(Vienna, 1 August 2024) – The ÖBB Rail Cargo Group (RCG) is expanding its TransNET to include a multimodal connection to and from Serbia. The new TransFER links the economic centres of Western and Central Europe directly with the Western Balkans.
RCG is now offering one round trip per week from Kruševac (Serbia), via the Hungarian terminal BILK (Budapest) to Duisburg (Germany). Kruševac is an important industrial centre in the Western Balkans and plays a key role in regional rail freight transport. Its central location offers ideal conditions for freight transport within Serbia and to neighbouring countries.
While Budapest, as an important hub, connects the Western Balkans with the Central European markets and ensures seamless onward connections to Western Europe through efficient transhipment facilities, Duisburg, as one of Europe's largest inland ports and logistics centres for international freight transport, acts as a gateway to the Western European markets and offers onward connections for flows of goods to the Benelux countries.
Fixed timetable and extensive additional services
With the new TransFER, RCG provides a reliable transport solution on sustainable rail for the transport of 45-ft containers and swap bodies. All sectors are covered, such as the beverage, chemical, building materials, steel and automotive industries. The fixed timetable ensures plannable and punctual transport at attractive transit times. In addition, all necessary additional forwarding services are offered. These include the organisation of first and last mile, state-of-the-art warehouse logistics and professional customs clearance to ensure smooth and safe transport. Other services such as reloading, reporting and monitoring, equipment positioning and utilisation, back-up solutions on the road and a single point of contact for every customer complete RCG's offer.
ÖBB Rail Cargo Group: the freight transport division of the ÖBB
As a leading rail logistics provider in Europe, we are shaping the industry. 365 days a year – 24 hours a day. Across Europe and beyond into Asia. With our presence in 18 countries, we connect people, businesses and markets – from the first to the last mile. It’s thanks to our 5,912 logistics professionals that 419,000 trains a year, respectively 1,150 a day, reach their destinations safe and sound. With our efficient end-to-end logistics services, we transport over 78 million net tonnes of freight each year. Operational management of the Rail Cargo Group lies with Rail Cargo Austria AG.
ÖBB
ÖBB has been shaping mobility in Austria for 100 years. As a comprehensive mobility and logistics service provider, ÖBB transported a total of 494 million passengers and over 78 million tonnes of freight to their destinations in an environmentally friendly manner in 2023. This is thanks to the electricity for trains and stations being generated entirely from renewable energy sources. With a punctuality rate of 95% in passenger transport, ÖBB is one of the most punctual railway operators in Europe. ÖBB invests more than 4.5 billion euros annually in railway infrastructure and its fleet as part of its drive to build a railway system fit for the future. Across the Group, over 43,000 bus and rail employees and about 2,000 apprentices ensure that around 1.4 million passengers reach their destination safely every day. ÖBB is the backbone of the Austrian public transport system and, as Austria's largest climate protection company in the mobility and logistics sector, gets people and freight to their destinations safely and in an environmentally friendly manner. The strategic lead company of the group is ÖBB-Holding AG.