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Rail transport
Antwerp is one of the leading European rail ports, with more than 23 million tonnes of freight being carried annually by rail. On an average working day some 250 goods trains are loaded and unloaded in Antwerp, representing more than 40% of all rail freight in Belgium. The port itself has a network of nearly 1,000 km of rail lines serving practically every terminal, warehouse and company in the port. The fully automatic Antwerp North marshalling yard covers an area of 500 hectares. Anyone wishing to send goods by rail can choose between three types of rail service. The most frequent of these is the block train, i.e. a complete train reserved for a single customer, usually for carrying one type of goods from point A to point B.
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Then there are wagonload trains with wagons for several customers, which may or may not all go to the same destination. Finally there is intermodal or combined transport. There are regular services connecting Antwerp quickly and reliably with the main industrial centres in Europe. Germany, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Austria, Spain and Switzerland are served on a daily basis, while other European countries are served several times per week. Antwerp has four rail container terminals: the Main Hub and the Zomerweg, Schijnpoort and Circeldyck terminals. In addition all the large shipping container terminals in the port have their own rail terminal offering direct connections to the main economic centres of Europe. Antwerp Intermodal Solutions (AIS) – a joint project by Antwerp Port Authority and the freight handling companies PSA HNN and P&O Ports, with support from the rail infrastructure operator Infrabel – has succeeded in attracting more rail container traffic to the port. This has led to six new rail connections being set up, and four existing services being expanded. These are rail shuttles linking Antwerp between two and five times per week with destinations in North Rhine Westphalia, central Germany, North-East France and Austria. In most cases they are “open trains” on which anyone can reserve container space. The port of Antwerp is putting efforts into raising the proportion of freight carried by rail. Two important elements in this strategy are reactivating the “Iron Rhine” and construction of the Liefkenshoek rail tunnel.
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The Iron Rhine is the most efficient rail route between the port of Antwerp and the Ruhr region, the industrial heart of Germany. This line, which still exists, is some 50 km shorter than the present route between Montzen and Aachen, and also has lower gradients. The International Arbitration Tribunal in The Hague confirmed in 2005 that Belgium is entitled to use the Iron Rhine, but that the Netherlands may impose a number of conditions for protection of the environment.
According to the agreed schedule, the definitive route will begin full operation before 2015. In the meantime, Belgium insists on the Netherlands complying with earlier agreements for limited, temporary use to be made of the historic route. At the request of the Belgian rail company Dillen & Lejeune Cargo, the Dutch government has already opened part of the Iron Rhine for very limited use between Weert and Budel near the Belgian-Dutch border.
The planning process for the Liefkenshoek rail tunnel, the proposed second rail link between the left and right banks, has entered its final phase. In December 2006 the Flemish Government took a definitive decision on the route; it had already given its approval for a system of prefinancing, so that the work can start earlier than planned. According to the schedule work will start in late 2008/early 2009 so that the tunnel can enter service at the end of 2012 or beginning 2009.
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©2008 Haven van Antwerpen
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