st of 

September 2007. The Charge rate increased about 1,1 Cent/Kilometre to 13,5 Cent/Kilometre 

per driven kilometre in average. 

For this reason the following Charge rates per kilometre arise: 

For vehicles or vehicle combinations with up to 3 axis the following charge rates arise: 

0,10 Euro for Category A, 

0,12 Euro for Category B, 

0,145 Euro for Category C. 

For vehicles or vehicle combinations with up to 4 or more axis the following charge rates arise: 

0,11 Euro for Category A, 

0,13 Euro for Category B, 

0,155 Euro for Category C. 


In accordance with Act No. 13/1997 Coll., on roads, in wording of Act No. 80/2006 Coll. and 

other regulations since January 1, 2007 vehicles weighing 12 tons or more are not obliged to 

have a vignette; instead of it they have to pay a toll on defined parts of road 

infrastructure. Calculation of a toll is based on multiplying tariff rate per 1 km and length of the 

section in km. Tariff rate depends on: 

number of axes (2, 3, 4 and more); 

emission category of motor (EURO 2, EURO 3 and higher). 

Rates range from 1,70 to 5,40 CZK (about €0,065 – 0,208) per km, full scale is available on 

website of Czech Ministry of Transport. 


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Vehicles weighing less than 12 tons are obliged to have a vignette when they use motorways. A 

price for the vignette with validity one year is 900 CZK (about €34,6) for vehicles weighing 3,5 

tons or less and 7.000 CZK (about €269,2) for vehicles weighing from 3,5 tons up to 12,0 tons. 

Final report 

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2.3.2 Fees for access to the rail network 


The guidelines for infrastructure charging come from the Ministry of Transport (MoT). In this 

legislation the MoT draws the principles for setting the infrastructure charges as guidance for 

the infrastructure manager. 

ProRail developed these access charges in detail in the Network Statement 2008 for the railway 

infrastructure, except the Betuwe line. The infrastructure manager for the Betuwe line is Keyrail, 

which has its own Network Statement and prices. 

Various user charge components are used to pay for the maintenance costs, which have been 

distinguished. 

• The costs of traffic control, capacity allocation, safety, posts, level crossings and 

telecommunication are charged in proportion to the number of train kilometres driven. 

• The costs of marshalling and railway yards are charged in proportion to the number of train 

kilometres. 

• The costs of use of the overhead contact line and the electricity transport costs are charged 

in proportion to the number of kilowatt hours used. 

• The costs of use of the stations are charged in proportion to the number of stops, whereby 

stations are allocated to various size categories. 

• The costs of the maintenance of tracks, bridges, overpasses, etc., due to wear and tear, are 

charged in proportion to the kilometre tonnage driven. 

ProRail’s user charging system is based on the pricing principles below. 

• Tariffs are based on ProRail’s task setting costs. 

• Tariffs for the services in Service Packages 1 and 2 (see underneath) are based on the 

variable operating costs of the train service. Point of departure in determining these variable 

costs is the train service at the current transport volume + or – 5 %. No additional market 

surcharges have been applied to increase the coverage of costs on the part of ProRail. 

• Tariffs for the services in Service Packages 1 and 2 are non-discriminatory, meaning that all 

railway undertakings are charged the same tariff for the same service. 

• The actual costs will be charged for those services in Service Packages 3 and 4, to which 

ProRail holds a monopoly. 

Tariffs: 

A user charge is determined for every element of the service packages that a railway 

undertaking contracts in the context of the Access Agreement. The tariffs consist of basic tariffs, 

subject to a system of surcharges or discounts. 

Service Package 1: Basic Access Package 

ProRail makes the services in the Basic Access Package available in the 2007 calendar year at 

a tariff per train kilometre, in combination with a tariff per ton kilometre. 

• The tariff per train kilometre is € 0,5119 (price level 2007). 

• The tariff per ton kilometre is € 0,001750 (price level 2007). 

65


A discount is given on the tariff per ton kilometre, see underneath. Distances are rounded to 0.1 

km; distances


irregularities or to promote low-noise rolling stock. Before determining new performance 

schemes and announcement thereof in the form of a supplement to the Network Statement, 

ProRail will provide titleholders with a draft version of such schemes for consultation purposes. 

Subsidy for rail freight operators 

ProRail reduced previoulsy from in the infrastructure access charges the subsidy ProRail 

received of the MoT for railway freight operators. This subsidy made that rail freight operators 

did not have to pay infrastructure charges in the past. 

However the subsidy is reduced and the operators have to pay following in 2008: 

• Trains not heavier than 275 tons: € 0,811 per train kilometre 

• Trains heavier than 275 ton and less than 750 ton: € 1,323 per train kilometre 

• Trains heavier than 750 ton and less than 3000 ton: € 1,346 per train kilometre 

• Trains heavier than 3000 ton: € 1,438 per train kilometre 

Final report 

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2.3.2.2 Betuwe line 

The basis tariff per train kilometre for 2009 is € 1,69. The tariff will increase gradually to €2.33 

in 2011. Overall the infrastructure manager has more incentivizes indicators in the Network 

Statement: like missing connections or cancelling of trains. These reduce the infrastructure 

charges. At this moment there is no English version of the Network Statement. 


Track charges 

Legal basis: Railway Act (Allgemeines Eisenbahngesetz, AEG), Railway Utilization Regulation 

(Eisenbahninfrastruktur-Benutzungsverordnung, EIBV) 

In the absence of an independent regulatory body DB Netz AG has designed and operates the 

track charging system of the federal railway network. The Federal Government’s policy is 

geared towards recovery of full infrastructure costs 

Technical and economic parameters for calculating track charges (including additional fees): 

The present system is composed of the basic price plus product factors plus possible special 

factors: Basic price (route category and utilisation), categories take into account the 

infrastructure characteristics (possible speed, technical equipment) and the traffic density on 

individual sections of the network. The Fplus category was introduced with the opening of the 

Cologne-Frankfort high-speed line. 

The rates for train-kilometres: 

67


Basic prices for 2007 until the 08.12.07 Basic prices for 2008 valid from 09.12.07 to 13.12.08 

Table 2.8 - Fees for access to the rail network in Germany (basic prices) 

Basic prices with utilization factor for 2007 until the 08.12.07 

(Table 4) 

Table 2.9 - Fees for access to the rail network in Germany (basic prices with utilization) 


� 

There is no specific list for 2008 for track 

utilization. 

Product factor train paths are split into passenger and freight traffic products and on-demand 

train paths; the freight traffic category offers four product factors: express, standard, no load, 

feeder train: 

Prices for freight traffic tracks in 2007 Prices for freight traffic tracks in 2008 

Table 2.10 - Fees for access to the rail network in Germany (product factor) 

RUs can order on-demand train path (maximum 15% of train-kilometres of their requested 

standard train paths). If the on-demand train path will be used, the RU has to pay the track 

charges. If the on-demand train path will only be used partly or not be used, the RU has to pay 

10% of the track charge for the not-used part of the train path. 

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Special Factors (supplements and rebates): 

Special multiplying factors for 

out-of-gauge load: 1.50 

requests for special trains: 1.10 

special adding factors for freight transport for weight class and axle-load (between 0.11 and 

0.93 €/train-km) and special adding factors for passenger transport for tilting technology 

Regional factors (only for regional passenger transport) 

Cancellation and suspension fees: 

Cancellation 

Cancellation of train path up to the 60th day 

before the first day of operation 

Cancellation of train path up to the 30th day 


Cancellation of train path after the 30th day 


Cancellation of train path less then 24 hours 


Table 2.11 - Fees for access to the rail network in Germany (cancellation fees in 2008) 

Final report 

R20080142.doc 

The minimum payment for cancellation 

amounts to the price for tender preparation. 


amounts to the price for tender preparation 

plus 25% of a track price. 


amounts to the price for tender preparation 

plus 50% of the price for a track. 

A cancellation is impossible. The full price for 

a track has to be paid. 

Note: Revenues from track charges do by no means cover total costs before depreciation of the 

operation, maintenance and interest of the track network. Published figures do not allow 

assessing, to what extent rail freight is covering infrastructure costs under the present track 

charge scheme. The last cost assessment was carried out for the year 1997 when rail freight 

covered less than 16% of its cost. 

Access to electricity 

DB Energie GmbH is the basic German supplier for traction current, as a separate company 

within DB Services. It now offers a full supply of traction current as well as network access 

(transmission of electricity from another provider, including use of the catenary). Charges differ 

according to the time of consumption, take into account recuperation of traction current, 

duration of contract etc. 

Access to diesel 

Refuelling services are offered by DB Energie GmbH, which owns a network of 210 fuelling 

stations. As reported by several RUs there are no quantity discounts for diesel fuel. There are 

no indications by RUs that charging system contains discriminative elements. RUs have the 

possibility to use fuelling stations of their customers or other companies (instead DB Energie 

GmbH). For cross border transport RUs can use the fuelling stations outside Germany 

Tracking and tracing of freight wagons 

DB Netz AG offers access to control dispatching system for customers (Leitsystem zur 

Netzdisposition Kunde, LeiDis-NK) for a fee of 1400 € per month (excl. VAT) 

69



The price for the usage of the rail infrastructure is determined by the Czech Republic Ministry of 

Finance (CRMF). The actual prices are laid down in the Assessment of the CRMF no. 01/2007 

dated 6. December 2006, through which the List of Goods with regulated prices is issued. This 

Assessment is published in the Price bulletin, part 15/2006. 

The freight train rates differ from the passenger trains’ rates, in principle the final price is based 

on the distance travelled, multiplied by the applicable rate per kilometre. The following rates 

apply to the freight carriage: 

Carriage route operation Carriage route serviceability 

(traffic control) 

provision (infrastructure) 

Rate applicable to rails included in 53,31CZK / trainkm 

the European corridors 

70,63 CZK / 1.000 gross tonkm 

Rate for other national rails 48,46 CZK / trainkm 58,86 CZK / 1.000 gross tonkm 

Rate for regional rails 43,61 CZK / trainkm 44,15 CZK / 1.000 gross tonkm 

Table 2.12 - Fees for access to the rail network in Czech Republic 

The final amount is multiplied by the coefficient of 1,075 if the train is hauled on the electrified 

line by the diesel locomotives. 

The mentioned prices exclude the VAT and are the maximal, do not include the cost of driving 

of the locomotive, cost of the traction diesel or the electrical energy in cases where the 

electrically driven tractive units are used, costs for the allocation and reservation of the rail 

carriage route capacity, cost of the train schedules compilation and further specified costs. The 

traction diesel fuelling conditions or the traction energy consumption is set out in the contract 

concluded between the carrier and the rail operator. 

Discounts applicable to the given maximal prices are published in the Network Statement on 

railway issued by infrastructure manager SŽDC on the basis of the Act no. 266/1994 Coll. On 

Railways, and are entitlements if the conditions are fulfilled and must be provably provided to all 

carriers under equal and non-discriminatory conditions. The following discounts apply to the 

freight carriage: 

Reduction for freight carriage grant – on newly acquired carriages the final price is reduced by 

25%; 

Discount for the combined carriage development grant - the final price is reduced by 40%; 

Discount for the individual wagons carriage consignments’ grant at the rate of 15%. 

basic tariff [€] per 

note 

1 trainkm 1 tonkm 

NL Pro Rail 0,5059 0,001715 

DE DB Netz 1,82 – 4,02 in dependence on line 

category 

CZ SŽDC 1,63 – 1,99 0,00165 – in dependence on line 

0,00264 category 

Table 2.13 - Brief comparsion of basic tariffs for access to the rail network in all three countries 

Track access fees are a matter in issue in Europe and some railfreight operators fear that track 

access charges are too high to give a boost to railfreight transport and are thwarting a modal 


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shift from road to rail. It concerns mainly Central and Eastern European (CEE) states, as follows 

from this graph [€ per 1 km]: 

Figure 2.1 - Brief comparsion of basic tariffes for access to the rail network in European countries 

On NL – CZ corridor fees in CZ are higher then those in NL and GE; on the other hand fees in 

CZ are lowest within CEE. 

Final report 

R20080142.doc 

2.4 Capacity of the rail network, its allocation 


ProRail allocates capacity to the operators on an independent basis. 

Procedure: The following interest must be considered in the decision making process 

• Maintaining the guaranteed minimum capacities per market segment 

• Efficient use of the railway infrastructure 

• The economic interest of the applicants 

• Minimising travelling times by public transport passenger transport 

• The allocation of capacity to requests from companies for the first time requesting capacity 

for freight transport by rail. 

When the network is full, ProRail must grant a higher weighting to the interests related to the 

market segments with higher priority; in that connection, the following order of priority should be 

employed: 

• Urban regional public passenger transport 

• International public passenger transport 

• Conventional freight transport 

• National public transport 

• Heavy freight transport 

• Rapid freight transport 

• District and regional public passenger transport 

• Very high speed freight transport 

• Private passenger transport 

71


For 2008 ProRail could not grant all operator’s access requests, because the network is full. 

However the cargo operators did get their requested train paths, only some passenger 

operators did not get all their requested paths. 


Right of access 

(description of situation as per 22/06/2005) 

There is no capacity allocation body: DB Netz AG allocates capacity on its own network Legal 

framework: Railway Act (Allgemeines Eisenbahngesetz, AEG) 

• Railway undertakings established in Germany have right of access to the whole network. 

• Undertakings established in Germany, which assign a railway undertaking to handle the 

goods transport have access to the whole network. 

• International groupings have the right of access to the whole network. An international 

grouping is defined as a joint venture of two or more RUs established in more than one EU 

Member State, their business activity consisting of cross border transport between Member 

States. 

• Railway Undertakings established in a EU Member State have right of access to the whole 

network for cross-border combined transport between Member States and to the Trans- 

European Rail Freight Network (TERFN) for cross-border goods transport. 

These RUs will get right of access to the whole network as from 15th March 2008 for all types of 

cross-border goods transport. 

• Railway undertakings established in a EU Member State or Member State of the European 

Economic Area have right of access if mutuality is guaranteed. 

• If mutuality is not guaranteed (see above), access to the network for railway undertakings 

established in third countries is based on bilateral intergovernmental agreements. 


The capacity on national or regional rail owned by the state is allocated by Railway 

Infrastructure Administration, state organization (SŽDC) - see § 34b Railway Act. 

The allocator identifies the capacity of line sections separately for each track, according to the 

specified train traffic organisation. This capacity is in Network Statement published by SŽDC. 

Allocating capacity is carried out by two main procedures: 

• long-term allocation, which is taken note when constructing the annual timetable; 

• one-off allocation, which operates with free capacity left over after allocation following the 

construction of the annual timetable. 

The process of long-term capacity allocation is carried out in accordance with the European 

directives contained in the Railways Act and its implementary decrees. The sequence of the 

component phases, from the start of construction the timetable to its completion is determined 

by the ordering: 

• Passenger transport 

• Freight transport 

• other types of trains 

The participants in the long-term capacity allocation process are: 

• the railway undertaking – applicant 

• the railway operator – compiler of the timetable 

• the OSS (see note) 

• the allocater. 


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Note: European Infrastructure Managers have signed an agreement on a common sales and 

marketing organisation for international infrastructure capacity called RailNetEurope (RNE). 

These Infrastructure Managers have set up One Stop Shops (OSS) working as a network of 

customer contact points within the framework of RNE. For international route requests, the 

customer needs only to contact one of these OSS, which will initiative the whole international 

route allocation process. Thus the contacted OSS cooperates closely with the concerned 

infrastructure managers. 

The allocator shall be authorized to withdraw a transport route capacity allocated to a railway 

undertaking in the case that: 

• it has not been made use of for a period of one month; 

• it has ceased to comply with the conditions for access to the transport route; 

• the railway undertaking has repeatedly failed to pay the price for the allocation or use of the 

transport route during the payment period; 

• the railway undertaking uses the transport route in a different way from the capacity 

allocated. 

The Network Statement issued by RIA defines detailed requirements for an application for 

capacity allocation. If the number of applications does not exceed the free transport route 

capacity, the allocator shall proceed in such manner that no applicant shall have a clear 

advantage over another. It the number of applications exceeds the transport route capacity the 

allocator proceeds in accordance with the principles of the process for coordinating requests 

and priority criteria. 

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2.5 Availability of necessary equipment 

On the basis of the above-mentioned observations it can be concluded that availability of the 

required facilities fluctuates. 

Rolling stock: 

• locomotives – the traction power supply on the market is sufficient, apart from the main 

carriers ČD and Railion (see note) the service is also offered by other carriers - for carriages 

on the axis Netherlands - ČR are engaged ERS and ITL Dresden; 

• wagons – there is not enough freight wagons of the required series. This applies to the 

wagons for combined transport, and also generally. The operators that have their own 

wagons have clear advantage. 

Infrastructure: 

• railway lines – there exist rail sections and rail junctions’ sections objectively lacking 

capacity, whereby the infrastructure administrators have projects ready to gradually remove 

these bottlenecks, but in principle, a non-discriminatory access to the rail carriage route is 

guaranteed only until the capacity is used up; 

• the combined transport terminals – the insufficient capacities at the terminal are being 

pointed out from more sides, the owners use the terminals only for their carriage, access to 

other operators is only possible when reserves are available during the capacity utilisation, 

in addition to that the other operators are usually taken as competitors and there isn’t any 

special effort made to ease their situation; 

• combined carriage public terminals – these terminals guarantee free access to all operators, 

however their network is inadequate. This mainly applies to the Czech Republic, where 

there are two terminals accessible by all operators (in Lovosice) 

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Ports: 

• the port of Rotterdam is on the limits of its capacity. Especially the land connections are 

very much congested: both rail and road. Terminal capacity is lacking. This influences also 

the freight transport to Czech Republic. The volume of the processed goods on the year-onyear 

basis is increasing sharply to 94.818 containers trans-shipped in, which represents 

growth a 44% in 4 years. 

Border crossing: 

• differences between the various electric traction power supply systems and the safety 

schemes used is a matter of general knowledge, often referred to and criticised; however, 

these facilities are costly systems inherited from the past and there is no immediate 

exercisable solution available. Different traction systems can be utilised by the multi-system 

electric locomotives, or by the diesel ones, which are not affected by these differences. To 

achieve interoperability it is important to implement the ETCS (European Train Control 

System); for instance the present status in the Czech Republic is such that the pilot project 

for verification of this system still has to be carried out. 

• The extent of the administrative and technical tasks performed at the borders differ in 

dependence on various circumstances, but if the mutual agreement allows it, performance of 

these tasks is ignored; 

• Even though it is advantageous to have one traction-provider which will take the train right 

up to the destination station, changing the locomotives must not be considered as a major 

obstacle – if there are no other tasks performed, the change of locomotive combined with a 

simplified brake test does not take longer than 15 minutes; 

• There are no comments of importance having to be made in respect of the capacity of 

border exchange stations or of the activities that are made there. 

Note: Railion will apply 26 new locomotives of the class 189 until December 2007, these locos 

can be applied on track between the Netherlands and Germany and other significant countries. 

These locos are equipped with a mobile part of the new ETCS system and the other 

predominant security systems of the countries. Further more these Locos can handle all the 

different power supply systems in Europe. In total Railion disposes about 90 Locos of that type. 

Up to now they are applied on the tracks between Germany and the Czech Republic (to Děčín). 

2.6 Steps currently taken to alleviate or eliminate barriers 

2.6.1 International level 

Steps that are currently taken to alleviate or eliminate barriers on EU level are presented in 

chapter 2.1.1. They are in particular: 

• a support of interoperability by means of newly established European Railway Agency; 

• further development and support of Marco Polo programme that is aimed at development of 

combined transport; 

• continuance of DIOMIS project that is aimed at an increasing of productivity in freight and 

combined transport; 

• continuance of Euro SIWAL project that it aimed at support of single wagon loads; 

• continuance of TEMA project that is aimed to increase development of intermodal transport. 

Important programme is RETRACK (REorganisation of Transport networks by advanced RAil 

freight Concepts). It is funded under the European Commission (EC) FP6 Programme and 


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started in May 2007. The RETRACK project aims to contribute to the Commission’s aspirations 

of a modal shift of freight traffic from road to rail with a market share of 15% by 2020 to achieve 

commercial viability and contribute to sustainable mobility. The main objective of the RETRACK 

project is to develop, demonstrate and implement an innovative and market-tested rail freight 

service along an East-West trans-European corridor. This axis will be composed of a backbone 

corridor connecting Rotterdam with the Black Sea seaport Constanza in Romania. 

TREND programme that have already finished can serve as a contribution and starting point for 

most of these projects. 

Other two important documents on freight policy will shortly emerge from the European 

Commission: the Logistics Action Plan and a Communication on a European Rail Freight 

Network. 

Logistics Action Plan is one of a series of policy initiatives jointly launched by the European 

Commission to improve the efficiency and sustainability of freight transport in Europe. It 

presents a number of short- to medium-term actions that will help Europe address its current 

and future challenges and ensure a competitive and sustainable freight transport system in 

Europe. The external dimension of all of these actions will need to be considered with a view to 

efficiently integrating third countries and in particular neighbouring countries into the logistic 

chain. 

Communication on a European Rail Freight-Oriented Network is a major step forward for rail 

freight. It commits to creating better conditions for shifting freight from road onto rail in the 

coming years. The European Rail Infrastructure Managers (EIM) have for several years 

advocated the implementation of simple and practical methods to achieve growth in rail freight. 

The framework for this is now in place. However in its initial state it does not concern to corridor 

between The Netherlands and Czech Republic. Line Dresden – Prague – Havlíčkův Brod – Brno 

– Vienna/Ostrava – Poland is part in defined network but no line in West-East direction in 

Germany is included, only North-South lines. 

Transportations to the East 

After the World War II there were two modes created in Europe for the rail freight transport, 

which led to creation of two transport law systems. It was the agreement CIM, which is part of 

COTIF, and the Agreement on International Goods Transport - SMGS. Transport in the SMGS 

mode materialised between the countries of Eastern Europe, Soviet Union and other countries 

(China, Vietnam, Iran etc.). The present situation is such that transport in both modes 

(CIM+SMGS) can be executed, out of the European countries in Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, 

Ukraine, Hungary and Bulgaria. Transport only in the SMGS mode can be executed in 

Byelorussia, the Russian Federation, Moldavia and further post-Soviet countries in Caucasus 

and the Central Asia. During transport “West-East-West“ it was necessary to execute so called 

“new consignation“, since it was not possible to use the CIM consignment note for further 

transport in the mode SMGS and the other way round. This procedure was time-consuming and 

created various problems. After negotiations between both sides a common consignment note 

CIM/SMGS was introduced and approved recently and the first trial transportation took place in 

2006. Presently the Czech Republic, Bulgaria, Slovakia, Ukraine, Russia and number of other 

countries have approved the validity of the consignment notes. 

Carriage volumes between the Netherlands and through the Czech Republic directed to 

countries situated in the region of the SMGS mode is insignificant, yet attention is brought to 

this change for the completeness of the report. 

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75


The aim of above mentioned activities is to simplify the administrative procedures, improve 

utilisation of the existing facilities, improve cooperation between all participating subjects, 

improve transfer of information and bring about higher usage of modern information 

technologies. Results of all these activities will certainly contribute to the improvement in the 

transport situation, especially on the railway, however the main contribution is brought about by 

investment measures, whether it involves the road and rail infrastructure development, or 

development of the waterways. In addition it involves investments in construction of new public 

terminals, new rolling stock, implementation of new technologies – all these are very costly 

programs, which will materialise mostly within the available means of the individual countries 

and the individual participating subject, and positive results cannot be expected in months, but 

rather in number of years. The EU organs will play the coordinators’ role, and the main 

responsibility will rest on the individual countries. 

There is an issue that combines both technical and administrative barriers – a cross acceptance 

of railway vehicles, especially locomotives and EMU/DMUs. Cross acceptance is the 

authorisation of locomotives or train sets for use in one Member State being accepted for use in 

another Member State. Each country has its own agency that bears responsibility for approval 

of vehicles, above all that vehicles fulfil all local conditions. Therefore demanding and longlasting 

tests must be conducted. Different signalling systems and radio-based communication 

systems must be named first. European Railway Agency knows the situation and maintains that 

developing methods for cross acceptance is vital for the creation of an internal market in rolling 

stock in order to help increase competitiveness in the railway sector, a key priority for European 

transport policy. The research, conducted by Lloyd´s Register Rail studied the cross acceptance 

processes in six Member States based on the experience of Class 66 freight locomotives (see 

note). One of its key findings was that there is a limit to the degree of cross acceptance that can 

be achieved only by harmonizing technical rules and, in addition, recommended taking a riskbased 

approach centred around the development of safety management systems, incorporating 

common safety targets and methods. The report recommends that this should be integrated with 

the development of technical standards for interoperability (TSIs) to allow for alternative 

solutions that provide the same level of safety. The report points out, too, that the Railway 

Safety Directive and Interoperability Directive do not form framework for cross acceptance, with 

each taking a different approach, as a result of the different goals of each Directive. 

Note: Class 66 freight locomotive has been certified for use in The Netherlands and Germany 

(among others) and a certification in other countries is under way, but not in Czech Republic in 

the meantime. 

This issue is addressed: 

� in Guideline for Cross Acceptance of Rolling Stock – task force for cross acceptance of 

rolling stock compiled with contributing member states Netherlands, Germany, 

Slovakia, France, United Kingdom, Italy and Denmark; 

� in communication of the Commision to the Council and the European Parliament: 

“Facilitating the movement of locomotives across the European Union” – December 

2006; and 

� in Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council on the Interoperability of the 

Community rail system – December 2006. 

