Rail freight operators have been experiencing problems at a railway exiting the Rotterdam port for the past weeks. Track subsidence reportedly caused several locomotives to make contact with a surrounding structure, according to our sister publication SpoorPro. Capacity on the railway has been reduced ever since.
The situation forced infrastructure manager ProRail to temporarily reduce the maximum speeds at two tracks to 20 kilometres an hour. It restored traffic on these tracks on 25 and 27 August. A third track remains closed to this day.
As a result of the track subsidence, ProRail reduced the number of train movements on the route from 16 to 6 per hour according to publication AD. This was the case in mid-August. As of 31 August, ProRail reported that it had recovered most capacity. The expectation is that the last track will be taken back into use within several weeks. “It can take some time before the rail freight logistics chain is working according to planning again”, says ProRail.
The rail freight sector is understandably not happy with the situation. It “reveals the painful reality of our Dutch rail freight”, commented association RailGood. “Rail freight operators and their customers in the logistics chain are forced to digest the enormous economic damage from the infrastructural black-outs time and time again”.
Detour routes have been barely accessible or not accessible at all, according to RailGood. The association also denounces the fact that ProRail only discovered the track subsidence after an operator reported it.
One of the main concerns of the rail freight association relates to the severity of ProRail’s measures. The track closure and speed reductions made a serious impact on the capacity on the route. “So, if there are serious cuts in the train paths with a ridiculous speed of 20 km/h, while the infrastructure was not safely accessible for one type of locomotive, you know there is going to be major damage to the international supply chain”, RailGood head Hans-Willem Vroon told RailFreight.com.
The situation becomes all the more concerning upon the realisation that this corridor is a vital artery for large freight flows. The railway through Barendrecht connects the Rotterdam port not only to Germany, but also to Belgium, the North Sea–Baltic corridor, the port of Terneuzen and industrial sites Moerdijk and Chemelot in the Netherlands.
“Such failure is not permissible on such a critical life line”, Vroon adds. “Yet it happens and ProRail has not learned or applied lessons from the past.” Vroon also refers to the chaos following the harsh winter weather of last January, when switch heaters were turned off or broken. Many terminal and rail sites were inaccessible during that time as well.
Politicians raise questions
Meanwhile, Dutch politics has also taken note of the rail freight problems. A national parliamentarian turned to the responsible minister with 37 questions. A reply is expected before 1 October. It should shed some light on the total economic damage incurred, financial compensation and the performance of infrastructure manager ProRail.
The reasoning of ProRail has puzzled local politicians. On the one hand, the infrastructure manager has maintained that there was no danger or a risk of derailment. Still, ProRail took restrictive measures, which aimed to “prevent damage to rolling stock and infrastructure”.
“It is precisely that combination that raises questions,” local politician Roeland Bol is quoted as saying in the publication Rijnmond. “We want to clearly understand on what basis ProRail claims the situation was safe, especially since trains carrying hazardous materials also run on the tracks through Barendrecht.”