More “bloodletting” of rail sidings in Austria

Transport performance in rail freight traffic in Austria is growing despite a slight decline in volume

More “bloodletting” of rail sidings in Austria

In 2015, as in the years before, the number of operated rail sidings has slightly declined. A total of nine agreements on rail sidings were terminated: Enns, Laakirchen, Linz shunting yard, Losenstein, Redl-Zipf, Ried im Innkreis, Scheifling, St. Pölten Alpenbahnhof and Hennersdorf. This becomes visible in the annual report by Schienen-Control, which was presented on July 13 in Vienna.

Throughout the Austrian network, a total of 655 (2014: 678) rail sidings were served with freight wagons, which is about 23 less than in the year before. Also in the network of ÖBB Infrastruktur, the number of rail sidings declined to 630 (2014: 642). This is accompanied by a volume decrease in the entire rail network to 1.12 million wagons.

However, a constant evolution could be observed with rail freight in 2015. With 112.8 million tonnes of goods, transport volume in 2015 was 0.4 per cent below the previous year.

“The total transport volume of Austrian rail freight transport declined slightly in 2015 due to economic conditions. At the same time the transport performance by rail has increased again. This means the cargo was transported over longer distances on average,” Mag. Maria-Theresia Röhsler, Managing Director Schienen-Control said at the press conference on Wednesday.

In 2015, five new freight companies have launched their operations in Austria: DB Schenker Rail from Germany, Transalpine Eisenbahn from Switzerland, Trenitalia from Italy, Walser Eisenbahn and Porr Austriarail from Austria. Thus, a total of 56 railway companies were active in Austria: 44 from Austria, four from Germany, three from Hungary and one each from Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Switzerland and Slovenia.

www.schienencontrol.gv.at

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