A positive example is Action plan 2006-2010 for rail freight corridor Rotterdam – Genoa that 

defines concrete measures for mutual recognition of locomotives and all involved countries 

(Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Austria and Switzerland) closely work on this issue. The method 

used for cross acceptance is the IRL (international requirement list), which is a project of the 

working group Task Force Interoperabiliteit (TFI) and have following participants: 


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• BAV (Bundesamt für Verkehr) 

• BMVIT (Bundesministerium für Verkehr, Innovation und Technologie) 

• DB Netz AG, Technischer Netzzugang für Fahrzeuge 

• EBA (Eisenbahn-Bundesamt) 

• IVW (Inspectie Verkeer en Waterstaat) 

• ÖBB - Infrastruktur Betrieb AG, Operational Standards 

• RFI - DT - Cesifer (Rete Ferroviaria Italiana S.p.A., Direzione tecnica Certificazione 

Sicurezza Imprese Ferroviarie) 

• SBB CFF FFS (Schweizerische Bundesbahnen) 

The IRL is a joined approved list of demands for locomotives. The IRL includes all requirements 

of the approval agencies and operators from the mentioned countries. 

Following picture makes the working methode clear: 

The IRL is a summary of the several lists of demands for both elektrical and diesellocomotives 

based on several themes. It describes all norms regulations, etc on which the seperate 

components or the complete locomotive should meet. 

More information can be found on 

http://www.rail-irl.eu/(S(qilgo1nnv3l10u45nmxmel55))/Default.aspx 

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There are neither legislative nor other changes in sight for the moment, the development of 

transport infrastructure continues in accordance with goals of state transport policy. These are 

mentioned in the National Network Analysis Rail 2007. The transport increase is more than 

foreseen, especially on rail. To allow this growth frequencies on the railnetwork should increase. 

These actions are included in the “Programme Highfrequent Railtransport’. The allocated 

budget is aproxiamatly €4.5 billion Within this budget rail cargo transport should get smarter 

routings towards the Betuwe Route and some additional measurements to increase the 

capacity. One of the focus point of the MoT to improve rail transport is the cooridor approach 

(as mentioned previously). 

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On the corridor Rotterdam- Genoa the renewed action plan of 2006 takes into account to install 

for ERTMS deployment on corridor Rotterdam – Genoa. Other new actions foreseen include 

digital coordination. This includes the implementation of Pathfinder, EICIS and Europtirails. 

Some information on Pathfinder: 

Pathfinder is an Internet based communication system for the optimization of the international 

train path coordination. It is RailNetEuropes' web based tool for processing international 

timetabling, applicable by all Railway Undertakings and Infrastructure Managers. Pathfinder 

facilitates the ordering communication and coordination processes within all phases of the 

international timetabling. 

Within 2007 the number of train path requests submitted via Pathfinder increased by 94%, 

compared to 2006. 

Pathfinder is open to every Infrastructure Manager and Railway Undertaking. 

Since beginning of 2006 Pathfinder is free of charge for all customers. 

Main Features 

• Coordination of tailor made paths for annual time table and short term planning 

• Shop window for catalogue paths 

• Workflow solution for train path coordination 

• Documentation of the coordination process 

• Train composition data for passenger and freight trains 

• Message system 

• “In house” workflow 

• Data import in XML 

• Data export in PDF, XML, HTML 

• Definition of stop points based on UIC ENEE 

• Multilingual, eight languages available right now 

Benefits for Customers 

• Simplification of the coordination process 

• Reduction of “languages problems” 

• Increase of the reliability of the coordinated paths 

• International standardization of the data structure 

• Availability of international timetable data 

• Support for the implementation of the EU-Infrastructure-package 

• More planning capacity for grown demands 

More information is available on the Pathfinder Website www.pfndr.org 

Transport on the corridor Rotterdam – Lyon is increasing since the Memorandum of 

Understanding is signed between the Ministers of France, Belgium and the Netherlands. One of 

the most important topics of the MoU is the improvement of the certification procedures for 

operators, locomotives and drives. Mutual recognition is the common goal. The Inspectorates 

cooperate to simplify their procedures. The infra managers are cooperating to make their 

access charges more transparent and to optimize the international train paths. The regulatory 

authorities cooperate to open the market. 


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There are no legislative changes in sight for the moment. The last big change was in 2005. The 

current legislative system is based on these amendments. 

As far as railway infrastructure is concerned, current construction sites are on the Netherlands – 

Czech Republic corridor in Germany: 

ABS Berlin – Dresden (construction stage 1): measures to improve the availability, total costs: 

359,2 million €; 

ABS Hannover – Lehrte: Hannover Tiergarten – Lehrte incl. drive through, total costs: 

376 million €; 

ABS Löhne – Braunschweig – Wolfsburg (construction stage 1): form single track to double 

track, improvement of velocity in this sector: total costs: 118 million €; 

VDE 9 Leipzig – Dresden: total costs: 1.451 million €; 

first construction stage: Leipzig - Riesa (completed); 

second construction stage: Dresden-Neustadt – Dresden Hbf; 

third construction stage: Riesa – Dresden-Neustadt; 

Joint: Halle/Leipzig, Magdeburg, Erfurt, Dresden: total costs: 1.823 million €. 


No new basic measures are being prepared; the priority is defined by the national transport 

policy (for more details see Chapter 2.1.4.1) and is being fulfilled in principle, naturally within 

the constraints of the national budget. New highway sections are being built, bypasses of towns 

and cities, and rerouting of the 1. Category roads. Modernised gradually are also the rail routes, 

projects are prepared also for other important rails in addition to those that have been included 

in the international corridors. Directorate of roads and highways is responsible for the condition 

and development of the motorways and roads of 1. Category and Railway Infrastructure 

Administration for the development of railways. The framework of the strategy of the transport 

network development is presented in the General Plan of Development of Transport 

Infrastructure issued by the Czech Republic Ministry of Transport. 

As it is also evident from the preceding chapter, of the main relevance is the implementation of 

combined transport development supporting program, which, as it is evident from the survey – 

is at this stage not being fulfilled in the required extent. That relates also to the fact that it was 

necessary to resolve whether this support is not discriminatory in relation to the other subjects 

on the transport market. The committee of European Commission issued recently a resolution, 

in which allowed the Czech Republic to implement new combined transport development 

supporting program. The committee did not raise any objections against the program, except a 

query in respect of the subsidies for the combined transport special railway wagons, where the 

committee was not sure if the wagons would be used for the combined transport only. After the 

explanatory notes made by the Czech Republic representative, the Committee acknowledged 

that the said railway wagons cannot be used for other type of transportation due to their special 

design features. The Committee then declared the support as conformable with the 

communitary rules on public subsidy and permitted implementation of the program. 

“The aim of the programme is to develop the combined transport and through that achieve a 

shift of freight carriage from the road transport to other means of transport” said the vicechairman 

of the Office for Protection of Competition, Kamil Rudolecký. In view of the fact that 

restructuring is taking place on many transport markets, it is necessary to create market 

79


orientated supporting programs for the purpose of taking over the risks connected with the 

transition from the road transport to other alternative means of transport. 

The support will be directed at construction, expansion and modernisation of terminals of the 

combined transport; for the acquisition of the equipment for the combined transport and to 

support the new lines’ introductory phase of the combined transport. The support program 

should strengthen the competitiveness of the combined transport, which should increase its 

usage. The support will go the recipients, who will be the operators of the transfer areas and the 

combined rail transport, in the form of non-repayable subsidies. The support might be as high 

as 30% of the incurred costs. The expected budget for the program amounts to 1,58 mld. CZK 

for the period 2006-2010, unfortunately allocating of money heavily legs behind the schedule so 

far. 


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3 Selection of the Path and Terminals 

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Picture 3.1 – Main considered traffic routes between NL - CZ 

3.1 Terminals 

3.1.1 Summary of actual terminals and their parameters 

3.1.1.1 The Netherlands 

Shippers will have access to the rail freight systems by: 

• Private sidings, which enables to load or unload wagons on the industrial sites. 

• Public loading and unloading facilities offered by the infrastructure manager 

• Terminals for intermodal transport. 

In future the so-called rail ports may offer a combination of public facilities for conventional 

transport and terminals for intermodal transport. At this moment rail ports do not exist in the 

Netherlands. 

For conventional transport private sidings and public loading and unloading facilities are 

available. The public facilities have no equipment. 

For shunting only one shunting yard is operational: Kijfhoek (between Rotterdam and 

Dordrecht). From Kijfhoek regular train services to Köln Gremberg exist for conventional 

wagonload transport. 

All locations of public facilities are listed in the annex 6. 

81


For intermodal transport following terminals are open: 

1) Europe Container Terminals (ECT): Delta Terminal Rotterdam Maasvlakte with two 

railterminals: Oostelijke Rail Terminal (ORT) and Rail Terminal West (RTW) 

2) Euromax: terminal to be opened 2008, Rotterdam Maasvlakte, operated by ECT. 

3) Rail Service Center Rotterdam: Rotterdam Waalhaven. 

4) Amsterdam Ceres Terminal 

5) Euro Terminal Coevorden 

6) Rail Service Center Groningen: located in Veendam 

7) Rail Terminal Tilburg 

8) Rail Terminal Leeuwarden 

9) Rail Terminal Eindhoven: located in Acht 

10) Rail Terminal Born 

11) ECT Venlo 

12) Hupac terminal Ede 

Intermodal transport is concentrated in so shuttle trains with regular departures in fixed 

timetables. Train sets are fixed and shunting is prevented. Daily direct shuttle connections 

between The Netherlands and Czech Republic are offered from ECT and Rail Service Center 

Rotterdam only. 

For operational-technical parameters of intermodal terminals see table in Annex 6. 

Picture 3.2 – Dutch terminals where cargo can be shipped on train 


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Rail terminals 

• Barge en Rail terminal Born 

• Euro Terminal Coevorden 

• Hupac International Ede N.V. 

• Pernis Combi Terminal 

• Rail & Barge Terminal Tilburg B.V. 

• Rail Service Center Rotterdam 

• Rail Terminal Eindhoven 

• Rail Terminal Friesland 

• RSCG (Rail Service Center Groningen) Veendam 

• TCT Venlo 

Picture 3.3 - Terminal with a rail connection in development 

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83

ACHT LEUSDEN 


ALMELO MAARSSEN/UTRECHT LAGE WEIDE 

ALPHEN A.D. RIJN MAASSLUIS 

AMERSFOORT MAASTRICHT 

AMSTERDAM WESTHAVEN MOERDIJK 

APELDOORN NIJMEGEN 

ARNHEM NOORDWIJKERHOUT 

AXEL ONNEN 

BERGEN OP ZOOM OOSTERHOUT WESTSTAD 

BEVERWIJK ROODESCHOOL 

BORN ROOSENDAAL 

COEVORDEN ROTTERDAM RMO 

CRAILOO ROTTERDAM WAALHAVEN 

DELDEN ROTTERDAM PERNIS 

DELFT ROTTERDAM BOTLEK 

DELFZIJL ROTTERDAM EUROPOORT 

DORDRECHT INDUSTRIE SAS VAN GENT 

DORDRECHT ZEEHAVEN SLUISKIL 

EEMSHAVEN TERNEUZEN 

EMMEN TILBURG GOEDEREN 

GELEEN LUTTERADE TILBURG INDUSTRIE 

GOUDA VEENDAM 

GRONINGEN LOSPLAATS VENLO TRADE PORT 

HAANRADE VLAARDINGEN 

HAARLEM VLISSINGEN SLOEHAVEN 

HENGELO ZEVENAAR 

KESTEREN ZWOLLE KATWOLDE 

LEIDSCHENDAM 

Table 3.1 - List of loading and unloading facilities for conventional transport only (Most of the facilities 

have no special equipment) 

A detailed overview of the terminals in the Netherlands is in Annex 6. 


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There are currently 6 key companies that operate intermodal freight transport (IFT) terminals in 

the territory of the Czech Republic. 

Company Location of the terminal 

METRANS, a. s. Prague-Uhříněves,Zlín-Želechovice/Lípa 

ČSKD INTRANS, a. s. Prague-Žižkov, Přerov, Brno 

MAERSK LOGISTICS, s. r. o. Mělník 

ČD-DUSS, Terminál a. s. Lovosice 

Česko-saské přístavy s. r. o. Děčín, Lovosice 

České přístavy a. s. Ústí nad Labem, Mělník 

Table 3.2 - Location of terminals in the CZ 

Allt terminals are described in detail in Annex 5. 

3.1.2 Assessment of terminals for int. transport in relation NL – CZ 


All terminals in the port of Rotterdam and Amsterdam, as mentioned in the list will be available 

for international transport of intermodal units (containers, swap bodies, trailers) between the 

Netherlands and Czech Republic. The Euro Terminal Coevorden may offer services to the 

Czech Republic, for which the railway network of the Netherlands is not used. Trains from this 

terminal run over the Bentheimer Eisenbahn, which is a German company. 

This concerns: 

• ECT Delta Terminal, both ORT as RTW. ORT for maritime containers only. 

• Rail Service Center Rotterdam 

• Amsterdam Ceres Terminal 

• Euro Terminal Coevorden 

In near future following terminals might also be interesting for international service to and from 

Czech Republic: 

• Euromax Terminal, to be opened 2008 at Rotterdam Maasvlakte. 

• Rail Service Center Moerdijk, planned for 2009 to offer intermodal services for shortsea 

shipping lines and continental intermodal transport. 

The terminals in the port of Rotterdam have serious congestion problems. With opening of the 

Euromax Terminal sufficient handling capacity will be available. On the long run two terminals 

are foreseen on Maasvlakte II. All those terminals are planned for maritime containers. 

Amsterdam, Coevorden and Moerdijk offer sufficient capacity for growth of international 

transport. 

85


3.1.2.2 Developments in intermodal terminals in the Rotterdam area 

Extension of RSC Terminal 

Rail Service Center Rotterdam has 2 groups of four tracks of 750 meters. Both groups have 2 

portal cranes each. All tracks have an access at the eastern side of the terminal. However, only 

4 tracks have an access at the western side only. Planned is an access for the other 4 tracks at 

the western side to. Realization: 2009. 

Opening of Bertschi Terminal 

Opened 2007 

Location in Rotterdam Botlek 

Terminal operator: Bertschi (forwarding company in chemical transport). 3 tracks of 450 meters 

each, one portal crane and a stacking area of 1250 TEU, Terminal is connected by rail to the 

Botlek yard along the Port Railway. Terminal has also an access for trucks and barges. 

Railservices to Frankfurt (Main) and from there to Italy. 

Euromax Terminal 

Euromax Terminal Maasvlakte to be opened: 2008. 

Operations by ECT (Hutchinson). At seaside annual capacity of 2.9 million TEU. Railterminal 

with 4 tracks of 750 meter. Connected with an extension of the Port Railway (part from the 

Betuweroute) from the western railway yard at the Maasvlakte. 

Maasvlakte 2 

Maasvlakte 2 is an extension of the port area in western direction. This port area should be 

ready in 2013/2014. Contracts have been signed for two new containerterminals. One of the 

terminals will be operated by APM Terminals with an annual capacity of 4,5 million of containers 

at the seaside. The other terminal by Rotterdam World Gateway, a consortium of Dubai Ports 

World and shipping lines MOL, Hyundai and APL. Annual capacity will be 4 million containers at 

the seaside. Both terminals will have a rail access with an extension of the existing Port Railway 

from Maasvlakte 1. An unapproved map of the Maasvlakte 2 is underneath. 

Picture 3.4 - Terminal with a rail connection in development 


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All terminals in the Czech Republic may be theoretically used for the shipping destination Czech 

Republic - the Netherlands. The currently operated terminals are drawn in the attached 

schemes. 

Besides the current terminal a construction of new multi-modal terminals in the CR can be 

considered. It is especially the assumed Czech Railways new terminals network and public 

multi-modal terminals network proposed by company CDV for Ministry of Transportation of the 

Czech Republic. However, the term of implementation of these proposed terminals is not known 

yet. 

3.2 Routes 

The function of manager of the rail infrastructure in state ownership, in the sense of the 

European Parliament and Council Directive 2001/14/EC as of 26.2.2001, is held, in the Czech 

republic, by a legal entity the Railway Infrastructure Administration, a state organization and the 

rail system operator. 

Detailed information is in the following address: 

http://www.szdc.cz/english/prohl0809_en.php 

3.2.1 Description of main considered road and railway routes 

A detailed overview of the main considered road and railway routes is in Annex 7. 

Rail 


With the opening of the Betuweroute in 2007 the route choice for freight trains will change 

completely. The Betuweroute is a freight-only railway line with 25 kV and ERTMS Level 2. The 

new built line is between the German – Dutch border and the shunting yard of Kijfhoek. The 

already existing line from Kijfhoek into the port of Rotterdam (until Maasvlakte) is also part of 

the Betuweroute. This so-called Havenspoorlijn has been equipped with double track, 25 kV 

and ERTMS. The 25 kV and ERTMS systems will be operational as from the middle of the year 

2008. Infrastructure manager for the Betuweroute is Keyrail. 

For the development of rail transport between the Netherlands and Czech Republic the 

Betuweroute will be the main considered railway route with sufficient capacity for growth. Two 

routes may be used: 

Rotterdam – Betuweroute – Emmerich 

Rotterdam – Betuweroute branch Valburg – Arnhem – Deventer – Bad Bentheim 

Congestion problems will appear in the port of Rotterdam and from Emmerich into Germany. 

Trains that will leave the Betuweroute using the Valburg branch to Arnhem have to be equipped 

with both 25 kV as 1500 volt and ERTMS and ATB safety systems. The route via Arnhem – 

Deventer – Hengelo has regular passenger services and capacity for freight trains is limited by 

regulations on noise and dangerous goods. In Deventer the freight trains have to change 

direction. Some shunting tracks are available. 

Road 

Main route for road transport is highway in the Netherlands from the western part of the country 

to the Dutch – German border: A12 – A28 – A1: Rotterdam – Amersfoort – Hengelo - 

Osnabrück 

87


Choice of these route will depend on preferences of drivers and the choice of border crossing 

between Germany and Czech Republic. The length is about 245 km. Congestion problems 

frequently occur around the important cities: around Rotterdam and Utrecht. 



The main railway route from Bad Bentheim via Lohne, Hannover, Magdeburg, Leipzig, Dresden 

to Bad Schandau has been included by providing you with the TREND data. Following a recent 

interview with Railion this is the relevant route for services from The Netherlands to the Czech 

Republic. 

This route is approx. 621km long and for a standard freight train an infrastructure fee of approx. 

1480€ has to be paid (following the electronic information system TPS). 

For an express train paths the costs are about 1000€ higher. 

For the route to Schirnding/Cheb the costs are similar. 

Road 

Following our information from German forwarding companies the relevant route for road 

transport is from Bad Bentheim via Bad Oeynhausen, Hannover, Mageburg, to 

Petrovice/Breitenau. 

This line is about 628 km long and for a Truck it takes approximately 10 h. Used motorways are 

A30 / E30, A2 /E30, A14 / E49, Autobahndreieck Nossen, A4 / E40, A17. For this relation a toll 

charge of 92 € arises. 


Rail – Main considered railway routes 

Considering position of most terminals within the territory of the Czech Republic and assumed 

boarder crossings the following routes have been selected as the main routes 

• Prague – Lovosice – Ústí nad Labem – Děčín-Dolní žleb st.hr. 

• Mělník – Ústí nad Labem-Střekov – Děčín východ – Děčín-Dolní žleb st.hr. 

The Prague-Bubeneč – Lovosice – Ústí nad Labem – Děčín-Dolní Žleb st.hr. route is a double 

line route within the full length, electrified by 3 kV system and forms part of the 1st transit 

railway corridor. It also forms part of the TEN-T European railway network. The highest speed 

on the route is 160 km/h (in the Kralupy nad Vltavou – Lovosice section). The route has been 

upgraded in the full length within reconstruction of the 1st transit railway corridor (except for 

Kralupy nad Vltavou railway junction [in preparation] and Ústí nad Labem [under construction]). 

The route is covered by GSM-R signal. The infrastructure manager for this route is SŽDC. 

The route is double line and electrified within Prague territory in Prague-Bubeneč – Prague- 

Libeň section, hereafter the route is single line, electrified in the Prague-Libeň – Prague- 

Malešice – Prague-Hostivař section. Within the Prague-Hostivař – Prague-Uhříněves section 

there is double line, electrified and upgraded within reconstruction of the 3rd transit railway 

corridor. Route optimization is prepared for the Prague-Bubeneč – Prague-Libeň section and in 

addition Prague-Hostivař station is being designed. 

The Prague-Žižkov (ČSKD Intrans) terminal is connected from Prague-Malešice station, the 

Prague-Uhříněves (METRANS) terminal is connected from the Prague-Uhříněves station. 

The Mělník – Ústí nad Labem-Střekov – Děčín východ – Děčín-Dolní Žleb st.hr. route is a 

double line route within the full length, electrified by 3 kV system. It forms part of the TEN-T 


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European railway network. The highest speed on the route is 80 – 120 km/h. The route 

coverage by GSM-R signal is being prepared. Currently no consistent line upgrade of the route 

is being prepared or considered. The infrastructure manager for this route is SŽDC. The is only 

single electrified line within the Děčín východ – Děčín-Prostřední Žleb section. 

For detail information concerning the routes (individual route sections) please see the attached 

table. 

Rail – Continuation of main considered railway routes 

Continuation of main routes towards the other terminals (Brno, Přerov, Zlín-Želechovice) and in 

particular transit routes on the territory of Slovakia (SK) and Hungary (HU) is defined by the 

following routes: 

• Prague – Kolín – Česká Třebová – Brno – Břeclav (- SK/HU), 

• Mělník – Kolín – Havlíčkův Brod – Brno, 

• Česká Třebová – Přerov – Ostrava – Mosty u Jablunkova (- SK), 

• Hranice n.M. – Horní Lideč (- SK). 

The above routes are double line and electrified. These routes form part of the TEN-T European 

railway network. The Prague – Kolín – Česká Třebová – Brno – Břeclav (- SK/HU) route forms 

part of the 1st transit railway corridor, the Česká Třebová – Přerov – Ostrava – Mosty u 

Jablunkova (- SK) route forms part of the 2nd and 3rd transit railway corridor. For detail 

parameters please see the attached table. 

Road 

The main road routes are considered on highways and speed motorways. The main boarder 

crossing (considering routes crossing Germany) is proposed on D8/A17 highway 

(Petrovice/Breitenau boarder crossing). 

The Lovosice – Řehlovice (16,4 km) section has not been completed on the D8 highway yet, its 

opening is planned for 2009. Currently all traffic within this section leads on class I route No. 8 

in a hilly landscape and therefore this section presents a capacity bottleneck and is problematic 

in particular during winter season. 

Lovosice and Ústí nad Labem terminals are directly connected to D8 highway. Děčín, Mělník, 

Prague-Žižkov and Prague-Uhříněves terminals are connected to this highway via short section 

of class I routes, eventually via local roads. 


Final report 

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3.2.2 Verification of alternative backup road and railway routes 


Conventional railway lines in the Netherlands may be used as backup routes for the 

Betuweroute. As the railway line between Utrecht and Arnhem will be closed for freight trains 

only following routes will be available: 

• Rotterdam – Gouda – Breukelen – Duivendrecht – Diemen – Hengelo – Bad Bentheim 

• Rotterdam – Tilburg – Arnhem – Emmerich 

• Rotterdam – Tilburg – Eindhoven – Venlo 

Those railway lines are equiped with 1500 volt and ATB safety system. 

Road 

Alternative backup routes for road transport are all highways in the Netherlands from the 

western part of the country to the Dutch – German border, the most important will be: 

89


A12 : Rotterdam – Arnhem – Oberhausen 

A15-A50-A73-A77: Rotterdam – Nijmegen – Goch 

A16-A27-A58-A2-A67: Rotterdam – Breda – Eindhoven – Venlo – Duisburg 

Choice of those routes will depend on preferences of drivers and the choice of border crossing 

between Germany and Czech Republic. 

Congestion problems frequently occur around the important cities: around Rotterdam, Utrecht 

and Eindhoven. 


An alternative line from Bad Bendheim to Petrovice/Breitenau runs via Erfurt: (AM1) 


A30 / E30, A33, A44 / E331, A7 / E45, A4 / E40, A17. For this relation a toll charge of 95 € 

arises. 

For this relation it has to be announced, that it leads through the Kassler Mountains. Due to 

this, the travelling speed decreases in this area. 

Operating costs (for truck, driver and fuel etc.) can not be stated from the german point of view, 

as we are talking about transit traffic from NL to CZ or vice versa. NL or CZ forwarders have to 

be asked. 

The second alternative line is from Bad Bendheim to Bad Brambach. (AM2a) 

This line is about 601 km long and for a Truck it takes 11 h. Used motorways are A30 / E30, 

A33, A44 / E331, A7 / E45, A4 / E40, A17 / E49 / E51. For this relation a toll charge of 75 € 

arises. 



An alternative line from Bad Bendheim to Schirnding runs via Erfurt (AM2b) 

This line is about 634 km long and for a truck it takes approximately 11h. Used motorways are 

A30 / E30, A33, A44 / E331, A7 / E45, A4 / E40, A9 / E49 / E51, A72 / E441, A93. For this 

relation a toll charge of 83 € arises. 



