In an expansion of its network, ÖBB Rail Cargo Group (RCG) has expanded its network with new connections to Italy via the Brenner Pass and an increase in the TransFER service between Italy and Germany.

Through expanding its services via the Brenner Pass and increasing its TransFER services to Italy, Rail Cargo Group is making a positive move to actively promote a modal shift to sustainable rail transport along the Brenner axis, which will help to relieve road traffic through Tyrol.

Four round trips per week are being introduced between Northern Italy and the DUSS Terminal Göttingen in Lower Saxony with the TransFER Verona–Göttingen service, which can transport containers of between 20 and 45 feet length as well as craneable trailers.

A new TransFER Padua to Hanover service will make four round trips per week between Northern Italy and Leinetor rail terminal in Hanover.

The service can transport containers and swap bodies of between 20 and 45 feet in length, and Rail Cargo Group has plans to increase the service to six round trips per week.

The existing TransFER service between Verona and Wuppertal has been increased from four to six round trips per week instead of four.

As on its other services, these trains can transport containers of between 20 and 45 feet length as well as craneable trailers.

Over 1,500 destinations

As well as providing services between Italy and Germany, the ÖBB Rail Cargo Group operates freight trains across the whole Eurasian continent. It currently operates on 60 distinct routes, which between them provide over 1,500 possible source/destination combinations and many customisable routes.

Options available range from complete wagonloads and intermodal transport through to solutions tailored to individual customer requirements.

Where appropriate, Rail Cargo Group will also take care of any additional services, such as trans-shipment, warehouse logistics, and customs services, depending the place of departure and the destination.

Relatively unknown in the UK, Rail Cargo Group is the freight transport division of the Austrian Federal Railways – Österreichische Bundesbahnen (ÖBB), and is one of Europe’s foremost rail logistics provider.

Operational management is with Rail Cargo Austria AG., which operates in 18 countries worldwide and employs nearly 6,000 logistics professionals from 34 nations. Operating 1,230 services a day equivalent to 448,000 trains a year, the company transport over 88 million net tonnes of freight each year.

The company has a 27.5 % (preliminary value) modal share of the total freight market in Austria making it the leading operator in Europe.

Rail Cargo Group is just one division of ÖBB, which in 2022 transported a total of 447 million passengers and over 88 million tonnes of freight, with the electrical power for trains and stations generated entirely from renewable energy sources. Each year, the company invests more than three billion euros per year in its railway infrastructure to ensure that its railway network is fit for the future.

Earlier this year, ÖBB Rail Cargo Group announced a new service between Austria and Germany would also serve Rotterdam in The Netherlands.

Last year, for the third consecutive time, the company won a Gold award for its corporate social responsibility.