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ÖBB RCG Bridges Continents with Innovative Multimodal Turkey Connections

ÖBB RCG Bridges Continents with Innovative Multimodal Turkey Connections
foto: ÖBB Rail Cargo Group / Public domain/ÖBB RCG Bridges Continents with Innovative Multimodal Turkey Connections
13 / 11 / 2023

The ÖBB Rail Cargo Group (RCG) offers door-to-door services for containers, swap bodies, and craneable trailers between the two large freight terminals in Turkey and throughout Europe.

The RCG offers direct connections from Bratislava and Budapest to and from the Istanbul (Halkali) and Köseköy freight terminals with antenna connections throughout Europe and the CIS countries. RCG’s multimodal Turkey connections allow industry customers to transport their goods to the CIS countries and vice versa by land. In doing so, RCG offers regular departures on a fixed scheduled timetable with attractive transit times and optional handling possibilities, independent of whether the company location has its own siding or not.

Varied and flexible equipment

The multimodal transport solutions include swap bodies with loading options from both above and from the side, containers, bulk, and trailers. In this way, RCG can transport everything that is normally transported by road, by rail without any loss of loading space. The services cover the whole logistics chain: from the preparation of the empty containers to the collection and delivery by truck.

Beverage sector example

For consumer goods, RCG has developed an international door-to-door service for customers from the beverage sector. This is how the multimodal transport between the continents is carried out: The provision of the empty equipment and the loading of the containers takes place in the Netherlands, from where they are transported by truck to the Neuss departure terminal in Germany. RCG then takes over the main leg of the journey by rail with a combination of the TransFER Neuss–Budapest and TransFER Budapest–Istanbul connections. After arriving in Istanbul, the goods are reloaded at the Halkali freight terminal – depending on customer demands in covered or refrigerated trucks (also known as Frigo-Trucks). Customs processing for further transport also takes place here. The goods are then transferred from Turkey through Georgia and Azerbaijan by truck to Almaty in Kazakhstan. As well as by road and rail, ships are also used, as the goods are transported by roll-on-roll-off ferry over the Caspian Sea.

Exclusive use of the Marmaray Tunnel

The 43-kilometer track on the Asian side of Turkey and 19 kilometers on the European side are connected by the 14-kilometer-long Marmaray Tunnel under the Bosporus. In addition to public, national, and international transport, the 76-kilometer route also serves freight transport in the greater Istanbul area at night when the local transport is not in operation. This allows interruption-free freight transport between the continents. Rail Cargo Group is the only current end-to-end rail logistics specialist with a permit for the transit of semi-trailers as well as 45ft HC containers and swap bodies through the tunnel. RCG is currently transporting intermodal trains with craneable trailers for an automotive customer from Europe to Asia through the Marmaray Tunnel.

Source: ÖBB Rail Cargo Group

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