The third alternative line is from Bad Bendheim to Schirnding: (AM3) 

This line is about 606 km long and for a Truck it takes approximately 11h. Used motorways are 

A30 / E30, A33, A44 / E331, A7 / E45, A70 / E48, E48\Autobahndreieck Bayreuth / Kulmbach, 

A9 / E48 / E51. For this relation a toll charge of 80 € arises. 



The forth alternative line runs from Bad Bentheim to Waidhaus via Frankfurt (AM4) 

This line is about 716 km long and for a Truck it takes approximately 11 ½ h. Used motorways 

are A31, Autobahnkreuz Bottrop, A2 / E34, A3 / E34 / E35, A3 / E42, A3, A6 / E50, A93 / E50, 

A6 / E50. For this relation a toll charge of 106 € arises. 

For this relation it has to be announced, that it leads through the Ruhrgebiet. Due to this, the 

travelling speed could decreases in this area because of often arising traffic jams. 

An alternative line from Bad Bentheim to Waidhaus runs via Erfurt: 


A30 / E30, A33, A44 / E331, A7 / E45, A4 / E40, A9 / E49 / E51, A72 / E441, A93, A6 / E50. For 

this relation a toll charge of 94 € arises. 


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3.2.2.3.1 Rail 

An alternative route from the Czech Republic to the Germany is Ústí nad Labem – Chomutov – 

Cheb/Schirnding. This is electrified double-tracks railway, length is about 186 km. 

Next alternative route is Praha – Plzeň – Cheb/Schirnding. This is electrified double-tracks 

railway (section Pňovany – Cheb one-track), length is about 226 km. There are planned 

constructional measures during 2008 – 2016 (reconstruction of the 3. railway tranzit corridor). 

For terminals on the south of Moravia may be alternative route Havlíčkův Brod – Jihlava – 

České Budějovice – Plzeň – Cheb/Schirnding. 

3.2.2.4 Road 

An alternative route from the Czech Republic to the Netherlands is considered to be on the D5 

highway to the Rozvadov/Waidhaus frontier crossing. This motorway is already built up 

including the Pilsen by-pass. It is linked to the A6 highway. This alternative route could be used 

for the terminals situated south of Prague. 

Another backup route can be the route from Prague using the road I/6 (future R6) through 

Kladno, Karlovy Vary and Cheb to the crossing Pomezí nad Ohří/Schirnding. The frontier 

crossing Vojtanov/Schönberg may be considered also an alternative. These backup frontier 

crossings are situated neither on highways nor on motorways. 

It can be generally said that routes through another frontier crossings than Petrovice/Breitenau 

(D8/A17) and Rozvadov/Waidhaus (D5/A6) are possible; it is usually up to the driver’s choice. 

These routes can be financially advantageous (a shorter section with highway fee), however 

they can mean prolonging of travelling time. 

3.2.3 Summary of Technical Specifications of Individual Routes 

Regard to a big amount of final points, routes among them and possible mutual combinations 

only the selected shifting destinations are summarized further on. Technical specifications are 

summarized in the attached tables (Annex 7). 

From technical specifications point of view the highways at the area of Germany are not 

monitored. The lengths, fees and times of transport are summarized in the chapter describing 

particular routes. Generally, 2-3 traffic lanes, maximal speed 100 km/h and charging. 

The details on the road and rail routes are incorporated in Annex 7. 

91

3.3 Conclusions and Recommendations of CHAPTER 3 


3.3.1 Recommendations for selection of optimal transport route 

3.3.1.1 Summary of planned constructional measures during 2008 – 2013 

Building precautions of a large extent are planned at the railway network in the Czech republic 

in 2008-2013, especially due to the modernization of transit railway corridors The sections 

Prague – Pilsen – Cheb (the 3 rd transit railway corridor) and Prague – Tábor – České 

Budějovice (the 4 th transit railway corridor) will be modernised in this period. 

Besides, a gradual reconstruction of rail junctions at the 1 st and 2 nd transit railway corridor is 

being planned. There are no modernizing events of a larger scope planned on the track Děčín – 

Mělník – Kolín – Havlíčkův Brod – Brno currently. 

In addition to the mentioned precautions small building events take place also on the other 

sections of the track. 

The data may be changed according to requirement and investment possibilities of SŽDC. 

Line 

number 

090 

Section Part / Comment 

Railway junction Ústí 

n.L. 

Railway junction 

Praha 

Supposed building 

events 

07/2005 – 11/2008 

Úvaly – Praha-Běchovice 01/2010 – 12/2012 

Praha-Běchovice – Praha-Libeň 

(1.part) 


(2.part) 


(3.part) 

09/2006 – 03/2011 

01/2010 – 12/2011 

01/2013 – 12/2015 

Praha-Libeň – Praha-Holešovice 01/2008 – 12/2008 

Praha-Holešovice – Praha-Bubeneč 01/2009 – 12/2011 

Strančice – Praha-Hostivař 01/2005 – 12/2008 

010,231 Railway junction Kolín Lines 010,011,230,231 11/2006 – 03/2011 

010 

010 

010 


Pardubice 

Railway junction Ústí 

n.O. 


Č.Třebová 

01/2013 – 12/2014 

01/2010 – 12/2012 

Lines 010,260,270 01/2013 – 12/2016 


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270 

270,330 

Final report 

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Olomouc 


Přerov 

01/2010 – 12/2013 

01/2009 – 12/2012 

270 Červenka – Zábřeh 2.part, Line Přerov – Č. Třebová 08/2005 – 12/2008 

010 

073 

Brandýs n.O. – Ústí 

n.O. 

Ústí-Střekov - 

Boletice 

New line 01/2013 – 12/2016 

reconstruction of 1 st track 03/2008 – 11/2008 

072 Lysá n.L. – Dřísy reconstruction of signalling 03/2008 – 11/2008 

230,250 

Kolín – Brno – 

Břeclav 

ETCS level 2 01/2008 – 12/2010 

090,011 Děčín – Praha – Kolín ETCS level 2 01/2009 – 12/2012 

270 Přerov – Č. Třebová GSM-R 01/2009 – 12/2011 

230,250 Kolín – H.Brod – Brno GSM-R 01/2009 – 12/2011 

073-231 

Děčín – Mělník – 

Kolín 

GSM-R 01/2009 – 12/2011 

Table 3.3 – Supposed building events in main railway routes (CZ) in relation Děčín – Kolín – Brno/Přerov 

3.3.1.2 Recommendation for individual routes 

Recommendation of the choice of particular lines results from geographical location of terminals 

in face of frontier crossings. Furthermore orientation times of transportation, length of lines, 

infrastructure fee and section of congestion were considered for comparing of particular lines. 

In term of road transportation we recommend utilization of main line Rotterdam – Hannover – 

Dresden – Praha. Total length of line is 935 km, time of transportation was estimated on 

average about 15 hours. 

For railway transportation we recommend utilization of main line Rotterdam – Betuweroute – 

Bad Bentheim – Hannover – Dresden – Praha. Total length of line is 976 km, time of 

transportation was estimated on average about 24 hours plus time for technology operations. 

For transit across the Czech republic we recommend freight corridor Břeclav – Brno – Havlíčkův 

Brod – Kolín – Mělník – Děčín. 

Main and alternative routes of freight corridor The Netherlands – Czech republic for road and 

railway transportation are evident from annex 8. 

93


3.3.2 Recommended usage of intermodal terminals in Czech republic 

Based on the CHAPTER 1 data it can be said that mutual exchange of goods of the Czech 

Republic and the Netherlands is directed especially to the Central Bohemia region (including 

Prague 23 % volume in total) and to the North- East region (31 % volume). 

Stredni Morava 

18% 

Moravskoslezsko 

13% 

Jihovychod 

11% 


Praha 

9% 

Severovychod 

31% 

Figure 3.1 - Importance of regions Czech Republic (from CHAPTER 1) 

Stredni Cechy 

14% 

Jihozapad 

4% 

Severozapad 

0% 

Based on transportation volume analysis between the Netherlands and the Czech Republic it 

can be said that perspective locations for use of the current terminals in the CR are in Central 

Bohemia (and Prague) and in Central Moravia – Lovosice, Mělník, Praha a Přerov. 

As far as the General Logistic Centres development is concerned, the Pardubice and Brno 

locations are perspective from the freight transport point of view. 

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4 Action Plan ‘Rail freight corridor the Netherlands – Czech 

Republic’ 

Final report 

R20080142.doc 

4.1 Introduction 

The goal of the Action Plan for the Corridor The Netherlands-Czech Republic is to increase the 

overall quality, efficiency and capacity of the rail freight transport and the competitiveness of the 

international rail freight transport on the corridor. These aspects can increase rail cargo 

transport considerably. This goes along with the EU policy for rail freight transport and will be 

beneficial to the economy in both countries in general. 

The Action Plan is focused on actions which refer to public bodies, e.g.: ministries of transport 

(MoT), infrastructure managers, railway inspectorates and regulatory bodies. This Action Plan 

will focus on safety certification (especially important for new entrants to the market), railway 

infrastructure management (especially important for path allocation) and market regulation 

(equal competition). 

Barriers which could only taken away by the private sector are only mentioned, but not further 

developed into actions 

The corridor study is prepared for The Netherlands and Czech MoT. The German Ministry of 

Transport is not participating in the study. Therefore the consultant does not make any detailed 

recommendations for actions to German public bodies. In chapter 1.5 ‘summarizing actions’, 

general recommendations are included for the whole corridor. 

4.1.1.1 Structure of the document 

The Action Plan is based on the outcome of the previous consultant’s work, the suggestions 

made in the numerous interviews and meetings. The main and frequently cited barriers are 

bundled in the next paragraphs overview. 

In paragraph 3 the methodology is described: how do the barriers lead to an Action Plan. 

Paragraph 4 provides the actual Action Plan, paragraph 5 describes how the Action Plan should 

be implemented and paragraph 6 provides the conclusion providing an overview of the most 

important and efficient actions foreseen. 

95


4.2 Main and frequently cited barriers to further development of railway transport on The Netherlands - 

Czech Republic corridor. 

Summary of main and frequently cited barriers to further development of railway transport on The Netherlands - Czech Republic corridor 

(incl. combined transport) 

Area In detail Concerning Note 

Infrastructure 

capacity 

Railway lines GE, partly 

NL, CZ 

Terminals Insufficient 

terminals 

capacity 

Lack of 

terminals with 

open access 


No free capacity left in some parts of railway network - usually in area of 

big cities and agglomerations with intensive suburban and interregional 

passenger services and where freight trains have to share the same 

tracks. Testing of ETCS level 2 in underway on the Betuwe line and it is 

not possible to exploit full expected capacity of the line yet. This problem 

should be of temporary character. 

It is necessary to eliminate bottlenecks with regard to loading gauge 

(UIC GC needed in the whole corridor). 

NL, GE, 

CZ 

CZ & NL Enlarging capacity of existing terminals or construction of new ones leg 

behind rapidly increasing volume of container traffic, esp. in Far East - 

Europe maritime route. E.g. Rotterdam in 2002 in total 3,28 mil. 

incoming TEU, in 2007 5,53 mil. TEU. In Hamburg: 2002 2,77 mil. TEU, 

2007 5,12 mil. TEU. Construction of new terminals with open access is 

vital for further development of combined transport. Situation in the 

Czech Republic is unsatisfactory in particular; despite the fact that state 

transport policy is in favour of construction new terminals with open 

access and state program for support of combined transport exists, but 

there are no public funds now. 

CZ Operators of terminals lay down conditions for their use and they decide 

whether other operators could enter (in case of free capacity). 

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Infrastructure - 

different 

systems 

Punctuality 

Final report 

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Electric traction 

supply system 



Signalling NL, GE, 


Wireless 

communications 

Signalling – 

transmission of 

signal aspects 

to locomotives 

Construction 

works 

Lack of 

capacity in 

terminals or 

ports 





GE, partly 


CZ, partly 

NL 

Border crossing NL/GE; 

GE/CZ 

Different traction supply systems do not constitute fundamental barriers 

(1500 and 3000 V DC; 15kV 16,7Hz and 25kV 50Hz AC). All main rolling 

stock producers can design multisystem locomotives. But a price is 

considerably higher. 

Locomotives must be equipped in compliance with TSI (technical 

specifications for interoperability) for radio based communication 

equipped with GSM-R etc. 

Implementation of GSM-R will solve possible problems with different 

radio-based communications systems. NL already fully migrated to GSM- 

R, in GE core network is equipped with GSM-R and implementation is in 

a progress. In CZ Decin – Lovosice – Praha – Kolin line is equipped with 

GSM-R and implementation on Decin – Melnik – Vsetaty – Kolin – Ceska 

Trebova – Brno – Breclav line is under way. 

In CZ Locomotives for V>100 must be equipped with mobile part of the 

train protection system that transmits aspects of signal to the tractive 

vehicle (LS 90 or elder LS systems). In NL all locomotives must be 

equipped with this mobile part. 

Reconstructions are done in order to improve infrastructure, to increase 

capacity etc. and they as such cannot be viewed in negative sense. All 

information on construction sites must be taken into account when paths 

are planned etc. 

The bigger delay when train departures from a port or a terminal, the 

bigger probability that this delay would rise, esp. in congested sections. 

Once a train is out of its path it must wait for another time window to go 

on. 

Border point Děčín - Bad Schandau is crucial for NL-CZ rail corridor and 

no big problems are mentioned there. There are some construction 

works in border NL/GE area that affect punctuality of trains. 

97

Trains Border 

crossings 

Train drivers Language 

barrier 

Information/ 

communication 

Border 

crossing 

Maintenance Information 

exchange IM 

Availability of 

information 

Exchange of 

locomotives 

No exchange of 

locomotives 


Train numbers NL/GE Dutch train numbers are only valid for 1 hour, German for 24 hours. 

Once a train has more than one hour delay on the border, it cannot be 

found anymore in the system and should be renumbered. 

Information on 

infrastructure, 

but also on 

trains 

Only change 

of locomotives 

Plus other 

activities 


GE/CZ Language barrier between CZ and GE is perceived as deeper than 

between GE and NL. Yet it need not be a substantial barrier. German 

loco-drivers haul trains into the Czech Republic now, but only once they 

know the language and they passed required exams. 

NL/GE Track maintenance is often unknown at the other side of the border. This 

hinders smooth transport flows. 

GE, partly 


All information concerning the business - in full extent, up-to-date and in 

English version, too - should be available for all stakeholders. 

GE/CZ Change of locomotives with a single brake test can be done within 10-15 

minutes. A problem is that trains must wait for the loco in many cases. 

Operator tries to organize a roster in such way that locomotives haul 

trains (if possible) and do not run alone. From this point is 

understandable that the best way is to contract one traction provider 

from the start to the destination - if possible. 

GE/CZ Based on circumstances other activities can be conducted, processing 

time in border stations can take from about 40 to 90 minutes. 

GE/CZ It is common on NL/GE border, on Děčín/Bad Schandau only Railion 

class 180 can go through to Czech network and CD class 372 can go 

through to Germany. In this case a trains stops in Děčín for 5 minutes - 

within this time a train dispatcher can hand over instruction to loco 

driver. New Railion locomotives class 189 have a permission to run to 

Děčín only now. 

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Acceptation of 

locomotives 

Market 

dominance 

Final report 

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Only for short 

cross border 

services 

For services on 

territory of 

another rail 

network 

CD CZ 

Railion GE 

GE/CZ Bilateral agreement specifies conditions including list of locomotives that 

are allowed to enter the other country - i.e. to haul a trains into the 

nearest station on territory of the other country, e.g. to Děčín or to Bad 

Schandau); but it seems illogical when a diesel locomotive that is 

allowed to haul trains on Domažlice - Furth im Wald and Cheb - 

Schirnding crossings point do not get a permission to haul a train to Bad 

Schandau. (Concrete experience of an Czech operator - not CD) 


GE, NL 

It is a fundamental, complex and all-European issue and it is one of main 

tasks for European Railway Agency. There is a problem of the 

compatibility of rolling stock with asynchronous drives with asynchron 

motors and track circuits on Czech side. Conductive dangerous currents 

generated by rolling stock with asynchronous drives can negatively affect 

track circuits. In concrete: in compliance with the Czech standard the 

conductive currant can be unlimited within time span of 0,1 sec, then 

within next 0,1 sec can be up to 500mA and then 100mA, not more. 

When tested, locomotives from abroad reach about 150mA; more than 

the standard admits. Only Railion locomotives class 180 and CD 

locomotives class 372 (produced by Skoda) are allowed to run both on 

the Czech and German network. 

Some operators have stated opinions that CD and Railion misuse their 

dominant position. Office for the Protection of Competition (CZ) and 

Federal Cartel Office (GE) solves concrete complaints but in general 

these allegations are hard to prove. Moreover a sort of momentum-effect 

works. Railway transport has been developing for about 150 years and 

there are efforts to open the rail market in only last 10 years. Thus 

incumbents are in better starting positions. E.g. let us mention that CD 

specialists compile timetables so far but this activity is to be transferred 

to IM (SZDC) by July 2008 

99

Others 

Shortage of 

intermodal 

wagons 

Willingness to 

co-operate 


GE 

Theft risk NL, GE, 



More operators point out that there is shortage of wagons for containers 

both in Railion and CD. CD does not own special wagons for 

accompanied combined transport (Ro-La) and pocket wagons for 

unaccompanied combined transport; Railion can offer these series, but 

number is insufficient. It is a big advantage when an operator owns these 

wagons but only few operators can afford it (e.g. Hupac, ERS). 

NL, CZ Many companies and operators pursue their activities within a market of 

railway and combined transport; but interests are fragmented. E.g. 

container trains to Mělník carry consignments for Maersk and therefore 

other shippers do not want to share the trains. 

A theft risk is highest in railway transport; especially it pertains to single 

CZ wagonloads. 

Damage risk In general damage can happen in marshalling yards. But this is not the 

case of railway transport between NL and CZ where almost all cargo is 

transported in block container trains. Thus both damage and theft risk 

decreases. 

Traditional 

relationship 

CZ It is mentioned a traditional transport interdependence between CZ and 

GE, in particular Hamburg port where the biggest Czech river Labe 

flows. The Czech Republic has an area 30.000 m2 in the port of 

Hamburg in use till 2018 (based on Versailles treaty from 1919). 

State support CZ Program of state support of combined transport for 2006 - 2010 could 

play a vital role, in particular in following aspects: to assist in 

constructions of new terminals with open-access, to give a subsidy 

intended to reduce the initial loses, i.e. loses of temporary nature 

incurring during the first 2 to 3 years when a new combined transport line 

is operated and an investment support for road operators to acquire a 

special loading units for combined transport. Unfortunately no finance 

was allocated within this program so far. 

Another program named "Support of revitalization of private sidings" is 

currently under way. Within this program sidings in terminals can be built 

or enlarged. 

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4.3 Methodology 

The Action Plan is based on following steps, which are based on the Brenner Action Plan and 

the TREND study as developed by HACON. In this Action Plan the steps are focused on the 

public sector. Items mentioned in paragraph 1.2, which primarily concern the private sector 

(operators, traction providers), are not included in the Action Plan. 

Step 1: Definition of the general objectives of the Action Plan: 

• to improve the framework conditions for rail freight service on the corridor by removing 

operational and administrative barriers 

• to increase rail freight volume and market share by eliminating main infrastructure 

bottlenecks and by expanding terminal capacities in Rotterdam and particularly in CZ 

• to improve the framework conditions for intermodal continental freight services 

Step 2: Deduction of main barriers and high priority action fields (priority clusters) as mentioned 

in the main and frequently cited barriers in paragraph 1.2: 

• Infrastructure (network, terminals) 

• Safety 

• Market 

Step 3: Recommendations of measures and assignment to action fields 

• Need for measures and/or speeding-up of existing measures 

• The timeframe of the Action Plan is 1 to 5 years, only short term actions are foreseen 

Step 4: Assignment of responsibilities and prioritizing of the actions foreseen. 

101

4.4 Action Plan 

Table 4.1 Action Plan 


Nr Measures Milestones Actors 

INFRASTRUCTURE 

1 Increase train length Analyse the possibility of driving trains 

2 

Improve track capacity 

longer than 600 metres 

Monitor corridor performance, like: 

punctuality, speed, capacity 

Analyse performance with the aim of 

eliminating bottlenecks on the Czech and 

Dutch part of the corridor 

3 Increase terminal capacity Analyse with the aims of eliminating 

4 Performance clauses for infrastructure 

services 

5 Optimise Information and 

communication 

bottlenecks and increasing current 

terminal capacity in the Prague region 

and in the port of Rotterdam 

Encourage the introduction of the 

European Performance Regime (EPR) and 

Europtirails 

Introduce train numbers which keep 

their numbers for 24 hours 

Construction works: Inform both IM of 

neighbouring countries & traction 

providers direct on planned maintenance 

Information of delay: Inform 

neighbouring IM, the traction provider 

and the terminal operator direct once a 

delay occurs by Europtirails 

6 Information in English All information communicated by the IM 

should be also available in English. In 

particular website of IM and 

communication with One Stop Shop. 


IM 

IM 

IM 

MoT, IM, 

Terminal 

manager 

(private sector) 

IM 

IM 

IM 

IM 

IM 

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SAFETY 

MARKET 

Final report 

7 

R20080142.doc 

Improve international train path 

allocation 

8 Create Seamless transport flows using 

the same signaling and control systems 

Optimise the ‘One stop shop’ (OSS) IM 

Short term path request: Shorten 

response time by the full use of all 

organizational and technical possibilities 

to ensure response times for short term 

path requests to 5 days for international 

train paths 

Long term path request: Encourage the 

implementation of Pathfinder & EICIS 

Direct access IM timetabling computers 

to all operators 

Both Czech Republic and the Netherlands 

encourage to install ETCS on the corridor 

Rotterdam-border Germany / Prague - 

border Germany to encourage seamless 

transport without changing locomotives. 

9 Mutual acceptance of locomotives Bilateral cross acceptance on basis of EU 

10 Acceptance of locomotives – function of 

track circuits 

11 Promote mutual acceptance of train 

drivers 

guidelines on rolling stock and 

International Requirement List (IRL).. 

Investigate the replacement of old track 

circuits with working frequencies 25 and 

50 Hz by new electronic ones with 

working frequency 75Hz, resp. 275 Hz 

within railway stations. 

Encourage cooperation on the basis 3 rd 

Railway Package on driver licenses 

12 Ensure market access Ensure open market access conditions 

and international capacity allocation 

according to EU-legislation. 

13 Monitor path allocation process Monitor whether IM´s timetabling 

14 Monitor access to terminals and 

allocation of terminal slots 

personnel deals with all path requests in 

fair manner and on equal basis. 

Monitor whether terminal access is open 

to all operators (in line with EC 

2001EC/12 & 2001/14), with equal price 

structure and conditions; with the 

exception of private terminals. 

IM 

IM 

IM/Regulator 

SA/IM 

SA 

IM (CZ) 

SA 

Regulator 

Regulator 

Regulator & 

MoT 

103

4.4.1 Private sector topics to improve the corridor 


Some topics are mentioned in the ‘barriers’ but are not included in the Action Plan, because 

they should be organised by the private stakeholders and are not part of the public organization 

tasks; 

• Lack of traction and rolling stock: Currently there is a lack of both traction and wagons 

• Cargo theft and damages: Examination of the possibility of adopting measures to reduce 

consignment damage and/or theft 

• Cooperation between transporters: To optimize the utilization rate transporters should 

cooperate more. 

• Performance clauses for terminal services: Encouraging better interface, cooperation and 

performance clauses on quality indicators between IM and terminal operators. 

Improving these aspects will also improve the performance of the corridor. 

4.5 Implementing the Action Plan 

The MoT of both countries (the Czech Republic and The Netherlands) will need a Steering 

Committee with the needed expertise and knowledge of infrastructure management, safety 

issues and regulatory issues. The Steering Committee will incite the IM, SA and regulatory 

bodies to start the mentioned Actions and monitor the results. These Actions can be executed 

on both national and bilateral level. 

Each Action requiring capital investments from the MoT needs an Impact Assessment including 

a costs-benefit analysis taking into account the effects on the whole corridor. Only when 

concrete time horizon of measure is known and costs and benefits are detailed defined a costsbenefit 

analysis should be prepared. 


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Final report 

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4.5.1 Specification of the action points 

1) Increase train length 

Increasing train length to 750 metre allows an increase of the number of wagons per train. This 

measure optimizes the use of the railway network and also the operations of the operators. 

Currently 600 metres is the maximum length in both the Netherlands as the Czech Republic, 

with the exemption of the Betuwe line. 

Action: The IM should analyze in which by-passes, shunting areas and railway stations the track 

should be increased to allow 750 metres trains on the corridor and report to the MoT. 

2) Improve track capacity 

• Analysing corridor performance 

Improving the track capacity allows to increase the number of trains. Current upgrading projects 

include the Dutch Harbourline/Betuweroute and on the Czech corridor: tunnel & platform roofs 

limitation; capacity of Praha railway junction. And extra capacity (especially for trains except of 

supposed time or in peak hours) may be problematic in sections with interval suburban 

transport Děčín - Ústí n.L. – Lovosice, Lysá n.L. - Nymburk - Kolín, Kralupy n.V. - Praha – Kolín, 

the railway junction Prague, the railway junction Brno. Reconstruction of the Praha-Libeň - 

Praha-Běchovice section (3rd phase) that is due to be completed in 2015 will remarkably add 

more capacity in the Prague junction with bi-level crossing and double-tracking of the line to 

Praha-Malešice. 

