Freight trains are not running in Hungary to ensure safer and smoother traffic of passenger convoys during the current wave of heavy snowfall. “An amount of snow not seen in 10 years is now causing disruption to rail traffic in several places”, said the Hungarian ministry of transport János Lázár. “The goods can wait, passengers cannot”, he stated
“In the absence of freight trains, fewer gear adjustments are needed, which reduces the chances of malfunctioning”, he added on Facebook post. Lázár also underlined how rescue operations for freight trains are always a complex operation, especially in these conditions. Rail operator Metrans, which is quite active in Hungary with intermodal services, said that the “measure has a direct impact on our trains to/from Hungary”.
Not only Hungary
Heavy snowfalls are also hitting Germany and the Benelux area causing operations issues at two of Europe’s largest ports: Hamburg and Rotterdam. At the former, extreme weather conditions and possible traffic disruptions are expected to continue until Sunday. “we are forced to significantly reduce further loadings in the direction from/to Hamburg”, Metrans said.
In Rotterdam, the snow paralysed the railway network for most of yesterday, 7 January. Furthermore, the Waalhaven part of the port had to deal with a power outage, with various terminals working at a slower pace or halting operations. With Hungary now facing similar issues, the European rail freight industry is under stress in various key locations with not much to do but to wait.