Xrail – European alliance for wagon load transport
19-Feb-2009
Alliance enhances competitiveness of rail freight transport
Yesterday, the Xrail alliance was founded by seven leading European freight railways in Zurich. Xrail’s aim is to increase customer friendliness and efficiency of international wagon load transport. With this alliance, the member undertakings want to noticeably improve the competitiveness of rail freight transport and thus make an active contribution to the relief to roads and the environment.
Wagon load transport makes up about 50 per cent of European freight transport on the railway. Studies show that it holds a considerable international growth potential. As wagon load transport is of central importance to the sector, the goal of the new Xrail alliance that has been officially founded on Thursday with the signature of the alliance agreement by the partner railways’ CEOs in Zurich is to increase its attractiveness and efficiency. The seven founding members of Xrail are CD Cargo (Czechia), CFL cargo (Luxembourg), DB Schenker Rail (Germany, Netherlands, Denmark), Green Cargo (Sweden, Norway), Rail Cargo Austria (Austria, Hungary), SBB Cargo (Switzerland), and SNCB Logistics (Belgium).
The purpose of the alliance is to increase the quality and competitiveness of European wagon load transport on the railway as compared with the road. “The close co-operation during the production and information processes allows us to exploit a high potential for more efficiency and quality,“ explains Xrail Project Manager Günther J. Ferk. With Xrail, customers will profit from cross-border production standards in three areas: reliability (at least 90 per cent punctuality in international wagon load transport for the routes within the Xrail network), transparency (international timetables from branch line to branch line of the customers, active information systems), offer process (standard requests for quotation with the aim of a maximum processing time of three days).
A production alliance with growth potential
During the pilot phase, there have already been some first customers to be
served according to Xrail standards. Xrail now connects the most important
economic regions in Belgium, Germany, Luxembourg, Austria, Sweden, Switzerland,
and Czechia, making use of the existing infrastructure of the European Union’s
TEN-T transport corridors (Trans European Transport Network). Xrail’s long-term
goal is to establish an area-wide European quality network for wagon load
transport.
In wagon load transport, the fixed costs make up about 90 per cent of the entire
costs. Therefore, the alliance partners want to make optimal use of their
network in order to ensure the further development of wagon load transport. This
entails good news also for the environment: the environmental balance of freight
transport on the railway is considerably better than that of road transport,
particularly for long transport distances.
About Xrail
Xrail was initiated in the year 2007 under the auspices of the International Union of Railways UIC in Paris. Since then, the alliance partners under the coordination of UIC have developed international production standards and worked out the alliance agreement. "The alliance is the foundation for a sustainable wagon load transport in Europe," said Oliver Sellnick, UIC Freight Director. Xrail encompasses the production of international wagon load transport among the freight railways, while excluding block-train transports and combined transport with swap bodies. Also regarding the commercial aspects of wagon load transport such as customer contacts and pricing the railways will continue to be independent and compete with each. On the other hand, the Xrail partners are committed towards their customers to comply with the high quality and service standards that have been defined within the alliance.