Action: The IM should analyze where improvement of track capacity is most needed and most 

effective and report to the MoT. 

• Analyzing performance 

Monitoring track capacity is necessary to ensure that on the corridor use, quality and 

performance of train paths for international freight is of the highest possible level. Infrastructure 

managers are responsible for allocating train-paths on the corridor that are in line with the 

requests from railway undertakings. Infrastructure managers shall co-operate in order to make 

good connecting train paths. Three aspects are most important here: 

- whether the infrastructure managers are able to offer a sufficient number of train paths 

(quantity) to the railway undertakings; 

- whether the infrastructure managers can offer sufficient quality of train paths. E.g. the transittime 

from the Netherlands – Czech Republic is important here; 

- whether the performance of trains on the allocated train paths is in practice as expected. 

Action: The infrastructure managers should collect following performance indicators: 

- number of train paths (e.g. per week / working day) requested and used by railway 

undertakings, number of train paths offered by IM for international rail freight for each section 

of the corridor; 

- commercial speed and realised travel time for typical origin-destinations on the corridor; 

- average waiting time at border; 

- punctuality of train services on the corridor; 

- volume of international rail freight transport on corridor (data source to be assessed). 

105


3) Increase terminal capacity 

The terminals capacity is utmost important as the track capacity. Terminals should be able to 

handle the increase of cargo on the track. Especially in the Prague region and in the port of 

Rotterdam capacity is lacking behind. The ownership structure of the terminals makes that 

addressing this issue is delicate. Within the Combined Transport Development Supporting 

Program in the Czech Republic possibilities for terminal development can be found in the 

Prague region. The foreseen capacity extension program within the port of Rotterdam covers 

the needed terminal capacity in the Netherlands. 

Action: The IM should analyze were terminal capacity is needed and report to the MoT. 

4) Performance clauses for infrastructure services 

Within the European performance Regime Performance clauses should be introduced. When 

missing slots due to late arrival at the border or late terminal departure the IM or operator 

should be invoiced for the missed slot and wait for a next path available. Introducing such 

measures makes that other operators services are not hindered by late departure or arrival of 

the train. 

Action: The infrastructure manager should analyze when such a performance clause can be 

introduced and on which basis. 

5) Optimize information and communication 

• Train numbers 

In the Netherlands train numbers are issued for 1 hour, whereas in the neighbouring countries 

train numbers are kept for 1 day. Once a train in the Netherlands has more than 1 hour delay it 

will get a new number. When arriving at the border the neighbouring infrastructure manager 

might not have get communicated the new number to the neighbouring infrastructure manager. 

This can lead to extra delay at the border. 

Action: Dutch train number should be kept for 24 hours. 

• Construction works 

Action: Infrastructure managers should report to the MoT how the construction works are 

coordinated between the IM and communicated on time to the operators. 

• Information of delays 

To prevent extra delay at the border or at the terminal due to delay in the neighbouring country, 

this delay should be communicated to the neighbouring IM, the traction provider and the 

terminal operator. 

Action: Implementation of Europtirails. 


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6) Information in English 

To ensure availability of all needed information for operators and other stakeholders, all IM’s 

information and One Stop Shop information (in all countries along the NL – CZ corridor) must be 

communicated in English, including all web-sites. 

Action: IM will report on current situation. 

7) Improve international train path allocation 

• Optimize the ‘One-Stop-Shop’ 

The allocation process must be improved for designing the regular time-table and dealing with 

short-term requests for train paths (art 20- 22 plus 23 2001/14/EC). 

Currently Infrastructure Managers develop a cooperation scheme for the allocation of capacity 

on the corridor and the railway undertakings ensure their international paths in very different 

ways, e.g. via the one-stop-shop (OSS), via combined national procedures, via RailNetEurope / 

FTE. This makes the process not transparent and less efficient for all players. The OSSs are 

serving as the portals to railway undertakings. Railway undertakings no longer need to address 

the infrastructure managers of different countries in different languages. The OSS provide a 

spectrum of advising, co-ordination and sales services, before, during and after the train 

journey. This includes, for example, assistance to the customer on traffic planning, international 

co-ordination of tailor-made train paths and information on the level of infrastructure charges. 

Action: Optimizing the use of the One-Stop-Shop. 

• Short term path request 

Shortening response time for short term path request is possible when allocating pre-constructed and 

tailor-made train paths on a full cross border basis by infrastructure managers to railway undertakings 

and other applicants. 

Action: IM report on how short term path request could be improved on the basis of pre-constructed 

and tailor-made train paths on a full cross border basis. 

• Long term path request 

Long term path request can be improved using the Pathfinder and EICIS programs. 

Action long term path request: Pathfinder and EICIS should be introduced. 

• Direct access to the IM timetabling computers 

Only the incumbents in the Netherlands and the Czech Republic have direct access to the timetabling 

computers of the IM (CD and Railion). However in CZ it is going to change – timetabling 

personnel will move to IM during this year and allocate all path requests on equal basis. And, as 

a consequence of this, CD will not have access to timetabling computers. 

Action: The regulator should analyze whether the incumbents have competitive advantage over 

other private operators while having direct access and report to the MoT. 

8) Create seamless transport flows using the same signalling and control systems 

Without national signalling systems international locomotives can use the corridor with just 

ETCS on-board equipment by completing ECTS in the infrastructure. This also leads to make 

the homologation of new locomotives easier. Moreover this improves border crossing time. 

Final report 

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107


Action: The IM will continue in deployment of ECTS on the corridor in accordance with national 

development plans of ERTMS. 

9) Mutual acceptance of locomotives 

The EU guideline on rolling stock provides a basis for mutual acceptance. The International 

Requirements List (IRL) specifies in detail the requirements per country per locomotive in NL 

and GE among others. Rail Authority in Czech Republic did not join partners of IRL. One of the 

key elements is to achieve electromagnetic compatibility in CZ first, then joining IRL can be 

taken into account. 

Action: Czech Republic – The safety authority will study whether and on which basis CZ can 

join the IRL. 

10) Acceptance of locomotives – function of track circuits 

There is a problem of the compatibility of locomotives with drives with asynchronous motors and 

track circuits with frequency of 25 and 50 Hz that are used in large scale on Czech railway 

network. Conductive dangerous currents generated by rolling stock with asynchronous drives 

can negatively affect proper function of track circuits. Old locomotives produced by Škoda were 

adjusted to this situation and are fully compatible. New locomotives by Siemens, Alstom etc. are 

not compatible and it hampers cross border operations. 

Action: Czech republic – IM will prepare a program for changing the track circuits for new 

electronic ones that are resistant to conductive dangerous currents generated by asynchronous 

motors. 

11) Promote mutual acceptance of train drivers 

Mutual acceptance of train drivers prevents that trains have to stop at the borders to change 

drivers which increase the average speed of the train. Within the new EU Directive on train 

drivers the general qualifications fit for cross border recognition are specified and these should 

be the basis for corridor level acceptance of train drivers. 

Note ad 10) and 11): Mutual acceptance of locomotives and train drivers are only technicaladministrative 

prerequisites. We must view the whole thing with respect to working time of train 

drivers and necessity of their changing as well. Labour-law provisions on length of a shift, duty 

roster etc. can be different in NL, GE and CZ. 

Action: Implementation of cross border recognition of general qualifications of train drivers on 

bilateral basis and report on the progress to the MoT. 

12) Ensure market access 

Among others the access to services and the capacity allocation process provides an indicator 

of the corridor functioning and the international freight transport on the corridor. The regulatory 

bodies should develop mutual the framework of indicators to avoid that the indicators cannot be 

compared on corridor level. 

Action: Regulatory bodies develop monitoring framework and report to MoT about the result. 


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13) Monitor path allocation process 

The incumbents have direct access to the IM’s time tabling computers, where the private 

operators do not have this direct access. 

Action: Regulatory bodies will monitor whether IM´s timetabling personnel deals with all path 

requests in fair manner and on equal basis. 

14) Monitor access to terminals and allocation of terminal slots 

The regulatory bodies of the Czech Republic and the Netherlands have to develop mutual 

understanding how terminal access and terminal slots are monitored. 

Action: Regulatory bodies develop monitoring framework and report to MoT about the result. 

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109

Annex 1 Description of Active Companies 

Companies in the Netherlands 

Railway operators 

Raillion Nederland N.V. 


Profile of the company: 

Railion Nederland N.V. is the largest TOC in the Netherlands and a subsidiary of Deutsche 

Bahn AG, a prominent, global logistics services provider, with major interests in forwarding, air 

freight, seaborne cargo, road haulage and rail transport. 

Within the Stinnes concern, Railion is responsible for rail transport operations on the European 

continent. The strategy is designed to reinforce the group’s presence on the major international 

transport routes, thus enabling it to offer customers an attractively priced and flawlessly executed 

transport product. Railion has a workforce of some 1.000 in the Netherlands, as well as its own 

locomotives, wagons and train drivers. Railion Nederland, together with Railion Deutschland and 

Railion Danmark, form DB Logistics, the freight division of Deutsche Bahn AG. In 2005, Railion 

Nederland carried a record volume of 29,1 million tons of goods. Their trains serve the seaports of 

Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Vlissingen, Moerdijk, Terneuzen and Delfzijl on a daily basis. And this 

includes the storage and processing terminals present in these ports. In the hinterland, too, they 

serve almost all large companies and the major industrial centers. 

Railion also operates daily rail freight services to and from the larger companies and the major 

industrial centers. Within the Stinnes concern Railion has been assigned the responsibility for the 

rail-transport operations in mainland Europe. 

The strategy is focused on the enhancement of the company’s position in the operation of the 

major international transport routes. 

Railion aims to offer its customers transport products of a high quality and a competitive price. 

During the past few years Railion has invested in new rolling stock, including locomotives which 

can be deployed both in the Netherlands and the neighboring countries. This avoids the need to 

stop at the borders to change to a locomotive that can operate at the voltage used across the 

border. 

Railion Danmark, form DB Logistics, the freight division of Deutsche Bahn AG. In 2005, Railion 

Nederland carried a record volume of 29,1 million tons of goods. Their trains serve the seaports of 

Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Vlissingen, Moerdijk, Terneuzen and Delfzijl on a daily basis. And this 

includes the storage and processing terminals present in these ports. In the hinterland, too, they 

serve almost all large companies and the major industrial centers. 

Railion also operates daily rail freight services to and from the larger companies and the major 

industrial centers. Within the Stinnes concern Railion has been assigned the responsibility for the 

rail-transport operations in mainland Europe. The strategy is focused on the enhancement of the 

company’s position in the operation of the major international transport routes. 

Railion aims to offer its customers transport products of a high quality and a competitive price. 

During the past few years Railion has invested in new rolling stock, including locomotives which 

can be deployed both in the Netherlands and the neighboring countries. This avoids the need to 


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stop at the borders to change to a locomotive that can operate at the voltage used across the 

border. 

Location: 

Moreelsepark 1 

Postbus 2060 

3500 GB Utrecht 

Phonenumber +31(0)30 2354004 

Fax +31(0)30 2354334 

info@railion.nl 

http://www.railion.nl 

European Rail Shuttle (ERS) 


ERS was incorporated in 1994 by Koninklijke Nedloyd, Sealand Service, and P&O Containers. 

The company’s objective is offer efficient and cost-effective container rail transport throughout 

Europe. 

Maersk participated in the joint venture shortly after the company’s incorporation. The company 

began its operations with a shuttle train service between Rotterdam and Germersheim (three 

times a week), and with a shuttle service between Rotterdam and Melzo (Milan) (four times a 

week). These destinations were selected on the basis of strategic considerations, since they are 

located close to the major industrial centers. ERS’ ownership structure changed in March 2000. 

ERS’ shareholders are now Maersk Sealand and P&O Nedloyd. 

Although ERS began operations in a period in which the rail sector had not yet been fully 

liberalized the company was nevertheless able to succeed in its objectives. Self-evidently, the 

basis for this success is in part due to the availability of an adequate base volume of freight 

originating from the two shareholders, as a result of which they guarantee the continuity and 

stability of the company. However, the company’s success is also partly due to the use third 

parties make of ERS’ shuttle services. ERS’ does not restrict its services solely to the 

shareholders; in fact, from the very beginning of its operations it also offered its services to third 

parties. 

In a recent development ERS is now working on the formation of strategic alliances with other 

European logistics players. Collaboration with companies which adopt a comparable approach 

to the market has resulted in substantial economies of scale. The best-known example of these 

strategic alliances is the alliance with BoxXpress.de, of which ERS owns 47% of the shares. 

BoxXpress.de operates container shuttle trains between the German North-Sea ports and the 

German hinterland; the company currently transports in excess of 900 TEU a day. In October 

2002 ERS established its own railway company, ERS Railways. This sister company has since 

built up a fleet of locomotives and wagons. Consequently some of ERS’ container shuttle trains 

are operated using in-house traction. ERS’ container shuttle trains have a fixed capacity and 

fixed arrival and departure times; they serve a large number of fixed destinations. Nowadays 

ERS operates a comprehensive European shuttle network. ERS schedules 280 trains every 

week, of which 68 use traction supplied by ERS Railways. ERS links the Rotterdam and 

German seaports to more than 17 destinations. Every week more than 280 trains travel to and 

from Belgium / Northern France (Mouscroun), Luxembourg (Athus), Germany (Mainz, 

Germersheim, Neuss, Duisberg, Munich, Augsburg, Nuremberg and Stuttgart), Italy (Melzo and 

Padova), the Czech Republic (Prague), Slovakia (Bratislava), Hungary (Budapest), Denmark 

Final report 

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(Taulov), and Poland (Warsaw and Gadki). A shuttle train also links Bulgaria (Sofia) and Greece 

(Thessaloniki). The latest shuttle train added to the services operates between Slovenia (Koper 

and Szombathely) and Hungary (Budapest). 

Location: 

Albert Plesmanweg 61/K-L 

Postbus 59018 

3008 PA Rotterdam 

Phonenumber +31(0)10 4285200 

Fax +31(0)10 4285210 

info@ersrail.com 

http://www.ersrail.com 

NYK NCO 


Since its foundation in 1885, Nippon Yusen Kabushiki Kaisha (NYK Line) has overcome various 

challenges and grown steadily to become one of the world's leading shipping companies. 

While recognizing the importance of wide-ranging trade and commerce as a basis for the 

development of the world's economies and cultures, NYK Line has sought to offer safe, high- 

quality services as both a logistics megacarrier and cruise enterprise. NYK Line believes that they 

can best contribute to the sustainable growth of international society by respecting human rights, 

complying with all relevant laws, and conducting business in compliance with a code of social 

ethics. In support of this effort, they have developed the "NYK Line Business Credo" that follows. 

Location: 

Aert van Nesstraat 45 

3012 CA Rotterdam 

Phonenumber +31(0)10 - 403 1483 

Fax +31(0)10 - 403 1495 

savi.merino@ne.nykline.com 

http://www2.nykline.com 

HYUNDAI 

Hyundai Merchant Marine is and integrated logistics company providing the best transportation service 

possible. HMM is an integrated logistics company, operating over 110 state-of-the-art vessels. HMM 

offers worldwide global service network, diverse logistics facilities, leading IT shipping related systems, 

a professional highly trained staff, and continual effort to provide premiere transportation services. 

Traction providers 

ERS – see above 

RAILLION – see above 

Rail4Chem 

Rail4Chem was incorporated by BASF, Hoyer, Bertschi and VTG Lehnkering. 

The company began with the provision of traction (haulage) for shuttle trains for the German 

public sector, and has since evolved into an international rail carrier. Rail4Chem provides its 

services to both individual customers and to groups and forward shippers. Rail4Chem also offers a 


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supplementary service providing group wagons and feeder services for road haulage. 

Rail4Chem operates its own transport network (North-South axis and East-West axis), with hubs 

in Duisburg-Rheinhausen and Leuna (Großkorbetha). Rail4Chem’s services include transports to 

and from Poland, Belgium, France, the Netherlands, Austria, and Slovakia. 

ITL Benelux 

As an establishment of the ITL group, which has its origin in Dresden, ITL wants to develop into 

a medium size European train operating company. With the other establishments of ITL in 

Germany, Poland and the Czech Republic ITL can offer a vast European network to our 

customers. ITL-Benelux is already active with rail freight in the Benelux for about 10 years. The 

new establishment in the Netherlands will have its own personnel and locomotives. 

Rail Freight forwarders 

Trimodal Europe Group 


Trimodal Europe BV has been established in 1995 on the initiative of a group of Dutch clothingselection 

companies with central purchase towards the railway as the goal. The neutral rail 

specialization attracted soon new customers, as a result of which Trimodal is now shipping gasses, 

liquids and dry bulk products (powder and granulates). Their sister company, Trimodal Europe GmbH 

launched in 1998, is specialized in the transportation of agricultural products and project loads by 

train. 

The name 'Trimodal' has not been chosen at will; the three modalities (water, rail and road) are being 

optimally used by Trimodal Europe BV. Conventional loads are for example shipped partly by barge 

and partly by train on behalf of customers in Germany and France. Besides short-sea lines, Trimodal 

Europe BV has been engaged since 2000 with deep-sea lines between Europe and America. 

In the same year, Trimodal invested in 20' bulk containers. This container can be equipped with singletrip 

disposable polythene liners to transport powder and granulates in bulk. After discharging, the liner 

is removed and the container can be used again for palletized loads. And naturally the different 

modalities are used optimally during the shipment. The success is shown by the figures; Trimodal 

started with 200 containers pro year, momentary they ship this quantity in one month. 

Trimodal Europe NVOCC BV has been established on January 1st, 2002. 

NVOCC, a Non Vessel Owning Cargo Carrier, is a specialist on the field of sea expedition and dry 

bulk. Trimodal Europe BV has specialised itself on the field of rail expedition. Since both companies 

are a part of the Trimodal Europe Group, customers can benefit from the best combination of 

modalities. 

The Trimodal Europe Group shipped within 2001 approximately 22.000 tons of used clothing, 88.000 

tons of agricultural products, 2750 containers and 13.200 tons of chemicals. 

Location: 

Trimodal Europe Group 

Hoefsmidstraat 41 

3194 AA Hoogvliet 

Rotterdam NL 

Global Intermodal B.V 

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113



Global Intermodal B.V. is a combined transport organizer specialized in rail, barge and truck 

transportation for the maritime and continental industry, founded in 1998. 

Global Intermodal B.V. provides comprehensive transportation based on ‘door to door’ services, all 

in combination with there international network and contacts. Global Intermodal B.V. offers 

services in rail transport logistics, whether it is container rail transportation or transportation of 

break bulk cargoes. Global Intermodal B.V. covers Europe, Eastern Europe, Russia, Central Asia 

and the Caucasus. 

Location: 

Global Intermodal BV 

Faradayweg 4 

3208 KS Spijkenisse 

Cabooter Railcargo Venlo 


Cabooter Int. Expeditie BV is a medium-sized haulier with 80 employees and 70 goods vehicles. 

Cabooter, located in Venlo, the Netherlands, offers the following services. 

• National and international transports, both bulk and general cargo 

• Covered / chilled / deep-freeze transport 

• Container trucking 

• Daily general-cargo services to Germany, Austria, Switzerland, and the Benelux 

• Seaborne freight and air freight 

• Customs formalities 

• Warehousing – 30,000 m 2 floor area 

• Sub- and complete consignments throughout Europe 

• Weekly service for the transport of general cargo, sub- and complete consignments to 

Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, St. Petersburg, and Moscow 

• The company’s own rail terminal in Venlo. Facilities for loading with cranes and fork-lift 

trucks; the transfer of goods from road vehicles to rail wagons; rail transport services which 

already encompass transports to and from Germany, Russia, Greece, and Hungary 

• Member of both Spedition 2000 and ILN, with daily movements to and from Germany, 

Switzerland and Austria, and with more than forty partners 

Location: 

Horsterweg 225 

5928 ND Venlo 

0031 (0)77 3998840 

0031 (0)77 3820785 

DHL 


DHL Benelux offers a broad range of services which encompass the entire logistics chain. 

Danzas, Euro Express and DHL have combined their unique forces in one organization and will now 

conduct their operations under one name, as a result of which DHL (the new umbrella name) has 

gained access to complete solutions for special logistics and forwarding services. The global DHL 

organization is comprised of a number of national organizations. 


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DHL Benelux, the national organization for Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg, possesses 

specific logistics knowledge throughout the supply chain. Every day, DHL Benelux provides its 

services to a highly-diversified customer base from more than 90 strategic locations, services 

which encompass express transport and distribution (DHL Express), warehousing and supply-chain 

management (DHL Solutions), road haulage (DHL Freight), air and seaborne freight (DHL Danzas 

Air & Ocean), and customs-forwarding (Gerlach). 

Location: 

Ridderhaven 5 

2984 BT Ridderkerk 

Phonenumber 0031 (0)180 485879 

Fax 0031 (0)180 485876 

dimitri.maaten@dhl.com 

http://www.dhl.nl 

Railco Europe 


At the end of 1999 Railco Europe was founded as a new, independent and neutral transport 

company. Railco Europe aims primarily at the convoluted modality 'rail'. 

Railco Europe has solid knowledge concerning road, barge, short-sea and deep-sea transport, 

which enables arranging transports from every 'A' to every 'B' in the world. The rail component 

isn't necessary, but it usually plays a welcome part in decreasing the transport costs. 

Apart from offering transport services for units, Railco Europe also has a widely spread European 

network of equipment available for 'cabotage'. In various ways they offer all kinds of containers 

and swapbodies, for incidental as well as regular transports. Besides they have great expertise 

concerning one-way and hired equipment. This, in combination with their intense transport control 

(for example in the CIS) can lead to a complete transport solution. 

The rates of Railco Europe are not much higher, and usually even cheaper, than competitors. By 

good purchasing of secondary services and controlling internal processing costs, they can offer a 

proposition with a good cost/achievement ratio. The quotations in which they offer services are 

individually written and clearly laid out. Because Railco Europe acts as a partner, not only as a 

supplier, cooperation usually grow into long term relationships in which interaction is the goal. 

The Railco Europe office is in Dordrecht, the oldest town of Holland, and shares the building in 

which Railco Chemical Transport has been accommodated since 1986. 

Location: 

Binnen Kalkhaven 47 

3311 JC Dordrecht 

Phonenumber +31(0)78 6390015 

Fax +31(0)78 6142174 

info@railco.nl 

http://www.railco.nl/ 

SNCF Fret Benelux 


SNCF Fret is the rail freight division of the French state owned railways. 

Since early 2007 the company has obtained a licence in the Netherlands for running freight trains. 

Within the scope of the liberalization of the rail freight market in Europe, SNCF decided to operate 

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beyond the French borders. At first they will focus on Italy, Belgium, Luxembourg and the 

Netherlands, later also the UK. In the Netherlands, SNCF Fret has started in June 2007 with a 

container service between Rotterdam and Lyon. 

Location: 

Lange Nieuwstraat 231 A 

3111 AJ Schiedam 

Phonenumber +31(0)10 2467635 

joke.dewilde@sncffret.nl 

Schenker / railog 


Schenker is one of the world's leading providers of integrated logistics services. They provide 

support to trade and industry in the global exchange of goods - in land operations, in worldwide 

air and ocean freight, and in all the associated logistics services. 54,905 employees at about 

1,500 locations around the world achieve a turnover of 13,2 billion euros per year. 

As a company specializing in land transport on road and rail within Europe, their network of 

regularly scheduled routes connects the principal economic regions in thirty European countries. 

Schenker is qualified in providing solutions for air and ocean freight and associated logistics 

services on a global scale. Their integrated logistics centers located at the hubs of the global flow 

of goods create an effective link between all carriers allowing Schenker to offer a broad range of 

added-value services. 

Experts provide complete solutions tailor-made for the requirements of industry today and 

tomorrow. International teams of specialists integrate the Group's individual service modules to 

create complex added-value chains that ensure a reliable flow of materials and information. 

Schenker provides its customers with all the main services from a single source - a business 

principle that has proved its worth ever since the company was founded by Gottfried Schenker in 

Vienna 135 years ago. Schenker is a part of DB Logistics, the Transportation and Logistics Division 

of Deutsche Bahn AG. 

Location: 

Galvanistraat 71 

6716 AE Ede 

Phonenumber +31(0)318 696821 

Fax +31(0)318 696865 

guus.schmitz@schenker.com 

http://www.schenker.nl 

De Rijke Intermodal Transport B.V. 


Multinationals, but also smaller companies, are concentrating more and more on their core 

activities - production and sales. This trend, which has been becoming extremely noticeable for 

a number of years now, seems to be irreversible. For example, for matters concerning logistics 

services, specialists are brought in. This is the trend that De Rijke can make very good use of 

by means of its offer of wide-scale logistics services. 

As well as taking care of transport services in the widest sense of the words, forwarding activities, 

warehouse-related activities, value-added logistics and supply chain management services can be 

offered, also carried out by De Rijke. The various disciplines are organised in independent 


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business units. De Rijke mostly offers its customers a logistics concept, whereby looking after the 

supply chain can be completely taken care of on their behalf. 

The logistics services are carried out within a network of modern sites in the various European 

countries, as well as on location at the various customers' sites. This guarantees that logistics are 

carried out in the most effective and efficient way. All controlled from a central point. 

De Rijke is a fully-fledged and independent family business. At the moment three generations are 

active in the company and this proves the huge involvement by the family. De Rijke is a modern 

company that moves with the times and therefore aims to be at the forefront of new 

developments. 

Location: 

P.O. Box 299 / 4760 AG Zevenbergen 

Middenweg 6 / Port 397 

4782 PM Moerdijk 

Phonenumber +31(0)168 385056 

Fax +31(0)168 385000 

robin.wijnstekers@derijke.com 

http://www.derijke.com 

Agility logistics 


Numbers tell the scale of Agilities business - 100 countries, 450 offices, 20.000 people, US$ 5 

billion in revenue. Agility is a company of many cultures joined by a shared dedication to being 

a logistics partner that offers customized solutions built on a global network with locations in 

Asia, Europe, the Middle East and the Americas. 

Agility logistics is a new name in the sector, but has a long history. PWC Logistics, GeoLogistics, 

Transoceanic, Translink, Natural, Lassen, and others has become Agility. 

Agility develops customized solutions that incorporate the global, industry-focused capabilities of 

their suite of supply chain and transportation services. For the customer, this means personal 

service, specialized capabilities, global coverage, and local expertise. 

Agility integrates their transportation, logistics and warehousing capabilities to handle complex 

supply chain strategies. Their comprehensive suite of supply chain services include market-leading 

freight management, warehousing, inventory management and supply chain management 

solutions, along with several highly specialized offerings, including Defense & Government 

Services, Project Logistics, and Fairs & Events. Agility also provides focused supply chain 

management solutions for High Technology, Retail, Automotive, and other key industries. 

Location: 

Houtlaan 21 

3016 DA Rotterdam 

Phonenumber +31(0)10 2812811 

Fax +31(0)10 2812810 

jwever@agilitylogistics.com 

http://www.agilitylogistics.com 

Mov’on Logistics 


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Mov’on Logistics is focusing on customers core activities and will optimize customers business 

results. The logistical tasks can be outsourced to an experienced, versatile, logistical service 

provider. A provider that is dedicated to supporting and carrying out logistical process from A to 

Z, at a very competitive rate. That is what Mov’on Logistics is good in. 

Location: 

Nijverheidsweg 5 

Postbus 171 

3220 AD Hellevoetsluis 

Phonenumber +31(0)181 390770 

Fax +31(0)181 329229 

info@movon.nl 

http://www.movon.nl 

IMS intermodal solutions B.V. 


Intermodal Solutions (IMS) is a non-asset based organizer, using its extensive and unique 

knowledge of the European Intermodal transport market to invent, develop, implement and 

organize the best Intermodal logistic solution for its customer. 

IMS offers a comprehensive variety of services to its customers like: 

• Develop and organize Intermodal concepts 

• Intermodal consultancy 

• Organize inland logistics 

• Agency for railoperators 

• Intermodal projects related to Spain 

• Special dedicated container-pools for niche projects 

IMS has an extensive Intermodal network and has access to a complete database with information 

about trains-shuttles, terminals and short-sea activities. 

IMS´ main ambition is to find the right Intermodal solution for its customer. 

Location: 

De Amert 216b 

5462 GH Veghel 

Phonenumber 0031 (0)413-378700 

Fax 0031 (0)413-378303 

info@intermodal-solutions.nl 

http://www.intermodal-solutions.nl 

Optimodal Nederland 


Optimodal Nederland BV are Intercontainer’s agents in the Netherlands. Optimodal was 

incorporated in May 1992 following a request from Intercontainer to organize the sale of rail 

transport as Intercontainer’s agent. Intercontainer requested the then Chairman of the Netrail 

cooperative purchasing association, Mr R. Spierings, to manage the new Optimodal company. Mr 

Spierings was Optimodal’s first Director, and in 1996 was succeeded by the current Director, Mr 

A.G.Th. van den Berg. Optimodal initially had 44 employees. During the intervening 10 years a 


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number of efficiency-improvement programs and the extensive automation of the operations have 

resulted in the reduction of the workforce to 17 employees. 

Intercontainer Interfrigo (ICF) is an international rail operator with branches throughout Europe. 

ICF is specialized in long-distance combined road-rail transport. ICF’s comprehensive network 

links the European ports and economic centers. 

Optimodal Nederland BV has primarily collaborated with Railion Benelux (formerly NS Cargo). On 

the introduction of the AM-RO Shuttle Optimodal made use of a different traction supplier, ACTS. 

This shuttle has since been replaced by a new service between Rotterdam and Amsterdam, the 

MORO Shuttle; the necessary traction is now once again supplied by Railion. Optimodal currently 

offers rail transport from Rotterdam, Amsterdam and Moerdijk in the form of shuttle trains, block 

trains, and distribution trains. The shuttle trains, i.e. the transport of goods using complete trains 

operated between point A and point B, travel from Rotterdam to Amsterdam and from Rotterdam 

to Bazel (CH), Zürich (CH) and Herne (D) and back. Block trains, i.e. the transport of goods using 

complete trains operated between point A and point B now link Rotterdam and Malaszewicze (PL). 

On arrival at Malaszewicze the goods are forwarded to all GOS countries. Distribution trains, i.e. 

the transport of goods to destinations not accessible to shuttle or block trains, are operated in a 

daily basis. These transports deliver the goods to one of the more than 1700 European rail 

terminals in the Intercontainer network. 

Customers using the international trains are offered the unique Intercontainer rail consignment 

note, the Bulletin de remise (Bdr). In addition to use as a consignment note, this Bdr can also be 

used as a customs document. The Bdr can also fulfil the guarantee role involved in the transport 

of excise goods. In both instances Optimodal ensures that document accompanies the goods. 

Intercontainer and Optimodal, in collaboration with the railways, are engaged in a continual 

search for new opportunities. For example, work is currently in progress on a renewed link 

between Herne and Prague; in addition, as a new route to Austria introduced on 1 February has 

resulted in a considerable improvement in the reliability of the service. 

Location: 

Seattleweg 11 

Postbus 540 

3190 AL Rotterdam 

Phonenumber +31(0)10 4943900 

Fax +31(0)10 4950510 

info@optimodal.nl 

http://www.optimodal.nl 

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119

Companies in Czech Republic 

Railway operators 

ČSKD-INTRANS 



ČSKD-INTRANS Joint-Stock Company is well established in the international intermodal 

business for over 30 years. 

The company is focused on the individual and flexible service for wide range of clients and their 

specific needs. Possessing its own network of container terminals, ČSKD-INTRANS a.s. operates 

rail-road combined transport and related activities. 

Their rail-road network is interconnected with the world maritime network, Paneuropean Network 

of the ICA and ICF Companies and other partnership networks. ČSKD-INTRANS also offers a 

connection within the CIS, Baltic states and the Middle East rail network. Based on these 

connections the ČSKD-INTRANS Company provides a wide range of the intermodal transport 

services on a high quality level, e. g. shuttle and block trains connecting seaports and the Czech 

Republic, the hub-and-spoke system, single transportations, from/to door delivery, etc. 

Customers are: 

• Shipping lines 

• Shipping line agents 

• Freight forwarders. 

Business territory is: 

• Europe (main business: container trains between Prague - Hamburg/Bremerhaven) 

• CIS and Baltic states 

• Asia 

• Central East. 

Goals are: 

• further rail-road network development in order to become the important gate in the West- 

East and North-South/European transport flows 

• flexible service following the specific projects of customers 

• development of the full electronic booking, tracking-and-tracing and implementing the EDI 

system. 

Location: 

Jana Želivského 2 

130 00 Praha 3 – Žižkov 

Phonenumber +420 220 193 520 

Fax +420 220 193 220 

lukas.bernard@intrans.cz 

http://www.intrans.cz 


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ČD Cargo 


ČD Cargo provides transport of industrial and agriculture commodities, raw materials and fuels, 

goods, containers and over freights. It provides hire of lorries, spur services and other transport 

services. It provides to its customers freight transport services in a total of 1088 stations 

(including 31 stations at private tracks). It transports daily about 25 thousands of carriages on 

the railway net, being loaded with the most different goods. 

The freight transport and conveyance activities are realized by ČD Cargo, a.s (Czech Railways). 

The Czech Railways are going to put into operation more than 1450 new or modernized railway 

carriages in the two following years. 

Ostravská dopravní společnost a.s. (ODOS) 


Ostravská dopravní společnost, a.s. is a young, dynamic company, a private rail hauler on the 

railway net of the Czech and Slovak Republic. 

Main entrepreneurial activities: 

operating railway transport 

hire of locomotives 

hire of railway carriages 

Other subjects of enterprise: 

advice and consultancy 

purchase of goods for the purpose of its further sale 

Other sideline activities in transport 

OKD, Doprava a. s. 


OKD, Doprava a. s. offers to its customers a complex solution of transport and conveyance 

requirements in closest linkage to manufacturing technology and production outlet. 

Railway transport: 

- operating railway lines and railway transport 

- hiring of railway carriages and locomotives 

- maintenance and repairs of rail vehicles 

- road freight transport 

- maintenance and repairs of road vehicles 

- operating natural gas fill stations 

- a combined transport using the ACTS containers 

- a forwarding business 

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- maintenance, build- up and reconstruction of railway lines 

- operating building and earth moving machines for manipulation with mass substrates 

- sale and service of Tatra lorries 

- mining, adjustment and coal sediment treatment 

- waste treatment 

Slezkomoravská dráha a. s. 


It provides operating driving vehicles within the whole-net licence in the CR, including the staff 

for other subjects at the conveyance of trains and corridor constructions. 

It provides maintenance and repairs of driving vehicles, including technical checks and tests. 

Further it provides maintenance, repairs and reconstruction of rail superstructure on spur 

tracks, including project documentation and building permit arrangement at the Railway Office. 

On grounds of contracts, it runs about 80 spur tracks in the whole area of the CR. 

UNIPETROL DOPRAVA a. s. 


The company provides railway transport and conveyance mainly of chemical products. 

especially for the UNIPETROL Group members. The railway conveyance of carriage 

consignments is provided through forwarding agencies with public haulers and also own trains 

with private haulers within the national railways net, including the linkage to other public and 

private haulers abroad. 

The conveyance by own trains on the national railway net is carried out in variants as provision 

of conveyance self or so called custom- tailored conveyance, i.e. provision of own conveyance 

output including the loading capacity (of vehicles). At the currently operated tracks the services 

are provided immediately, on other sections till 90 days. 

The conveyance in the section CZ-NL – it is a conveyance of chemical substances. 

From NL, Dordrecht it is conveyances to CZ railway station Most nové nádraží (about 2x per 

year). From CZ its is conveyances from Kralupy nad Vltavou to Rottredam (about 3x per year). 

The conveyance is performed though these border points CZ-D: Děčín station border – Bad 

Schandau Gr. SRN-NL: Emmerich Gr. – Zavenaar Gr.,Bad Bentheim Gr. – Ondenzaal Gr., 

Kaldenkirchen Gr. – Venlo Gr. 

The company makes use of these terminals in NL: Standic/Vopac logistic services 

(Dordrecht/Rotterdam). 

VIAMONT Cargo a. s. 


The VIAMONT Cargo subject of enterprise are different activities connected with freight railway 

transport on national and regional track and spur tracks. It conducts business in several 

mutually interlinked areas as maintenance of spur tracks, engineering, logistic services, 

forwarding, hiring of carriages and locomotives or fleet administration. In its activities it 

cooperates with other VIAMONT combine companies. 

To the key rail- conveyed commodities belong coal, cereals, steel coils, liquid hydrocarbons, 

wood, building materials or cement. 


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Order 

1 

2 

3 

4 

5 



Office address 

ČD Cargo a.s. 

Nábřeží Ludvíka Svobody 

1222 110 15 Praha 1 

www.cdcargo.cz 

UNIPETROL DOPRAVA a.s. 

Litvínov 4 

436 70 Litvínov 

www.unipetroldoprava.cz 

Viamont Cargo a.s. 

Železničářská 1385/29 

400 03 Ústí nad Labem 

www.viamont.cz 

OKD, Doprava a.s. 

Nádražní 93/2967 

702 62 Ostrava 

www.okd-doprava.cz 

ODOS/NH-TRANS, a.s. 

Poděbradova 28 

702 00 Ostrava 1 

www.nh-trans.cz/ 

Final report 

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A total volume of railway 

freight transport in the CR in 

2005 (milll of tonnes) 

A total volume of railway 

freight transport in the CR in 

2004 (milll of tonnes)) 

76,3 80,2 

A share from the railway 

transport volume - Exports : 

Imports : Inland (%) 

Main destination 

25,4: 

26,5: Poland, Austria, Germany 

40,1 

Number of owned or long-term 

hired locomotives/wagons 

3 185/ 

34 610 

123 

Main direct clients 

Services 

Storing 

Customs services 

Consignments 

insurance 

DN . . . 13 000 2007 

- - - 36/2 263 Chemical industry _ _ _ 510 1995 

1,3 1,1 

Table A1.1 - Characteristics of rail haulers in Czech Republic 

15,7: 

0,2: 

84,1 

Hungary, the Netherlands, 

Poland, Austria, Slovakia 

44/193 

Chemical, engineering 

industry 

Number of employees in the CR 

The year of foundation in the ČR 

_ . . 769 1992 

7,6 - - 111/2 370 Mining, engineering industry _ . . 1970 1952/1994 

- - - 500 vg. 

Steel and metallurgic industry, 

chemical industry, engineering 

industry 

_ _ . 53

Road operators 

Key transport companies at the road market: 


CS Cargo a.s. 

Četrans a.s 

Icom Transport a.s. 

Jihotrans a.s. 

TQM holding s.r.o. 

Table A1.2 - Transport companies at the road market in Czech Republic 

C.S.CARGO a.s. 



C.S.CARGO Holding belongs to the leading companies in Central Europe providing complex 

transport and logistic services. The group, founded in 1995, has continually increased its 

annual turnover which exceeded an amount of CZK 2,8 bill. at the end of the year. As assumed 

it should amount to CZK 4,5 bill. for the year of 2007. Due to this amount, the Holding is the 

strongest logistic company in the Czech Republic. 

C.S.CARGO is unambiguously the most significant provider of logistic services for automotive 

industry in the Czech Republic and in Slovakia. The Holding also realizes more than 70% of the 

beer conveyance market in the Czech Republic. C.S.CARGO wants to become an integrator of 

market and by expanding to other Central and Eastern Europe countries also an equal 

competitor of global logistic players. A part of the development plan and the future group’s 

expansion is also entering of the group into capital markets. 

ČETRANS a.s. 


ČETRANS is one of leading providers of transport, forwarding and customs services in Central 

Europe. It is one of the largest road freight haulers in the Czech Republic. The size, strength, 

expert knowledge and experiences enable to provide the guarantee of quality of the services 

offered in whole extent. 

All transported consignments are insured and every business partner can make certain of a 

proper conclusion of an insurance policy before loading the goods at the particular driver, who 

has got a Certificate of Insurance of the hauler. The modern and ecological fleet enables to get 

the shortage conveyance permits to the entire Europe. 

ICOM Transport a.s. 


Throughout 10 years, ICOM transport a.s. has become one of the largest and modernist 

transport entities in Europe. The main strategy of ICOM transport a.s. is resident traffic for big 

customers making use of own modern technique. For the customers to have a reliable and 

strong partner with the best technical equipment possible available, fleet modification takes 


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place every year. ICOM transport a.s. transports especially groceries. This kind of goods also 

determinates the technique– especially the box-sections trailers are used. 

Jihotrans a.s 

ČSAD JIHOTRANS a.s. 

ČSAD JIHOTRANS has been concerned with the traditional branches of business in transport 

as especially public road passenger transport, inland and international road freight transport, 

repair services, customs services, inland and international transport of LCL, logistics, running a 

forwarding office and a lot of other additional services. 

The business entity JIHOTRANS Group, with join stock companies ČSAD JIHOTRANS, ČSAD 

STTRANS a JWE belonging to the most important ones, in terms of its potential, capacity and 

the extent of services provided is the largest hauler in South-Bohemia Region. 

The entity disposes of nearly 370 lorries, 330 trailers and semi-trailers, a colony of 250 

contracting haulers´ vehicles, 190 buses, employing 1 100 employees. 



The main business activities of the company are providing of services within passenger 

transport, freight transport in connection with complex logistic services (international and inland 

forwarding), the area of repair, service, metrological and check activities. 

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Order 

1 

2 

3 

4 



CS Cargo a.s. 

Hradecká 1116 

506 01 Jičín 

www.cscargo.cz 

ČSAD JIHOTRANS 

a.s. 

Pekárenská 255/77 

370 21 České 

Budějovice 

www.jihotrans.cz 


Těšínská 1028/37 

746 01 Opava 

www.tqm.cz 

ICOM transport a.s. 

Jiráskova 1424/78 

587 32 Jihlava 

www.icomtransport.cz 

The total number of lorries 


Number of carriages Types of Transported Freight 

3,5-6 t 

6-7,5 t 

7,5-12 t 


12-18 t 

18 t and more 

470 10 10 10 20 420 _ . _ _ . . . _ 

311 8 7 16 10 270 _ _ _ . _ _ _ . 

120 DN DN DN DN DN _ . . _ . . . _ 

420 DN DN DN DN DN DN DN DN DN DN DN DN DN 

Table A1.3 - Characteristics of transport companies at the road market in Czech Republic 

Oversize 

Fragile 

Liquide 

Powder 

Danger 

Tempered 

Chemicals 

Cars 

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Forwarding Companies 

Key forwarding companies at the road market: 


Bohemia Cargo 

Čechofracht 

DHL Express 

DSV Road a.s 

Ewals Cargo Care s.r.o 

Gebrüder Weiss 

Kuehne + Nagel group 

Schenker s.r.o 

SPEDI-TRANS 

TNT Express 

RailSped 

Table A1.4 - Forwarding companies at the road market in Czech Republic 

Bohemia Cargo 


It is a road hauler providing storing, customs services, running a forwarding service and being 

an operator of the terminal in Děčín. It owns stock premises with the capacity of 20 thousand 

palette places. 

Shipping destination CZ-NL, especially Rotterdam - Děčín. The mostly used terminals – 

Rotterdam, Děčín. Volume of cargo, about 30-40 tonnes/year in the destination Děčín – 

Rotterdam. 

Čechofracht a.s. 


Čechofracht a. s. belongs to the largest providers of logistic and forwarding services in the 

Czech Republic. With its subsidiaries BlueTrucks, s.r.o. and SPEDI-TRANS Praha, s.r.o. it 

forms an entity of Čechofracht Group, providing complex forwarding-logistic services. The 

leading position at the market is due to the longstanding activity in this field and the 

professionalism of employees. 

DHL Express 


DHL takes up the leading position at the global market of international logistics and land and air 

transport. It is also the largest company in the world providing services in the area of seafreight 

and contracting logistics. DHL offers a compact portfolio of customs-tailored solutions – 

starting from express documents cargo to supplier chains solutions. 

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DHL has been operating at the Czech market since 1986, when providing its express courier 

service through a local hauler was started, as the first one in at that time Czechoslovakia. After 

the revolution, in 1991 an own branch was established in Prague. Currently, it offers its 

services through a thick net of branches and offices all over the Czech Republic. 

DSV Road a.s. 


The DSV Group is the largest Danish supplier of conveyance and logistic services. Though the 

DSV Group is of a Scandinavian countries origin, it operates own branches in 50 countries in 

Europe, Northern America and Far East, having 19.000 employees currently. World-wide annual 

turnover of EUR 4,4 bill. was achieved due to professional and advantage complex solutions. 

DSV Road a.s., as a member of the world-wide DSV A/S net, making use of strong capital, 

technological and information background Therefore it can offer complex forwarding and logistic 

service in the Czech Republic. 

Ewals Cargo Care s.r.o. 


Ewals Cargo Care has been operating in the Czech Republic since 1991. Currently, there are 

11 active workplaces in nine towns of the Czech Republic, the central workplace is in Česká 

Lípa.The ECC CZ activity is focused especially on providing services in the area of road , sea 

and intermodal freights. Within logistic services, Ewals Cargo Care CZ offers all services related 

to storing, manipulation, assembly 

Ewals Cargo Care has a Certification within the Integrated Management System( IMS ), 

covering the area of quality, security of work and environment. Ewals Cargo Care CZ is a 

member of the TAPA association in which firms conducting transport or logistic manipulation 

with a high-value goods (electronics, computer etc) are represented. 

Gebrüder Weiss 


Gebrüder Weiss is one of significant players at the world-wide market. On worldwide basis 

Gebrüder Weiss is represented in 21 countries, in which it has 134 branches and more than 

3900 employees. GW focuses on Europe, Asia and USA. 

At the Czech market, Gebrüder Weiss provides to its customers a wide offer of services in the 

area of conveyance and logistics on national and world-wide level. Both in the industrial and 

private sector. 

Kuehne + Nagel group 


Kühne + Nagel, spol. s r.o. founded in 1991 as a Czech branch of Kühne + Nagel Group, a 

world-wide forwarding company, with 830 offices in 100 countries belongs to the leading 

providers of logistic services. 

The Czech branch has currently 91 employees. The company’s head office is located in 

Prague-- Butovice, where sea-freight , truck-freight, sale and administrative divisions are 

located. The air-freight division is located at the airport in Ruzyně. Contract logistic divisions a 

stock with a capacity of 4000 m2 and collecting and distributing services divisions are located 

in Jeneč. 


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RailSped 


Railsped was founded in 1993. Its main activities are: 

an international forwarding business in railway transport 

railway transport consultancy 

mediating of business and services 

Schenker s.r.o. 


Schenker is one of leading world providers of integrated logistics and global forwarding 

services. It realizes international goods flows between manufacturing and business subjects in 

Europe through land freights and air and sea freight on world basis. Nearly 75.000 employees in 

1500 offices in 150 countries in the whole world produce annual turnover of about EUR 15 mill. 

Schenker a part of the Deutsche Bahn AG Transport & Logistics Division . 

Schenker spol. s r. o., as a subsidiary belonging to the compact whole-Europe’s net, disposes 

of all possibilities of the Pan European know-how and technical, technological and capital 

background. The complete forwarding and logistic service is being offered by 620 qualified 

workers at 18 workplaces in the whole area of the Republic. 

SPEDI-TRANS 


The specialization of SPEDI-TRANS Praha, s.r.o. is inland/international forwarding business, 

logistic services as for instance: 

complex services at provision of inland and international freight of goods and follow up 

transport/conveyance 

organization of long distance international freight trains CARPATHIA EXPRESS and ADRIA 

provision of freight of goods in and from the SNS states including transloading and reexpedition 

of the consignments (implementation of the CIM/SMGS consignment note) creation 

of logistic chains(road – railway – road) provision of long-term and short-term hiring of railway 

carriages 

dispatching control and monitoring the move of railway carriages 

forwarding and advisory activity related to railfreight of goods 

Shipping destination: 

Ostrava – Rotterdam – transport in compacted trains 

Border points through which shipping destination is performed: 

Děčín/Bad Schandau/Emmerich/Zevenaar 

Děčín/Bad Schandau/Bad Benteim/Oldenzaal 

Annual transported volume: 

about 15thous/year 

Transported commodities 

Chemicals, anti-freeze mixtures, bio-ethanol 

Price for the rail -freight – about 40Euro/t 

TNT Express 


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TNT Express is one of the largest world carriers of the B2B express consignments. The 

company has been operating at the market since 1946. With use of the net consisting of nearly 

1 200 depots and transhipment stations it transports weekly around 4,1 mill. of packages, 

documents and heavy consignments to the more than 200 countries. It has been using more 

than 23 400 vehicles and 44 freight air-plains, having the largest air and road infrastructure for 

the door-to-door express service. In the Czech Republic, it has been providing a wide range of 

services not only in the area of express conveyance but also in the area of logistics and special 

services according to the clients requests since 1992. It employs more than 300 employees. 


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3 

4 


Order Name of company 

Čechofracht a.s. Opletalova 

37/1284 

111 21 Praha 1 

www.cechofracht.cz 

Četrans a.s. 

Revoluční 3289/13 

400 95 Ústí nad Labem 

www.cetrans.cz 

SCHENKER spol s.r.o. 

K Vypichu 1087 

252 19 Rudná u Prahy 

www.schenker.cz 

Kühne & Nagel, spol. s r.o. 

Pekárenská 7 

155 00 Praha 5 

www.kn-portal.com 

Total weight of transported goods 

2005 (in thous. tonnes) 

Types of conveyances (%] Services provided 

Road 

Railway 

Air 

Sea 

Combined 

Others 

DN 15 65 2 15 0 3 

1 652 100 0 0 0 0 0 

134 30 10 30 30 0 0 

Locations where 

storage places 

are found 

Prague - 

Hostivař, Ruzyně, 

Rudná u Prahy, 

Plzeň, Olomouc 

Plzeň, Cheb, 

Varnsdorf, Most 

Rudná u Prahy, 

Brno, Bor u 

Tachova, Plzeň, 

Hradec Králové, 

Ostrava, Trutnov, 

Liberec, Ml. 

Boleslav 

Prague, 

Pardubice, 

Varnsdorf 

131 


Consignments insurance 

Insurance 

Package adjustments 

Collection service 

Express conveyance 

Consignment monitoriing 

Number of employees in the ČR 

The year of foundation in the ČR 

. . . . . . . 320 1952/ 

1991 

. . . _ _ . . 1 008 1993 

. . . . . . . 350 1991 

. . . . . _ . 70 1991

5 

6 

7 

8 

9 

BOHEMIA CARGO s.r.o. 

Chmelnická 98 

405 02 Děčín 

www.bohemiacargo.cz 

DHL Express s.r.o. 

nám. Sv. Čecha 3/516 

702 00 Ostrava - Přívoz 

www.dhl.cz 

Ewals Cargo Care s.r.o 

Pod Vlachovkou 5 

182 00 Praha 8 

www.ewals.cz 

Gebrüder Weiss spol. s.r.o. K 

Vypichu 986 

252 19 Rudná u Prahy 

www.gw-world.cz 

TNT Express Worldwide, 

spol. s.r.o. 

Na Radosti 413 

150 00 Praha 5 

www.tnt.com/cz 


98,4 80 0 6 14 0 0 Děčín, Most . . . . . _ _ 82 1997 

DN DN DN DN 0 DN DN 

DN 80 5 2 8 4 1 

309 DN DN DN DN DN DN 

DN 40 0 40 0 20 0 

Table A1.5 – Characteristic of forwarding companies at the road market in Czech Republic 

Prague, Beroun, 

Děčín, Pardubice, 

České 

Budějovice, 

Plzeň, Brno, 

Olomouc, 

Ostrava 

Mladá Boleslav, 

Prague, Lovosice, 

Česká Lípa, 

Rychnov nad 

kněžnou, Plzeň, 

Liberec, 

Pardubice aj. 

Brno-Modřice, 

Rudná, Plzeň, 

Hradec Králové, 

Ostrava, Prague, 

České Budějovice 

Prague, Brno, 

Ostrava 


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. . . . . . . 1 100 1991 

. . . . . . . 450 1991 

. . . . . . . 305 1990 

. . . _ _ . . 199 1992


Terminal Operators 

Key operators in terminals for combined transport: 

Company name: 

BOHEMIAKOMBI, spol. s.r.o. 

Intrans ČSKD a.s. 

Maersk Logistics Czech republic s.r.o. 

Metrans a.s. 

TALOSA s.r.o. 

Table A1.6 - Terminal operators in Czech Republic 

BOHEMIAKOMBI, spol. s.r.o. 


The Bohemiakombi Company deals in haulage of containers, swap bodies and semi-trailers 

throughout Europe (Belgium, Netherlands, Germany, Austria, Italy, France, Poland, Slovenia, 

Croatia, Hungary, Romania, Sweden, Norway, Spain and Portugal). 

The main product of the Company is a system of non-stop trains “Bohemia Express”, which is 

currently represented by two lines: Lovosice – Duisburg and back and Lovosice – Hamburg- 

Billwerder and back. Subsequent railway transport from both terminal stations are provided in 

addition to these trains. From Duisburg mainly to Rotterdam, Antwerp, Zeebrugge and Lyon; 

from Hamburg-Billwerder to Sweden and Norway; from Lovosice further across the Czech 

Republic and Slovakia. 

Except for haulage of containers, swap bodies and semi-trailers on non-stop trains Lovosice – 

Duisburg and Lovosice – Hamburg-Billwerder, Bohemiakombi also offers transport of individual 

consignments from railway stations and terminals in the Czech Republic and Slovakia to 

terminals and ports in other European countries. 

ČSKD-INTRANS a.s. 


The ČSKD-INTRANS a.s. Company disposes of an own network of container terminals in the 

Czech Republic. Terminals Praha Žižkov, Přerov and Brno are concerned. The Brno terminal 

currently undergoes a renewal. In Slovakia, the Company operates in the Žilina and Košice 

terminals. 

The Company has rented railway cars and on the Czech Republic territory it uses services of 

ČD. Moreover, the Company disposes of a fleet of haulage contractors who deliver the 

container to the customer. The Company operates its own train connections ("container shuttle 

train service”) to/from European ports (Hamburg/Rotterdam) and transports to Koper, Trieste, 

Rijeka, inland EU destinations, Eastern Europe, CIS, Baltic countries, Asia etc. 

It offers complex logistical services at its terminals, for instance: 

deposition of containers, their short-term storage, minor repairs, maintenance and container 

cleaning 

lease of own 20‘ containers 

Customs bills, professional assistance during customs controls, issue of customs documents 

and the like 

installation of fixing and safety equipment into line 1 ISO containers, fixing of goods 

Final report 

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133


installation of freezer units, their connection to electrical network etc. 

consulting and advisory services in the area of logistics and international combined transport 

and other. 

Technology Information: 

Reloading at terminals takes place with the help of end freight handlers or portal PD 38. Track 

freight handlers are installed in Brno. 

The Company uses its own terminals in the Czech Republic; in the Netherlands the Company 

uses ECT and RSC terminals. 

Transport relations to the Netherlands takes place via the border points Děčín/Bad 

Schandau/Emmerich 

Transport volumes – 4 train pairs/week (regularly) 

Transport reliability – the trains run orderly; delay 2h at maximum. Delays occur mainly in ports 

due to their insufficient capacity (overload) 

On German territory, the Company cooperates with the ITL Dresden hauler 

Maersk Logistics Czech republic s.r.o. 


Maersk logistics in the Czech Republic offers a complete logistical service. Maersk Logistics 

was founded in the year 1996 and it started to expand rapidly. It currently has 350 employees. 

It offers: 

3PL solutions 

Storage – it has 4 warehouses of a total area of about 40,000 m2 in the CZ 

Distribution 

Supply chain management 

Air freight 

Logistical advisory services 

European Rail Shuttle (ERS), s. r. o., a Czech subsidiary of the Dutch operator European Rail 

Shuttle B. 


Is the key hauler in the Mělník terminator. In 2006 the company recorded an increase both of 

the transported consignments (+1,7 %) and the number of trains (+2,5 %). A total of 1198 trains 

were dispatched and 1170 of coming trains were handled. Thus, a total of 153 170 TEU has 

gone through the Mělník terminal in 2006, almost 3000 more than in 2005. 

A part of transportations from/to Hungary that went through the Mělník terminal in 2005 was 

transferred by ERS to direct trains so it is not included in the total increase. 163 trains were 

dispatched by the company from the Bratislava terminal, a 199 coming trains were handled. In a 

total 22 075 TEU were transported. New ERS products were modified in 2006 and the offer of 

regular trains from/to the Mělník and Bratislava terminals was extended. 

Since October 2006 there are two trains per week going from Bremerhaven to Bratislava, one 

direct train in the direction Bratislava – Bremerhaven and one train from Bratislava to 

Bremerhaven being handled in Mělník. The number of the trains in the direction Bremerhaven – 

Mělník was increased by ERS from originally 7 (in the beginning of u 2006) to 9 trains per week 

and the number of links in the shipping destination Mělník – Rotterdam was increased to 10 per 

week. After a part of the transportations has been rerouted from Hamburg to Bremerhaven, 

there is one to two trains per week in operation between Mělník and Hamburg. A new train 

Mělník – Kopřivnice and back was introduced in August 2006 being linked to the transportations 

from and to the ports. There are haulages/cartages from Kopřivnice attending the North Moravia 


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region and Slovakia and Poland adjacent regions. So far this train goes regularly once a week 

and also another one if needed. In April 2007 a new product was introduced by ERS: train – 

Zeebrugge being dispatched in the number up to three couples of trains per week. 

Metrans a.s. 


It does not provide transportations between CZ-NL. Metrans offers full-scale just-in-time 

intermodal railway operations with cargo in sea containers which are heading to/from the 

Czech Republic, Slovakia and Hungary. It connects these countries by railway with the main 

European ports, including Hamburg and Bremerhaven or in the south with Koper, Triest, Rijeka 

and a network of terminals and warehouses including a railway terminal Praha – Uhříněves. 

Company name 


METRANS a.s. 

Podleská 926, 

110 00 Praha 10 - Uhříněves 

www.metrans.eu 

Table A1.7 – Metrans a.s. company data 

TALOSA s.r.o. 

Final report 

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Total volume of railway freight 

transport in the year 2005 in the Czech 

Republic (mill. of tons) 

Total volume of railway freight 

transport in the year 2004 in the Czech 

Republic (mill. of tons) 

Share of railway transport - Export 

Import: Domestic (%) 

Number of served countries 

4 3,3 37,5/35/17,5 5 

Main 

destinations 

Hamburg, 

Bremerhaven, 

Koper 

Number of owned or long-term leased 

trains/wagons 

4/600 


A purely private transport system is concerned (formerly Doprava TATRA, spol. s r.o.) which 

organizes transports for the TATRA motor works. This Company uses terminals in Kopřivnice 

and Uherský Brod Since 2002 it is owned by the ŠKODA TATRA Forwarding, a.s. Company 

(terminal in Plzeň). 

TALOSA s. r. o. provides services in the following areas: 

Road freight transport 

Supplies of technology for constructions of all kinds 

Repairs of road motor vehicles 

Forwarding activities 

Reloading of freight and machinery 

Mediation of business and services 

Combined transport at container terminals in Kopřivnice and Uherský Brod 

Production of sports car aggregates 

135

Machine cutting 

Inland waterway operators 

ČSPL a.s. 



ČSPL, a.s. with domicile in Děčín was founded on 13.6.1922 as a Československá plavební 

akciová společnost Labská, Praha. At that time, the founders at that time were the state and 

banks. The Company has performed all activities associated not only with transport of goods 

and persons, but also with construction and repairs of ships. 

In the course of the years, significant changes in water carriage operation have taken place and 

the most significant was an acquisition dated 21.10.2002. At that time, part of the Corporation 

providing river carriage has bought and registered under the name ČSPL, a.s. the ARGO 

Internationale Spedition Company (today ARGO BOHEMIA). 

The ČSPL, a.s. Company has a total of 293 employees and 102 vessels with a tonnage of 

66,812 tons and 13,674 kW. Nowadays, sea ports of the German Ocean, the Baltic Sea and 

inland ports of Germany, Netherlands, Switzerland and France are regularly visited by its 

vessels. The vessels of ČSPL a.s. Company may also use the connection of the Rhine-Mohan- 

Danube canal in the direction of Danubian ports in Germany, Austria, Slovakia and Hungary. 

Company name 


ČSPL, a.s. 

Karla Čapka 211/1 

405 91 Děčín 1 

www.cspl.cz 

Total volume of river freight carriage in 

the year 2005 (tons) 

546 

037 

Total volume of river freight carriage in 

the year 2004 (tons) 

361 

793 

Table A1.8 – ČSPL a.s. company data 

Share of river freight carriage - 

Import: Export: Domestic (%) 

Port of registry 

Ports used in the Czech Republic 

Services 


Served countries 

45/55 Děčín 

Děčín, Ústí 

Germany, 

nad 

Netherlands, 

Labem, 

France, 

Lovosice, 

Belgium 

Mělník 

Number of owned ships 

102 

Types of used ships 

MN 

Labe, 

TC 

11500, 

TC 500, 

TR 610 

Transport of floating objects 

Warehousing 


Insurance of consignments 

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Employee count in the Czech Republic 

_ _ . _ 293


Annex 2 Train Schedules 

Transport schedule ČSKD Intrans 

Transport schedules are shown for the validity period of 2007 (November). Therefore, the 

number of connections and particularly their timing may change. 

Station / Day, train no. 

Final report 

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Wed, 42338 Thu, 48380 Sun, 42336 

Day Time Day Time Day Time Day Time 

End of orders Tue 14:00 Wed 14:00 Fri 14:00 

End of reception – Prague Tue 18:00 Thu 06:00 Sat 06:00 

Prague Malešice Wed 13:00 Thu 20:30 Sun 02:50 

Děčín ETA Wed 16:30 Thu 23:59 Sun 05:03 

Děčín ETD Wed 17:34 Fri 01:50 Sun 06:05 

Bad Schandau ETA Wed 18:05 Fri 02:20 Sun 06:36 

Bad Schandau ETD Wed 19:05 Fri 03:20 Sun 07:49 

Emmerich ETA Thu 09:11 Fri 18:25 Sun 19:54 

Emmerich ETD Thu 12:00 Fri 18:55 Sun 01:00 

Rotterdam Waalhaven Thu 20:50 Mon 03:00 

Rotterdam Maasvlakte Fri 04:00 Sat 02:00 Mon 07:00 

Table A2.1 - Transport schedule: Terminal Prague-Žižkov, Prague-Žižkov – Rotterdam Maasvlakte 

Note: All trains are marked with the name Tullipan in addition to the number. 

Station / Day, train no. 

Mon, 42319 Tue, 42339 Fri, 42337 

Day Time Day Time Day Time Day Time 

End of orders Fri 12:00 Fri 14:00 We 

d 

15:00 

End of reception – Rotterdam 

Mon 00:00 

ECT 

Tue 00:00 Thu 22:00 

End of reception – Rotterdam 

Mon 06:00 

RSC 

Tue 06:00 Fri 00:00 

Rotterdam Maasvlakte Mon 11:00 Tue 12:10 Fri 07:10 

Rotterdam Walhaven Mon 14:30 Tue 15:20 Fri 10:20 

Emmerich ETA Tue 00:01 Tue 19:00 Fri 15:45 

Emmerich ETD Tue 01:01 Tue 21:01 Fri 18:02 

Bad Schandau ETA Tue 15:23 We 

d 

Bad Schandau ETD Tue 16:25 We 

d 

12:29 Sat 08:57 

13:33 Sat 10:32 

Table A2.2 - Transport schedule: Terminal Rotterdam Maasvlakte, Rotterdam Maasvlakte – Prague-Žižkov 

137

ERS 

To Rotterdam 


Mělník MIT Rotterdam RSC 1 2 1 2 1 2 1 

Rotterdam RSC Mělník MIT 2 1 2 1 2 2 0 

Table A2.3 - Scope of transport linked to the terminal in Mělník MIT 

Mon, 11 Tue, 22 Tue, 21 Wed, 31 

Station / Day, trip no. (ERS) Day Time Day Time Day Time Day Time 

End of orders/reservations Fri 17:00 Mon 12:00 Mon 17:00 Tue 17:00 

End of reception, customs – 

Mělník 

Mon 10:00 Mon 19:00 Tue 10:00 Wed 10:00 

End of loading – Mělník Mon 18:00 Tue 11:30 Tue 18:00 Wed 18:00 

Mělník MIT Mon 22:00 Tue 14:00 Tue 22:00 Wed 22:00 

Rotterdam RSC Waalhaven Tue 22:15 

End of unloading – 

Waalhaven 

Tue 23:15 


We 

d 

We 

d 

22:15 Thu 22:15 

23:15 Thu 23:15 

Rotterdam Maasvlakte Wed 03:00 Wed 22:30 Thu 19:30 Fri 00:00 


Maasvlakte 

Wed 09:00 Thu 04:30 Fri 00:30 Fri 03:00 

Thu, 42 Thu, 41 Fri, 51 Sat, 62 


End of orders/reservations Wed 12:00 Wed 17:00 Thu 17:00 Fri 12:00 


Mělník 

Wed 19:00 Thu 10:00 Fri 10:00 Fri 19:00 

End of loading – Mělník Thu 11:30 Thu 18:00 Fri 18:00 Sat 11:30 

Mělník MIT Thu 14:00 Thu 22:00 Fri 22:00 Sat 14:00 

Rotterdam RSC Waalhaven Fri 22:15 


Waalhaven 

Fri 23:15 

Rotterdam Maasvlakte Fri 17:00 Sat 01:00 Mon 11:00 Sun 23:00 


Maasvlakte 

Fri 23:00 Sat 07:15 Mon 19:00 Mon 03:00 

Sat, 61 Sun, 71 


End of orders/reservations Fri 17:00 Fri 17:00 


Mělník 

Sat 10:00 Sun 10:00 

End of loading – Mělník Sat 18:00 Sun 18:00 

Mělník MIT Sat 22:00 Sun 22:00 

Rotterdam RSC Waalhaven Sun 20:30 

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Waalhaven 

Final report 

R20080142.doc 

Sun 22:15 

Rotterdam Maasvlakte Mon 04:00 Tue 00:15 


Maasvlakte 

Mon 10:00 Tue 05:15 

Table A2.4 - Transport schedule: Terminal Mělník MIT, Mělník MIT – Rotterdam Maasvlakte/RSC Waalhaven 

Mon, 11 Mon, 12 Tue, 21 Wed, 31 


End of orders/reservations Fri 15:00 Fri 15:00 Fri 15:00 Mon 09:00 


Maasvlakte 

Sat 08:00 Sun 18:00 Mon 01:00 Mon 14:15 

End of loading – Maasvlakte Sun 07:00 Mon 10:00 Mon 19:00 Tue 05:15 

Rotterdam Maasvlakte Mon 02:00 Mon 21:10 Tue 02:00 Wed 02:00 

End of loading – Waalhaven Tue 01:30 

Rotterdam RSC Waalhaven Tue 04:30 

Mělník MIT Tue 22:00 Wed 08:00 Wed 22:00 Thu 22:00 

End of unloading - Mělník Wed 03:00 Wed 12:00 Thu 03:00 Fri 03:00 

Wed, 32 Thu, 41 Fri, 51 Fri, 52 


End of orders/reservations Tue 10:00 Tue 15:00 Wed 15:00 Wed 15:00 


Maasvlakte 

Tue 16:00 Wed 12:30 Thu 12:30 Thu 14:00 

End of loading – Maasvlakte Wed 09:00 Thu 04:30 Fri 04:30 Fri 07:00 

Rotterdam Maasvlakte Wed 21:10 Thu 06:00 Fri 06:00 Fri 21:10 

End of loading – Waalhaven Wed 21:50 Fri 21:50 

Rotterdam RSC Waalhaven Wed 22:50 Fri 22:50 

Mělník MIT Fri 08:00 Fri 22:00 Sat 22:00 Sun 08:00 

End of unloading - Mělník Fri 12:00 Sat 03:00 Sun 03:00 Sun 12:00 

Sat, 61 Sat, 62 


End of orders/reservations Thu 15:00 Fri 09:00 


Maasvlakte 

Fri 07:00 Fri 15:00 

End of loading – Maasvlakte Fri 23:00 Sat 07:15 

Rotterdam Maasvlakte Sat 02:00 Sat 15:40 

End of loading – Waalhaven 

Rotterdam RSC Waalhaven 

Mělník MIT Mon 08:00 Tue 08:00 

End of unloading - Mělník Mon 12:00 Tue 12:00 

Table A2.5 - Transport schedule: Terminal Mělník MIT, Rotterdam Maasvlakte/RSC Waalhaven – Mělník MIT 

139

Annex 3 Information from Company Surveys 

(Questionnaires) – Bottleneck 

Company: - Focus – FORWARDING railway transport 


Interview 1: 

The Company sees shortcomings in combined transportation mainly in the area of small range 

of public combined traffic terminals in the Czech Republic. The only neutral terminals in the 

Czech Republic are ČD DUSS Lovosice and TSC Lovosice. Other terminals in the Czech 

Republic are at the same time operators of CT trains. The possibilities for potential companies 

wanting to organize these transports are thus reduced (they are not admitted in private 

terminals (Itrans/Metrans) and Lovosice do not dispose of such a capacity). The DUSS 

terminals in Germany are also public, thus neutral. 

There is no public terminal in the eastern part of the Czech Republic territory. 

Operating view which is limiting and has negative impact on transportation: The Company 

regards railway carriers as the problem. It is mainly an issue of timely train runs of the DB 

Railion Company. (trains/staff). 

The ČD Cargo a.s. carrier does not own any railway cars for transport of road semi-trailers 

(pocket wagons); moreover, there is a lack of container cars in working condition. 

Economic view which is limiting and has negative impact on transportation: The same level of 

fees for usage of traffic routes for lines of combined traffic of continental type (with transport of 

road semi-trailers, swap bodies) with lines to sea ports. 

The program for CT support does not provide an advantage for CT lines with road semi-trailers 

transport and swap bodies. Currently, the CT support program 2006 – 2010 is not carried out in 

the Czech Republic as far as the promised funds are concerned. 

High fees for railway traffic routes when compared to toll decrease the competitive price 

advantage of the continental-type CT. 

After a ten-year period of high levels of continental-type CT line support (RoLa) the support for 

new continental-type CT lines has been reduced. Without state assistance for easement of 

losses of temporary nature for approx. 2-3 years the development of new lines will be from very 

low to zero. 

Legislative view which is limiting and has negative impact on transportation: Ban on pick-up and 

delivery for Czech road haulers in countries like Germany, Sweden and the like. (Disallowed 

cabotage due to EU entry treaties.) 

Interview 2: 

The Company sees a significant bottleneck in the yearly increase in prices on the part of the 

RAILION Company. Furthermore, it is a very low preciseness of the Railion Company 

employees in dispatch stations in the Netherlands. 

Company: - Focus – Operator of combined transport 

Interview: 

The Company does not see any significant problems in the area of combined transport during 

railway transportation. Problem areas arise in road transport, namely in case of unequal loading 

of containers in Asia and thus the problem of axle pressure violation for some road vehicle 

axles. This condition cannot be avoided even when the container weight is lower. 


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Company: - Focus – Roadway carrier 

Interview 1: 

Operating-economic view which is limiting and has negative impact on transportation: Time of 

vehicle provision for loading from the time of customer order in import. 

The main motive for the use of terminals (containers/RoLa) would be seen in guaranteed time of 

delivery from the consigner to the consignee and a total price for transport including reloading 

and delivery to the house of the consignee. 

The Company has a bad experience with railway carriage mainly due to absence of suitable 

forwarder wagons at the time of loading needs. 

As far as road haulage is concerned, the Company refers to the slow reaction of forwarders at 

the beginning of a week in Holland. 

Company: – Focus – Railway carrier 

Interview1: 

Limited capacity of border transit stations are mainly regarded by the Company as problematic. 

Limiting legislation in the area of railway traffic; insufficient capacity of traffic routes. 

Interview2: 

The company does not own any terminal and is not using them because private owners averted 

the access to them. There is only one public terminal in the CR which is already used to full 

capacity currently and therefore other transportations cannot be directed to this terminal. The 

company says it is necessary to build up terminals for public access. 

The company sees as a problematic place in the spur track attendance directly in the port from 

the time point of view. It oft meets with a low efficiency of the attendants at the spur track in the 

port. The compact train comes to the port in time but here at the hand over to the port spur 

attendant there are big time outs caused by the spur attendants. 

To unify the cross-frontier agreement on locomotives homologation. A special permission for the 

same type of a locomotive is to be obtained for every crossing to the D railway net. There are 

cases when the locomotive is allowed to cross the state frontier crossing the D but not the other 

one (provided there is the same traction etc.). 

The permissions for extraordinary transportations are not accorded uniformly. For instance it is 

very difficult to obtain this permission in the direction CZ – WEST than CZ – EAST. 

The rail offices EBA in D and DÚ in CZ should set and unify directives according to which the 

locomotives could be homologised for the operation on own railway networks for foreign haulers 

CZ/D. 

To simplify the conditions for cross-frontier operation to the 1 st railway statiton of a 

neighbouring state. Thus, the handover of the freight trains among particular contractual haulers 

on railway networks of two neighbouring states (CZ/D) would be more efficient. 

Interview3: 

The company sees the most serious fact negatively influencing the transportation between CZ 

and NL on the track is the Ralion a Ralion Nederland high price policy. According to the 

company there are high prices especially for the carriage consignments that are completely 

non-competitive to the rail transport. 

Final report 

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141

Kind of activity answer 

transport 

CZ-NL 

Railway companies - carrier 

1 Viamont Cargo a.s. 1 1 

2 OKD, Doprava a.s. 1 0 

3 UNIPETROL DOPRAVA a.s. 1 1 

4 Slezskomoravská dráha a.s. 0 0 

5 ODOS a.s. 0 0 

6 ČD Cargo a.s. 1 1 

Roadway companies - carrier 

7 CS Cargo a.s. 0 1 

8 Četrans a.s. 1 1 

9 Icom Transport a.s. 0 1 

10 Jihotrans a.s. 1 1 

11 TQM holding a.s. 0 1 

Operators of terminals (kombined transport) 

12 Intrans ČSKD 1 1 

13 Metrans a.s. 0 0 

14 Maersk 0 1 

15 BOHEMIAKOMBI, s r.o. 1 1 

16 Talosa s.r.o 1 0 

Inland waterway transport - carrier 

17 ČSPL 0 1 

Forwarding transportation companies 

18 SPEDI-TRANS 1 1* 

19 Schenker s.r.o. 0 1* 

20 Gebrüder Weiss 0 1* 

21 TNT Express 0 1* 

22 DHL Express 0 1* 

23 DSV Road 0 1* 

24 Čechofracht 0 1* 

25 Kuehne + Nagel group 0 1* 

26 Bohemia cargo 1 1* 

27 RailSped 0 1* 

Total of answer 11 22 

Table A3.1 - Answer evaluation of questionnaire 


* The realized transportations between CZ-NL not confirmed; they could be expected to exist. 


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Survey in the Netherlands 

The following companies have been interviewed 

• SC Rotterdam - mr C. Hoenders, director 

• HMM (Hyundai Merchant Marine) - Mrs L. Shea, manager inland operations 

• NYK Logistics - Mr S. Marino - general manager operations 

• ITL - Mr G. Boot - Commercial director 

• ERS -Mr P Baas - Manager operations 

• EMDieselsF - Mr F. Zoetmulder / Former managing director ERS Railways 

• Rail Cargo Info Centre - Mr M. Philips 

• Ministry V&W - Mr Q. Vosman 

• Railion - Mr T. Halbers 

• Companies APTM and Optimodal were requested but interviews were not possible. 

Final report 

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143

Annex 4 Template of Questionnaire 

1) AREA - TRANSPORT BETWEEN CZ AND NL 

a) Companies achieving transport between CZ and NL – general questions 

Profile of the company (short description) 

Type of provided services 

Amount of operation-technical 

equipment/background – types of 

vehicles/carriages, railway engine, reloading 

technology, number of employees etc. 

(at least reference) 

b) Companies achieving transport between CZ and NL – transport questions 

Name of used terminals/places of reloading 

in CZ and NL 

Type of commodity (goods, TEU) 

Transported goods – (from – to) and how 

regularly 

Via which border points CZ/D and D/NL do 

you carry out the transport 

Transport between CZ and NL (t/year or 

TEU/year or trains/year ) 


Transport volume (t/year) according to type 

of commodities/goods 



c) Economic questions, transport price according to types of transport - (if possible to 

publish) 

Transport tariff (select according to your most convenient and monitored unit): 

Transport price 

(t/km) 


TEU/km 

By railway 

By road 

By sea? 

By railway 

By road 

By sea? 


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m3 

Final report 

R20080142.doc 

By railway 

By road 

By sea? 

Transport price according to commodities, if different: 

Food and live animals 

Beverages and tobacco 

Raw materials, uneatable, except fuels 

Mineral fuels, lubricants and related 

materials 

Animal and vegetable oils, fat and waxes 

Chemicals and related products not listed 

anywhere else 

Market products assorted mainly according 

to material 

Machines and vehicles 

Industrial consumer goods 

Commodities and subjects of business not 

categorised anywhere else, e.g. TEU 

2) AREA – COMPANIES, OPERATORS OPERATING RAILWAY RELOAD TERMINAL 

Name 

Place 

Property 

Types of serviced transports and their ratio 

(railway/road) 

Number of reloads per year (TEU/t) 

Type of operation-technical equipment of the 

terminal 

What other transport companies can access the 

terminal 

Sources and objectives of transport of goods that 

are reloaded in the terminal. Ideally present also 

according to types of commodities/goods. 

What service package do you provide in the 

terminal 

145

General information about observing times of 

regular transports (whole trains) departure/arrival 

from/in the terminal considering the railway 

timetable 


3) AREA – COMPANIES, TRANSPORTERS ACTIVE IN RAILWAY SERVICE ON CZ 

TRANSPORT MARKET 

Name 

Company profile + what services does the 

company offer 

Head office 

Location of the main operation-technical 

background 

Kinds, types and amount of operation-technical 

equipment, number of employees etc. 

Total transport volume (t, TEU/year) 

Transport volume (t/year) according to type of 

commodities/goods (at least reference) 

Important transport relations 

4 AREA – PROBLEMS DURING TRANSPORT 

a) Road transport/transporters 

Can you list what objectives negatively affect or somehow limit your activity? Which of them do 

you consider the most serious? (For example legislation, time limits, congestions, road fees, 

administrative processes, other limits) 

b) Railway transport transporters/forwarders 


you consider the most serious? (For example legislation, other administrative processes, cooperation 

with other railway administrations and operators (DB Netz, DR Cargo), capacity of 

railways, price of the fee for used transport routes, train on time, keeping the consignment 

inviolate) 

c) Forwarding companies, operators of container terminals etc. 


you consider the most serious? (Obstacles of legislation or other nature, transport market 

control, insufficient transport infrastructure, sufficiency of logistic areas and access to them) 

Do you see any obstacles when using road transport – both own or of co-operating operators of 

road transport? (Congestion, road fees, reliability of partners, meeting the agreed time of 

transport, non-discriminatory approach of state) 

Experience with railway freight transport? Have you got experience with any other railway 

operator than ČD a.s.?(Complaisance, behaviour of transporter employees, reliability of 


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transport (time and in terms of consignment inviolacy), sufficiency of carriages of convenient 

series for loading of the appropriate kind of goods, transport price) 

5 AREA – MISCELLANEOUS – open question 

Any questions, ideas 

Final report 

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147

Annex 5 Terminals in the Czech Republic 


There are currently 6 key companies that operate intermodal freight transport (IFT) terminals in 

the territory of the Czech Republic. 

Company Location of the terminal 

METRANS, a. s. 

Prague-Uhříněves, Zlín- 

Želechovice/Lípa 

ČSKD INTRANS, a. s. Prague-Žižkov, Přerov, Brno 

MAERSK LOGISTICS, s. r. 

o. 

Mělník 

ČD-DUSS, Terminál a. s. Lovosice 

Česko-saské přístavy s. r. o. Děčín, Lovosice 

České přístavy a. s. Ústí nad Labem, Mělník 

Table A5.1 - Location of terminals in the CR 

Within the technical terms of the terminals only loading tracks are more specified– it does not 

mean that a freight train of a common length permitted on a transport route can be transported 

to the terminal connecting station. 

In annexed schemes is an overview of shunting yards (Annex 8.4). 

Characteristics of the terminal Praha-Uhříněves 

Technical data 

Term Description 

Connection station 

(registration number) 

Operating hours 

Praha-Uhříněves (UIC - 54/54956-8, UIRR - 938) 

Rail operations: 24 h daily Mo - Sun, including state holiday 

Road operations: Mo – Sun from 7:00 am to 9:30 pm 

Capacity – trailers 360 trailers (long-term subcontractors) 

Manipulation means 

Track portal cranes 

Own track means 4 locomotives 

Operating capacity 10 trains at the same time 

Length of spur track 12 km of tracks 

6 wheel freight handlers, 42 t (5 levels), Kalmar 

7 wheel freight handlers 8 t (7 levels), Ferrari 248 – 4 TEU 

3 over 7 tracks being 600 m long 

2 over 6 tracks being 350 m long 

Loading tracks 7 x 600 m + 6 x 350 m + 2 x 550 m 

Storing capacity 15 000 TEU 

Storing area 270 000 m2 

Total terminal area 420 000 m2 

Annual reloading not found out 

Table A5.2 - Technical terms of the Praha-Uhříněves terminal 


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Source: a METRANS a. s. official website (http://www.metrans.eu/). 

Scope of offered services 

• Possibility of handling containers, changing superstructures and trailers; 

• Office for customs clearance; 

• Connections for isothermal containers – PTI incl. repairs; 

• Deposit for empty containers – capacity 10 000 TEU; 

• 3 000 m2 covered repair areas including container cleaning; 

• Installation of linerbags or hangertainers. 

Scope and frequency of transport 

Session Connection frequency per day 

From terminal To terminal Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat Sun 

To Hamburg 

Hamburg Buchardkai 

terminal 

Final report 

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Prague-Uhříněves 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 

Hamburg CTA terminal Prague-Uhříněves 1 1 2 1 1 1 1 

Hamburg CTT terminal Prague-Uhříněves 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 

Hamburg Eurokai terminal Prague-Uhříněves 2 2 1 1 2 1 1 

Hamburg Prague-Uhříněves 0 1* 0 0 0 0 0 

Prague-Uhříněves 

Hamburg Buchardkai 

terminal 

1 1 1 1 1 1 1 

Prague-Uhříněves Hamburg CTA terminal 1 2 1 2 1 1 1 

Prague-Uhříněves Hamburg CTT terminal 1 0 1 0 1 0 0 

Prague-Uhříněves Hamburg Eurokai terminal 1 1 1 1 1 2 2 

To Bremerhaven 

Bremerhaven Prague-Uhříněves 0 2 1 1 0 1 1 

Prague-Uhříněves Bremerhaven 1 2 2 2 2 1 0 

To Zlín-Želechovice/Lípa 

Prague-Uhříněves Zlín-Želechovice/Lípa 2 2 2 2 2 1 1 

Zlín-Želechovice/Lípa Prague-Uhříněves 2 2 2 2 2 2 0 

To Dunajská Streda 

Prague-Uhříněves Dunajská Streda 0 1 1 1 1 0 1 

Dunajská Streda Prague-Uhříněves 0 1 1 1 1 0 1 

Table A5.3 - Scope of transport linked to the terminal in Prague-Uhříněves 

* - seasonal operation only. 

Source: Official website of METRANS a. s. (http://www.metrans.eu/). 

149

Characteristics of the terminal Zlín-Želechovice/Lípa 





Operating hours 

Lípa nad Dřevnicí (UIC - 54/37055-1, UIRR - 975) 


Railway operations: 24 h daily Mo - Su, including public holiday 

Road operations: Mo – Su from 7:00 to 21:30 

Capacity – trailers 180 trailers (long-term subcontractors) 

Manipulation means 6 wheel freight handlers, 42 t + 8 t 

Track portal cranes - 

Own track means not available 

Operating capacity not available 

Length of spur track not available 

Loading tracks 2 x 350 m + 3 x 550 m 

Storing capacity not available 

Storing area 40 000 m2 

Total terminal area 45 000 m2 

Annual reloading not available 

Table A5.4 - Technical terms of the Zlín-Želechovice/Lípa terminal 

Source: Oficiální web společnosti METRANS a. s. (http://www.metrans.eu/). 


• Possibility of handling containers, changing superstructures and trailers; 

• Office for customs clearance; 

• Connections for isothermal containers – transport inspection (PTI) incl. repairs; 

• Deposit for empty containers 

• Container cleaning; 

• Installation of linerbags or hangertainers 


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Scope of transport 



To Hamburg 

Hamburg CTA terminal Zlín-Želechovice/Lípa 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 

Hamburg Eurokai terminal Zlín-Želechovice/Lípa 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 

Hamburg Zlín-Želechovice/Lípa 0 0 0 0 0 1* 0 


Zlín-Želechovice/Lípa Bremerhaven 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 

To Prague-Uhříněves 

Prague-Uhříněves Zlín-Želechovice/Lípa 2 2 2 2 2 1 1 

Zlín-Želechovice/Lípa Prague-Uhříněves 2 2 2 2 2 2 0 

Table A5.5 - Scope of transport linked to the terminal in Zlín-Želechovice/Lípa 

* - seasonal operation only 

Transport schedule 

The transport schedule is subject to the departures and arrivals or trains at the terminals in 

Prague-Uhříněves from the terminals in Hamburg and Bremerhaven, on which the Prague- 

Uhříněves – Zlín-Želechovice/Lípa session follows up. 

Characteristics of the terminal Praha-Žižkov 

According to the ČSKD-INTRANS a. s. development purposes it is expected that due to the 

limited capacity of the Prague –Žižkov current terminal, the terminal will be moved to a 

substantial location which will fulfil the capacity requirements in the course of five years. The 

alternative location should remain at the area of the City of Prague, or in its proximity. 

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151





Operating hours Mo – Fr, 24 h daily 1) 

Capacity – trailers not available 

Praha-Žižkov (UIC - 54/57326-1, UIRR – 925) 1) 

Manipulation means 3 wheel freight handlers, 45 t (5 levels), Kalmar 





Loading tracks 1 x 260 m + 3 x 215 m 2) 


Storing area 17 000 m2 1) 

Total terminal area 31 000 m2 1) 


Table A5.6 - Technical terms of the Praha-Žižkov terminal 

Source: 1) UIRR (http://www.uirr.com/); 

2) Mapy.cz (http://www.mapy.cz/) – distance is measured from map. 



• Deposit of containers, short-term storage, minor repairs, maintenance and cleaning; 

• Installation of cooling aggregates, electrical cooling containers, transport inspections; 

• Computer monitored and controlled depot; 

• Lease of 20’ containers; 

• Customs declaration, expert assistance during customs controls, etc.; 

• Installation of handling and security equipment into ISO series 1 containers, fixing of goods; 

• Installation of freezing aggregates, their connection to power supply, etc. 


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To Hamburg 

Prague-Žižkov Hamburg Waltershof 1 1 1 2 2 0 0 

Hamburg Waltershof Prague-Žižkov 0 1 1 1 2 1 1 

To Rotterdam 

Prague-Žižkov Rotterdam (RSC+ECT) 0 0 1 1 0 0 1 

Rotterdam (RSC+ECT) Prague-Žižkov 1 1 0 0 1 0 0 

Table A5.7 - Scope of transport linked to the terminal in Prague-Žižkov 


Source: Official website of ČSKD-INTRANS a. s. (http://www.intrans.cz/). 

Container transport on the part of the route using the railway is conducted using railway 

containers leased from ČD, a.s. On the DB-Netz network, the company uses the services of a 

third shipper (ITL Dresden). When trains arrive at the destination terminals, a delay of up to 2 

hours occurs for operational reasons on the railway network. The greatest delay is general 

caused by late departure of the train from the port, generally because of its overloading. 

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153

Characteristics of the terminal Přerov 





Operating hours not available 


Přerov (UIC - 54/34662-7, UIRR – 940) 1) 

Manipulation means 1 wheel portal crane PD 38 


Own track means - 

Operating capacity 1 train 


Loading tracks 1 x 215 m 2) 


Storing area not available 

Total terminal area not available 


Table A5.8 - Technical terms of the Přerov terminal 




Not available. 


The terminal in Přerov is operated by follow-up transports, which are part of the train linking 

network in the CR to/from the central terminal in Prague-Žižkov. 


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Characteristics of the terminal Brno 





Operating hours Mo – Fr, 6:00 – 18:00 1) 


Manipulation means - 

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Brno Main station (UIC - 54/33295-7, UIRR – 928) 1) 

Track portal cranes 2 over 3 tracks, 280 m length 




Loading tracks 3 x 280 m 2) 





Table A5.9 - Technical terms of the Brno terminal 



The terminal in Brno is currently undergoing renovation and no regular transport is conducted 

here. In the outlook ventures of ČSKD INTRANS, service will be provided here and the terminal 

may be considered an important reloading point in the South Moravian region. 

The offer of services at the terminal in Brno is not enclosed because it is not in operation at 

present. 

155

Characteristics of the terminal Mělník 



Terminal station 





Mělník Labe (UIC - 54/52038-7, UIRR – not available) 1) 

Mělník (UIC - 54/53018-8, UIRR – 927) 4) 

Operating hours Mo – Su, 24 h daily 4) 


Manipulation means 2 wheel freight handlers, 42 t (5 levels), Kalmar 1) 

Track portal cranes not available 



Length of spur track 14,2 km 5) 

Loading tracks 1 x 550 m + 1 x 270 m 2) 

Storing capacity 3 000 TEU 6) 

Storing area 140 000 m2 (open-air area), 17 000 m2 (covered area) 5) 


Annual reloading 153 170 TEU (year 2006) 3) 

Table A5.10 - Technical terms of the Mělník MIT terminal 


2) Mapy.cz (http://www.mapy.cz/) – distance is measured from map; 

3) Dopravní noviny (http://www.dnoviny.cz/); 

4) Bohemiakombi (http://www.bohemiakombi.cz/); 

5) České přístavy (http://www.ceskepristavy.cz/); 

6) MAERSK LOGISTICS (http://www.maersklogistics.com/). 


• Intermodal services in the water/road/rail system; 

• Transfer of loads up to 300 t in weight and loose substrates; 

• Container storage, repair and maintenance; 

• Customs clearance; 

• Storage and public customs warehouse services (approx. 5 000 m2); 

• Office rental (approx. 1213 m2); 

• Sale of diesel in the port compound; 

• Connection to the public railway network with a private branch line; 

• Road connection to motorways I/9 (Prague – Česká Lípa) and I/16 (Mladá Boleslav – 

Kralupy n./V.); 

• Transfer of unit goods – 8 ship transfer surface; 

• Container distribution; 

• Forwarding services. 


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• Connections between terminals are operated by European Rail Shuttle (ERS) together with 

ČD, a.s. (Czech Rail) 



To Hamburg 

Mělník MIT Hamburg Waltershof 0 0 1 0 1 0 0 

Hamburg Waltershof Mělník MIT 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 


Mělník MIT Bremerhaven Nordhafen 1 2 2 2 2 1 2 

Bremerhaven Nordhafen Mělník MIT 1 2 2 1 1 1 2 

To Rotterdam 

Mělník MIT Rotterdam RSC 1 2 1 2 1 2 1 

Rotterdam RSC Mělník MIT 2 1 2 1 2 2 0 

Table A5.11 - Scope of transport linked to the terminal in Mělník MIT 


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157

Characteristics of the terminal Lovosice 





Lovosice (UIC - 54/55859-3, UIRR – 931) 1) 

Operating hours Mo – Fr 6:00 – 22:00, Sa 6:00 – 18:00 1) 







Loading tracks 






2 wheel portal cranes PD 250 over 2 tracks, 160 m length – TSC 

2 wheel freight handlers, 42 t (5 levels), Kalmar – ČD-DUSS 

2 x 160 m - TSC 

1 x 240 m + 1 x 280 m 2) – ČD-DUSS 

Table A5.12 - Technical terms of the Lovosice terminal (ČD DUSS) 



Extent of Offered Services 

The terminal has a suitable location on the IV. Pan-European corridor, it is a part of the 

industrial zone with the combination of the road, railway and water transport. It is distinguished 

by a high permeability of the transport network for all kinds of transport. The River port, railway 

and road terminal offers a wide spectrum of services of this multimodal goods centre: 

Scope of services in the rail/road system 

• Reloading of containers (20´ – 45´), exchangeable superstructure and manipulable road 

semitrailers 

• Storage of transport units; 

• Completing and decompleting consignments, reloading, packing and further services; 

• Storage of goods (5 days in the manipulation price) with the following consolidation and 

preparation for dispatch into production depending on daily production and customer 

requirements; 

• Customs procedure including assuring the customs debt; 

• Collection and distribution of consignments and transport units. 

Extent of transport 

• Transport associated with the activity of Lovosice terminal is provided by Bohemiakombi s. r. 

o. (neutral operator of combined transport) and Kombiverkehr by trains of „Bohemia 

Express“ system. The trains for direct relations from Lovosice into Duisburg and Hamburg 

consist mostly of container consignments, exchanging superstructures and a part is 


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transport of road semitrailers. The transport of semitrailers is used mostly by Hangartner, 

company focusing on intermodal transport with headquarters in Kladno. 

Relation Frequency of connections per day 

From terminal Into terminal Mo Tu W Th Fr Sa Su 

Direction Duisburg 

Lovosice Duisburg-Ruhrort Hafen 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 

Duisburg-Ruhrort Hafen Lovosice 1 0 1 0 1 0 0 

Direction Hamburg 

Lovosice Hamburg-Billwerder 1 0 1 0 1 0 0 

Hamburg-Billwerder Lovosice 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 

Table A5.13 - Scope of transport connected to Lovosice terminal 

Source: Bohemiakombi s. r. o. (http://www.bohemiakombi.cz/). 

From Hamburg, there are connections to terminal/ports: Rostock, Kiel and Lübeck and from 

Duisburg there are connections in direction to terminals/ports Rotterdam-Maasvlakte, 

Rotterdam-RSC Waalhaven, Antwerpen-Mainhub and Zeebrugge P&O. 

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159

Characteristics of the terminal / port Lovosice 











Lovosice-Prosmyky 1 (UIC - 54/52859-6, UIRR – not available) 

Lovosice (UIC - 54/55859-3, UIRR – not available) 

1 crane to 10 t 





Length of spur track 812 m 1) 

Loading tracks not available 





Table A5.14 - Technical terms of the Lovosice port/terminal (Česko-saské přístavy s.r.o.) 

Source: 1) Česko-saské přístavy s. r. o. (http://www.csp-labe.cz/). 

Lovosice – Extent of offered services 

• Reloading place determined for intermodal water/road/rail system; 

• Rail connection to public railway network – siding; 

• Reloading of piece, loose and heavy consignments, including containers; 

• Reloading by cranes up to the weight of 180 t; 

• Possible is implementable reloading of units by mobile cranes up to the weight of 300 t; 


• Container terminal, depository of containers; 

• Performance of small repairs and containers cleaning; 

• Offer of free office areas and storage areas. 

Scope of transport and time table 

At present, there is non-existing regular railway connection by trains for combined transport. 


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Characteristics of the terminal Ústí n.L. 







Operating hours Mo – Fr, 6:00 – 16:00 1) 


Final report 

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Ústí nad Labem-Mariánská skála (UIC - 54/52189-8, UIRR – 985) 

Ústí nad Labem sever (UIC - 54/53199-6, UIRR – not available) 

Manipulation means 1 wheel freight handler 36 t 1) 










Table A5.15 - Technical terms of the Ústí nad Labem terminal 



The extent of services offered 

• Reloading from watercrafts into road vehicles and railway carriages; 

• Reloading and storing heavy pieces and over-size pieces to the weight of 35 t; 

• Overloading loose substrates; 

• Substrate stock-pile; 

• The container terminal being linked by spur track to the public railway line; 

• Packing and repacking the goods including its distribution; 

• Storing on hard surfaces and in a covered warehouse; 

• Premises rental including offices and warehouses for business activity; 

• Customs declaration – a public customs warehouse including customs guarantee liability; 

• Road weighbridge; 

• The area of the port is guarded by the security service; 

• The operator of the port owns the certificate ČSN EN ISO 9001:2001 a ČSN EN 

14001:2004. 

161

Characteristics of the terminal / port Děčín 











Děčín-Loubí (UIC - 54/52669-9, UIRR – not available) 

Děčín východ (UIC - 54/55689-4, UIRR – not available) 

4 cranes to 10 t 

1 crane to 12,5 t 




Length of spur track 10 km 1) 






Table A5.16 - Technical terms of the Děčín terminal 

Source: 1) Česko-saské přístavy s. r. o. (http://www.csp-labe.cz/). 



Děčín – Scope of offered services 

• Reloading area determined for intermodal system water/road/rail; 

• Rail connection to public railway network – siding; 

• Reloading of piece, loose and heavy consignments, incl. containers; 

• Reloading of units by crane up to the weight of 80 t; 

• Possible implementable reloading of units by mobile cranes up to 250 t; 


• Container terminal, containers depository; 

• Performance of small repairs and cleaning of containers; 

• Offer of free office areas and storage areas (free as well as covered); 

• Rail and road scale. 

Extent of transport and time table 

At present, there is no regular railway connection by trains for combined transport. 


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Annex 6 Terminals in the Netherlands 

Characteristics of the terminal ECT Rotterdam Maasvlakte (2 separate terminals) 







Final report 

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Rotterdam Maasvlakte 

Rotterdam Maasvlakte 

Operating hours Mo – Su, 24 h daily 


Manipulation means 4 reachstackers (each terminal 2 reachstackers) 

Track portal cranes 4 portal cranes (each terminal 2 portal cranes) 



Length of spur track 7 km 

Loading tracks 7 x 750 m + 4 x 750 

Storing capacity 

Stack is organised between handling at seaside and handling at 

landside. Total stack capacity around 10.000 TEU 

Storing area 26.000 m² for all modes of transport 

Total terminal area 265 ha 

Annual reloading 

Table A6.1 - Technical terms of the ECT Rotterdam Maasvlakte terminal 

4,3 million TEU total terminal, of which 525.000 TEU rail only. 

(2006) 


• Maritime container terminal with connections to all modes of transport. 

• Quay Length seaside 3.6 km 




• Train services by all possible railway undertakings (a.o. Railion, Rail4Chem, ACTS, ERS, 

HGK) 

• Road connection to motorway A15 Rotterdam – Nijmegen - Germany 

163

Characteristics of the Rail Service Center Rotterdam Waalhaven 







Rotterdam Waalhaven 

Rotterdam Waalhaven 

Operating hours Mo – Fr 0-24 h, Sa 0-15 h. 

Capacity – trailers 43 

Manipulation means 6 reachstackers 

Track portal cranes 4 


Operating capacity 400.000 units 

Length of spur track 6,5 km 

Loading tracks 4 x 615 m + 4 x 750 m 

Storing capacity 1003 units 

Storing area 7,7 ha 

Total terminal area 20,3 ha 

Annual reloading Not published 

Table A6.2 - Technical terms of the Rail Service Center Rotterdam Waalhaven 



• Specialised rail terminal with internal connections to ECT Home Terminal and 

Rotterdam Shortsea Terminal. 

• Road access 




• Train services by all possible railway undertakings (a.o. Railion, Rail4Chem, ACTS, ERS, 

HGK) 

• Road connection to motorway A15 Rotterdam – Nijmegen - Germany 


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Characteristics of the CERES terminal Amsterdam 







Final report 

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Amsterdam Westhavens 

Amsterdam Westhavens 

Operating hours Mo – Su, 24 h daily 


Manipulation means 1 reach stacker 




Length of spur track 2 km 

Loading tracks 2 x 700 

Storing capacity Not available 

Storing area Not available 

Total terminal area 541.633 m² 

Annual reloading 1.200.000 TEU 

Table A6.3 - Technical terms of the CERES terminal Amsterdam 


• Maritime container terminal with connections to all modes of transport. 

• Indented berth and 615 m quayside 



• Warehouses available 


• Train services by ACTS and Rail4Chem 

• Road connection to motorway A2 Amsterdam – Utrecht (connection with A12 to Arnhem and 

Germany) – Eindhoven (with connection to Venlo and Germany) – Maastricht 

165

TERMINALS – THE NETHERLANDS 

TERMINAL LOCATION TYPE OF LOADING UNITS 

ECT DELTA ORT 

ECT DELTA RTW 

RSC ROTTERDAM 

EURO TERMINAL 

COEVORDEN 

RSC GRONINGEN 

RAIL TERMINAL 

TILBURG 

ROTTERDAM MAASVLAKTE: AT THE 

BEGINNING OF BETUWEROUTE, ROAD A15 

ROTTERDAM MAASVLAKTE: AT THE 

BEGINNING OF BETUWEROUTE, ROAD A15 

ROTTERDAM WAALHAVEN: ALONGSIDE 

BETUWEROUTE AND A15 

COEVORDEN: CONNECTED TO BENTHEIMER 

EISENBAHN, A37 

VEENDAM: RAILWAY GRONINGEN - 

VEENDAM, A7 AND A 28 

TILBURG: RAILWAY TILBURG - ´S 

HERTOGENBOSCH, A65 


CAPACITY / 

YEAR 

EQUIPMENT 


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LENGTH OF 

TRACKS 

MARITIME CONTAINERS 300.000 TEU PORTAL CRANE 4 x 750 m 

MARITIME CONTAINERS 600.000 TEU PORTAL CRANE 7 x 750 m 

MARITIME CONTAINERS, 

SWAP BODIES, TRAILERS 


SWAP BODIES 

400.000 TEU 

PORTAL CRANE, 

REACHSTACKERS 

2.000.000 TEU REACHSTACKER 4 X 700 m 

MARITIME CONTAINERS 250.000 TEU REACHSTACKER 3 X 700 m 


TOTAL AREA 

8 X 750 m 20,3 ha 

265 ha, both ORT 

as RTW and 

seaside handling. 

Railterminals ORT 

+ RTW 18 ha 

CAPACITY OF 

STACK 

Stack area is 

between seaside 

handling and the 

handling of inland 

transport modes. 

Not specific for rail 

handling 

1019 units 

not stapled 

FUTURE 

EXPANSION 

POSSIBLE 

Not at this 

location. 

Not at this 

location. 

No 

Yes 

Yes 

No


RAIL TERMINAL 

LEEUWARDEN 

RAIL TERMINAL 

EINDHOVEN 

Final report 

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LEEUWARDEN: CITY CENTRE. RAILWAY 

ZWOLLE - LEEUWARDEN, A31 AND A32 

EINDHOVEN: RAILWAY 

UTRECHT - EINDHOVEN, A2 AND A 58 



RAIL TERMINAL BORN BORN: RAILWAY SIDING FROM SITTARD, A2 MARITIME CONTAINERS 70.000 TEU 

ECT VENLO 

VENLO TRADE CENTER: 

RAILWAY EINDHOVEN - VENLO, A67 

HUPAC EDE EDE: RAILWAY UTRECHT - ARNHEM, A12 

PORTAL CRANES, 

REACHSTACKER 

167 

6 X 300 m 

MARITIME CONTAINERS 300.000 TEU REACHSTACKERS 3 X 600 m 


SWAP BODIES, TRAILERS 

50.000 TEU REACHSTACKER 1 X 400 m 

CERES AMSTERDAM PORT OF AMSTERDAM. MARITIME CONTAINERS 200.000 TEU REACHSTACKER 2 X 700 m 54 ha 15 ha Yes 

Table A6.4 – Terminals in the Nederlands 

Source: NEA 

No 

No 

Yes 

No 

No, terminal will 

be closed within 

a few years.

Annex 7 Roads and Rail Routes 



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Roads 

Route 

number 

Final report 

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NL 

connecting 

highway in 

Germany 

distance from 

Rotterdam 

minimum 

number of lanes 

per direction 

E30 A12-A28-A1 A30 221 km 2 100/120 

E35 A12 A3 191 km 2 100/120 

E31 

E34 

A15-A50- 

A73-A77 

A16-A27- 

A58-A2-A67 

Max. speed 

Congestion 

areas 

Rotterdam - Gouda, around 

Utrecht 

Rotterdam - Gouda, around 

Utrecht, around Arnhem 

A57 125 km 2 100/120 leaving Rotterdam, A50 

A40 119 km 2 100/120 

Table A7.1 – Technical specifications – highways in The Netherlands 

Route number 


connecting 

highway in 

Germany 

distrance 

minimum 

number of lanes 

per direction 

Max. speed 

Rotterdam - Breda, around 

Eindhoven 

Congestion 

areas 

E50 D1 - Kroměříž – Praha 262 km 2 100/130 around Prague and Brno 

E50 D5 A6 

Praha – Rozvadov 156 

2 100/130 around Prague 

km 

E55 D8 A17 Praha – Petrovice 110 km 2 100/130 

Table A7.2 – Technical specifications – highways in Czech Republic 

around Prague, Lovosice – 

Řehlovice (missing section of 

D8) 

169

Railways 


Route Length [km] Time [hh:mm] Infrastructure fee 

[EUR] 

Rotterdam – Elst (Betuwe) 88 124,00 

Elst – Bad Bentheim 128 357,00 

Bad Bentheim – Děčín *) 631 1513,00 

Table A7.3 –Specifications – railways NL – DE 

*) including stage Bad Schandau – Děčín 

Route Length [km] Time [hh:mm] Infrastructure fee 

*) 

[EUR] **) 

Děčín – Ústí nad Labem 23 0:25 80,50 

Ústí nad Labem – Lovosice 22 0:20 77,00 

Lovosice – Praha 84 1:00 294,00 

Praha – Kolín 57 0:40 199,50 

Kolín – Havlíčkův Brod – Brno 190 3:00 665,00 

Děčín – Mělník 86 1:10 301,00 

Mělník – Kolín 71 1:15 248,50 

Brno – Břeclav 62 0:50 217,00 

Kolín – Pardubice 42 0:35 147,00 

Pardubice – Česká Třebová 60 0:50 210,00 

Česká Třebová – Přerov 108 1:15 378,00 

Table A7.4 –Specifications – railways CZ 

*) Approx. – depend on used locomotive 

**) Train of combined transport (1300 tons, cca 80 TEU), approx. 3,50 EUR/km 


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RAILWAY ROUTES – THE NETHERLANDS 

Line Code 

Final report 

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Railway (IM) 

MAIN RAILWAY ROUTES 

Betuw 

eroute 

Point 1 Point 2 

Length of section [km] 

KEYRAIL ROTTERDAM KIJFHOEK ZEVENAAR 107 750 22,5 GC E4 120 AC 25kV ERTMS 

LEVEL 2 

Betuw 

ERTMS 

KEYRAIL ROTTERDAM KIJFHOEK VALBURG/ ELST 88 750 22,5 GC E4 120 AC 25kV 

e-route LEVEL 2 

Max. train length [m] 

Max. train load [t] 

171 

Loading gauge/ gabarit 

(CT) 

Line Category 

Max. freight speed 

[km/h] 

Energy system/ 

electricity 

Signalling/ operational 

system 

Tracks number 

2 384 

2 384 

Capacity [train 

paths/day] 

Existing traffic 

[Ø trains/day] 

Far distance passenger 

trains 

- Regional passenger 

trains 

- Intermodal freight 

trains 

- Other Freight trains 

Capacity employment 

rate [%] 

LINE HAS 

BEEN 0 0 384 

OPENED 2007 

LINE HAS 

BEEN 0 0 384 

OPENED 2007 

NL 61 PRORAIL ELST DEVENTER 56 700 22,5 NL D4 80 DC 1500 ATB 2 384 10 80 80 10 44% 96 

NL41 PRO-RAIL DEVENTER BAD BENTHEIM 72 700 22,5 NL D4 100 DC 1500 ATB 2 384 48 80 40 24 24 44% 48 

BACKUP RAILWAY ROUTES 

nl_65 PRORAIL ROTTERDAM KIJFHOEK GOUDA 23 615 22,5 NL D4 100 DC 1500 ATB *) 2 384 294 230 64 77% 32 

nl_67 PRORAIL GOUDA WOERDEN 16 700 22,5 NL D4 100 DC 1500 ATB *) 2 384 362 298 64 94% 20 

nl_87 PRORAIL WOERDEN UTRECHT 15 700 22,5 NL D4 100 DC 1500 ATB *) 4 768 372 340+? 32 48% 64 

nl_69 PRORAIL UTRECHT ARNHEM 56 540 22,5 NL D4 100 DC 1500 ATB *) 2 384 272 240+? 32 71% 64 

nl_28 PRORAIL ARNHEM 

VELPERPOORT 

JCT 

1 700 22,5 NL D4 100 DC 1500 ATB *) 2 384 192 144 48 50% 48% 

nl_29 PRORAIL VELPERPOORT JCT ZEVENAAR 13 690 22,5 NL D4 100 DC 1500 ATB *) 2 384 148 100 48 31% 48 

nl_30 PRORAIL ZEVENAAR EMMERICH 5 690 22,5 NL D4 100 DC 1500 ATB *) 2 192 56 8 48 29% 48 

nl 50 PRORAIL ROTTERDAM KIJFHOEK WOERDEN 40 615 22,5 NL D4 100 DC 1500 ATB 2 384 362 298 64 94% 20 

nl 31 PRORAIL WOERDEN DUIVENDRECHT 38 700 22,5 NL D4 100 DC 1500 ATB 4 768 364 152 152 60 47% 36 

nl 30 PRORAIL DUIVENDRECHT AMERSFOORT 40 615 22,5 NL D4 100 DC 1500 ATB 2 384 290 230 60 75% 36 

nl 41 PRORAIL AMERSFOORT HENGELO 129 700 22,5 NL D4 100 DC 1500 ATB 2 384 186 76 38 72 48% 24 

nl 73 PRORAIL HENGELO BAD BENTHEIM 18 700 22,5 NL D4 100 DC 1500 ATB 2 384 156 8 76 72 40% 120 

Table A7.5 – Railway routes in the Netherlands 

*) ATB (continuous speed supervision) 

Source: NEA 

Train path availability 

for additional regular 

freight trains (4)

RAILWAY ROUTES – GERMANY 

Line Code 

Railway (IM) 




Length of section 

[km] 

Max. train length 

[m] 


Max. train load [t] 

R20080142 

Loading gauge/ 

gabarit (CT) 

Line Category 

DB BAD BENDHEIM OSNABRUCK 72 750 2765 GB D4 140 AC15 PZB 2 242 81 14 48 19 33% 161 

gm_128 DB OSNABRUCK LOHNE 51 750 2765 GB D4 140 AC15 PZB 2 242 99 20 52 27 41% 143 

gm_364 DB EMM-ZEV EMMERICH 13 750 2735 GB D4 160 AC15 PZB 2 242 44 21 0 23 18% 198 

gm_363 DB EMMERICH OBERHAUSEN 60 750 2735 GB D4 160 AC15 PZB 2 242 116 21 72 23 48% 126 

gm_357 DB OBERHAUSEN HAMM 78 750 2735 GB D4 120 AC15 PZB 2 242 72 0 0 72 30% 170 

gm_138 DB HAMM BIELEFELD 67 750 2500 GC D4 200 AC15 LZB 4 576 215 67 70 78 37% 361 

gm_137 DB BIELEFELD LOHNE 24 750 2500 GB D4 160 AC15 PZB 4 576 242 67 96 79 42% 334 

gm_127 DB LOHNE MINDEN 20 750 2500 GB D4 160 AC15 PZB 4 576 263 87 58 118 46% 313 

gm_124 DB MINDEN WUNSTORF 43 750 2500 GC D4 160 AC15 PZB 2 364 279 87 84 108 77% 85 

gm_123 DB WUNSTORF HANNOVER 22 750 2500 GC D4 160 AC15 PZB 4 576 506 130 166 210 88% 70 

gm_144 DB HANNOVER LEHRTE 16 750 2500 GB D4 160 AC15 PZB 4 576 418 106 114 198 73% 158 

gm_145 DB LEHRTE BRAUNSCHWEIG 45 750 2500 GB D4 140 AC15 PZB 2 364 192 48 36 108 53% 172 

gm_152 DB BRAUNSCHWEIG MAGDEBURG 83 750 2500 GC D4 160 AC15 PZB 2 364 181 52 44 85 50% 183 

gm_166 DB MAGDEBURG ROSSLAU 61 750 2500 GB D4 120 AC15 PZB 2 240 120 0 52 68 50% 120 

DB ROSSLAU FALKENBERG 85 650 2500 GB D4 100 AC15 PZB 2 240 89 0 38 51 37% 151 

DB FALKENBERG RODERAU 31 650 2500 GB D4 100 AC15 PZB 2 240 61 0 14 47 25% 179 

DB RODERAU DRESDEN 48 750 2500 GB D4 100 AC15 PZB 2 240 145 40 52 53 60% 95 

gm_182 DB DRESDEN BAD SCHANDAU 40 650 2500 GB D4 160 AC15 PZB 2 290 141 12 84 45 49% 149 

gm_183 DB BAD SCHANDAU DOL-SCH 15 650 2500 GB D4 120 AC15 PZB 2 290 63 12 6 45 22% 227 

BACKUP RAILWAY ROUTES 

gm_364 DB EMM-ZEV EMMERICH 13 750 2735 GB D4 160 AC15 PZB 2 242 44 21 0 23 18% 198 

gm_363 DB EMMERICH OBERHAUSEN 60 750 2735 GB D4 160 AC15 PZB 2 242 116 21 72 23 48% 126 

gm_357 DB OBERHAUSEN HAMM 78 750 2735 GB D4 120 AC15 PZB 2 242 72 0 0 72 30% 170 

gm_138 DB HAMM BIELEFELD 67 750 2500 GC D4 200 AC15 LZB 4 576 215 67 70 78 37% 361 

gm_137 DB BIELEFELD LOHNE 24 750 2500 GB D4 160 AC15 PZB 4 576 242 67 96 79 42% 334 

Table A7.6 – Railway routes in Germany 

Source: HaCon 

Max. freight speed 

[km/h] 


electricity 

Signalling/ 

operational system 

Tracks number 

Capacity [train 

paths/day] 

Existing traffic [Ø 

trains/day] 

- Far distance 

passenger trains 

- Regional 

passenger trains 

- Intermodal freight 

trains 

- Other Freight 

trains 

Capacity 

employment rate 

[%] 

Train path 

availability for 

additional regular 

freight trains (4)


RAILWAY ROUTES – CZECH REPUBLIC 

Line Code 

Final report 

R20080142.doc 



Length of 

section [km 

Category 

max. slope 

[‰] 

Max. train length 

[m] 

Line Category 

173 

Max. speed 

[km/h] 


electricity 

Signalling/ 

operational system 

TZZ VZ 

Tracks number 

Code for 

combined 

transport 

Time (freight 

train) [min] 

Capacity 

[train/day] 

Trains / day 

098 Dolní Žleb st.hr. (DE) Děčín-Prostřední Žleb 8,075 E 3,60 600 D4 120 DC 3 kV AB VZ 2 78/402 7,5 200 18 14 84 58 

090 Děčín-Prostřední Žleb Děčín hl.n. 3,522 E 3,60 600 D3 105 DC 3 kV AB VZ 2 78/402 5,0 200 18 14 52 42 

090 Děčín hl.n. Ústí n.L. hl.n. 22,760 E 4,37 600 D3 130 DC 3 kV AB/AH VZ/ - 2 78/402 22,5 198 48 39 27 58 

090 Ústí n.L. hl.n. Lovosice 21,823 E 4,37 600 D3 110 DC 3 kV AH/AB - /VZ 2 78/402 17,0 261 54 42 61 60 

090 Lovosice Kralupy nad Vltavou 57,879 E 4,37 600 D3 / D4 160 DC 3 kV AB VZ 2 78/402 / 47/360 40,0 261 54 72 72 76 

091 Kralupy nad Vltavou Praha-Libeň 28,760 E 6,80 600; 700 D4 80 DC 3 kV AB VZ 2 78/402 18,0 396 54 58 46 40 

073 Děčín-Prostřední Žleb Děčín východ 3,447 E 7,75 600 D4 50 DC 3 kV AH - 1 78/402 6,0 73 0 0 32 44 

073 Děčín východ Ústí n.L.-Střekov 25,067 E 12,42 650 D4 80 DC 3 kV AH/HPB - 2 78/402 26,5 130 0 12 59 55 

072 Ústí n.L.-Střekov Mělník 59,398 E 17,98 D4 110 DC 3 kV AB VZ 2 57/381 46,0 241 14 32 100 61 

072 Mělník Lysá n.L. 34,113 E 17,98 D4 120 DC 3 kV AB VZ 2 57/381 / 78/402 29,0 241 14 20 85 49 

231 Lysá n.L. Nymburk 14,939 E 17,98 D4 120 DC 3 kV AB VZ 2 78/402 15,0 243 45 53 86 76 

231 Nymburk Kolín 24,363 E 5,44 D3 120 DC 3 kV AB VZ 2 78/402 27,0 240 45 50 111 86 

Table A7.7 – Main railway routes in Czech Republic 

far 

distance 

pass. 

regional 

pass. 

freight 

and other 

Capacity 

employment rate 

[%]


Line Code 


BACKUP AND CONTINUED RAILWAY ROUTES 

Length of 

section [km 



Category 

max. slope 

[‰] 

Max. train 

length [m] 

R20080142 

Line 

Category 

Max. speed 

[km/h] 

Energy 

system/ 

electricity 

Signalling/ operational system 

TZZ VZ 

072 Ústí n.L.-Střekov Ústí n.L. západ 1,945 E 17,98 D4 50 DC 3 kV AH VZ 2 78/402 

130 Ústí n.L. hl.n. Ústí n.L. západ 1,214 E 17,96 650 D4 80 DC 3 kV AB VZ 2 78/402 

131 Ústí n.L. západ Bílina 26,219 E 10,56 600 D4 60 DC 3 kV AB/AH - 2 78/402 169 

130 Ústí n.L. západ Bílina 33,300 E 18,10 650 D4 120 DC 3 kV AB VZ 2 78/402 209 

130 Bílina Most 11,766 E 17,96 650 D4 80 DC 3 kV AB VZ 2 - 3 78/402 263 

130 Most Chomutov 18,413 E 12,87 650 C4 100 DC 3 kV AB VZ/ - 2 78/402 217 

140 Chomutov Cheb 112,079 E 13,28 605 D4 / D3 100 DC 3 kV / AC 25 kV AH/AB - /VZ 2 78/402 146/192 

179 Cheb st.hr. Cheb 10,881 E 7,62 750 D4 90 

AC 25 kV 

RPB - 2 78/402 

170 Cheb Plzeň 109,936 E 14,86 490-620 D3 100 

AC 25 kV 

AB/AH VZ 1 - 2 78/402 112/111 

170 Plzeň Beroun 71,815 E 14,10 675 D3 100 AC 25 kV / DC 3 kV AB VZ 2 78/402 245/290 

171 Beroun Praha-Radotín 28,128 E 8,00 700 D3 100 DC 3 kV HPB - 2 78/402 235 

190 České Budějovice Plzeň 135,706 E 12,00 575 D3 100 AC 25 kV AB/AH/RPB - /VZ 1 - 2 78/402 73/58/70 

220 České Budějovice Benešov 134,554 E 14,90 620 D4 / D3 100 AC 25 kV / DC 3 kV AB/AH/RPB/HPB - 1 - 2 78/402 111/83/95 

221 Benešov Praha-Uhříněves 36,886 E 14,93 650 D3 100 DC 3 kV HPB/RPB/AB - 2 78/402 192 

Praha-Radotín Praha-Malešice 16,932 E 12,69 700 D4 75 DC 3 kV AH/T/AB - /VZ 1 - 2 78/402 

Praha-Malešice Praha-Libeň 4,260 E 3,75 700 D3 80 DC 3 kV AH - 1 47/360 

Praha-Uhříněves Praha-Hostivař 4,831 E 14,93 650 D3 100 DC 3 kV AH - 2 78/402 

Praha-Hostivař Praha-Malešice 3,870 E 3,75 700 D4 80 DC 3 kV AH - 1 78/402 

Praha-Malešice Praha-Běchovice 6,586 E 12,60 D4 60 DC 3 kV AB VZ 2 78/402 

Praha-Libeň Praha-Běchovice 7,485 E 8,70 600 D3 120 DC 3 kV AB VZ 2 78/402 286 

011 Praha-Běchovice Kolín 49,261 E 8,70 600 D3 160 DC 3 kV AB VZ 2 - 3 78/402 286 

010 Kolín Pardubice 42,049 E 8,70 600 D3 160 DC 3 kV AB VZ 2 67/391 302 

010 Pardubice Česká Třebová 59,803 E 8,70 600 D3 160 DC 3 kV AB VZ 2 78/402 390/348 

260 Česká Třebová Brno-Maloměřice 84,465 E 10,26 490/590-650 D4 120 DC 3 kV / AC 25 kV AB VZ 2 78/402 270 

230 Kolín Havlíčkův Brod 74,192 E 14,24 600 D4 120 DC 3 kV / AC 25 kV AB VZ 2 72/396 183 

250 Havlíčkův Brod Brno-Maloměřice 115,989 E 18,30 600 D4 100 AC 25 kV AB VZ 2 57/381 214 

250 Brno-Maloměřice Břeclav 64,739 E 6,20 700-417-600 D4 160 AC 25 kV AB/RPB VZ 2 78/402 263 

250 Břeclav Břeclav st.hr. (SK) 11,475 E 6,20 700 D3 120 AC 25 kV AB VZ 2 78/402 222 

330 Břeclav Otrokovice 71,811 E 4,73 700 D4 160 AC 25 kV / DC 3 kV AB VZ 2 78/402 211 

Tracks 

number 

Code for 

combined 

transport 

Time (freight 

train) [min] 

Capacity 

[train/day]



Line Code 

Final report 

R20080142.doc 


BACKUP AND CONTINUED RAILWAY ROUTES 

Length of 

section [km 

Category 

max. slope 

[‰] 

Max. train 

length [m] 

175 

Line 

Category 

Max. speed 

[km/h] 

Energy 

system/ 

electricity 

Signalling/ operational system 

TZZ VZ 

330 Otrokovice Přerov 28,511 E 4,73 700 D4 160 DC 3 kV AB VZ 2 78/402 211/216 

270 Česká Třebová Přerov 109,025 E 9,90 700 D4 120 DC 3 kV AB VZ 2 72/396 / 78/402 169/250 

270 Přerov Hranice n.M. 28,367 E 9,66 700 D4 130 DC 3 kV AB VZ 2 78/402 288 

270 Hranice n.M. Polanka n.O. 46,095 E 9,66 700 D4 120 DC 3 kV AB VZ 2 78/402 282 

270 Polanka n.O. Ostrava hl.n. 9,275 E 9,66 700 D4 120 DC 3 kV AB VZ 2 78/402 282/233 

270 Ostrava hl.n. Bohumín 8,718 E 9,66 700 D4 100 DC 3 kV AB VZ 2 78/402 233 

320 Bohumín Dětmarovice 8,494 E 22,47 700 D4 100 DC 3 kV AB VZ 2 78/402 218 

320 Dětmarovice Český Těšín 21,188 E 22,47 700 D4 100 DC 3 kV AB VZ 2 78/402 149 

320 Český Těšín Mosty u J. st.hr. (SK) 32,728 E 22,47 700 D4 100 DC 3 kV AB VZ 2 78/402 208 

321 Polanka n.O. Český Těšín 39,764 C 12,00 700 D4 80 DC 3 kV AB VZ 2 78/402 154 

Bohumín Bohumín st.hr. (PL) 3,720 E 1,44 700 D4 80 DC 3 kV AH VZ 1 - 2 78/402 

Dětmarovice Petrovice u K. st.hr. (PL) 8,198 E 4,50 700 D4 120 DC 3 kV AB VZ 2 78/402 183 

280 Hranice n.M. Horní Lideč st.hr. (SK) 69,295 E 19,17 600 D4 90 DC 3 kV AH/AB - /VZ 2 67/391 143/199 

Table A7.8 – Backup and continued railway routes in Czech Republic 

Tracks 

number 

Code for 

combined 

transport 

Time (freight 

train) [min] 

Capacity 

[train/day]

BORDER CROSSINGS – CZECH REPUBLIC/GERMANY 

Border crossing (CZ) Border crossing (DE) 


Charakteristics of line 

from station 


R20080142 

Line category Max. speed [km/h] 

Max. train 

length [m] 

Max. slope 

[‰] 

Line 

category 

Existing freight 

traffic 

Železná Ruda st.hr. Beyerisch Eisenstein Plzeň hl.n. C 90 620 21,7 C3 no diesel N 

Česká Kubice st.hr. Furth im Wald Plzeň Jižní předm. E 90 700 12,0 C3 yes diesel N 

Cheb st.hr. Schirnding Cheb E 90 750 7,2 D4 yes diesel A 

Vojtanov st.hr. Bad Brambach Cheb C 60 590 13,5 D3 yes diesel (A) 

Kraslice st.hr. Klingenthal Sokolov R 60 420 16,6 B2 no diesel N 

Potůčky st.hr. Johanngeorgenstadt Karlovy Vary C 45 270 29,8 A1 no diesel N 

Vejprty st.hr. Bärenstein Chomutov C 60 290 20,8 A1 no diesel N 

Dolní Žleb st.hr. Bad Schandau Děčín hl.n. E 120 600 3,6 D3 yes 3kV/15kV B 

Dolní Žleb st.hr. Bad Schandau Děčín východ E 120 600 7,8 D4 yes 3kV/15kV B 

Jiříkov st.hr. Ebersbach (Sachs) Rumburk C 60 400 19,9 C3 no diesel N 

Varnsdorf st.hr. Seifhennersdorf Rybniště C 50 340 15,1 C3 no diesel N 

Hrádek nad Nisou st.hr. Zittau Liberec C 80 400 13,2 C3 no diesel N 

Table A7.9 – Border crossings between Czech Republic/Germany 

Traction RECOMMENDATION 

E - Lines of European rail system (TEN-T) < 550 m > 15,0 ‰ A, B no N - no acceptable 

C - national lines 550-650 m 10,0-15,0 ‰ C yes A - alternative 

R - regional lines > 650 m < 10,0 ‰ D B - basic


Annex 8 Maps 

Final report 

R20080142.doc 

177

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