Chapter 6: Rail Transportation

Question 1

For which kinds of products would you prefer rail transportation?

Name and reason three product characteristics!

Answer 1

1. Goods with a high volume or weight and at the same time a low value per ton → transport cost sensitive freight which needs high Economies of Scale in transportation
2. Goods transported over 500 km → possibility to gain Economies of Scale and Distance for transport means with high fix costs investments
3. Goods with a high chance of parity in transportation → generate efficient round trips at lowest possible transport costs

Question 2

What are potential reasons for the different share of rail logistics solutions in Europe?

Answer 2

1. Political reasons: A country like Switzerland wants a high share of “green” transport modes like rail transport
2. Geographical reasons: A country like Austria has - because of its landscape shape with high mountains - a limited amount of possibilities to connect their economic centers. Because of this, a train connection represents a possibility to lower the traffic stress out of road transport.
3. Infrastructural reasons: A country like Germany has a high density of roads available, while at the same time the number of available train terminals is limited.

Question 3

What are market players involved in rail-based logistics solutions?

Answer 3

1. Infrastructural operators like DB Netze AG and private infrastructural providers
2. Rail companies public and non-public like DB Schenker Rail or a lot of private rail companies
3. Rail operators which are specialized for the transport in different areas like:
   - combined transport
   - car trains
   - trailer transports
   - terminal operators

Question 4

Please name and characterize five business characteristics of freight rail transport!

Answer 4

1. Internal Competition – »Public Owned Company«
   Private EVUs have a weak market position → Connection to resources (network, energy)
2. Cost Structures – »Low Transparency«
   Low transparency in costs; new technologies are difficult to calculate; problems of back-loads and overcapacity;
3. Personnel – »Expansive & Organized«
   Strong unions, high wages for motorman - almost no chance for substitution
4. Legislative Reglementations – »Stagnation«
   Reduction of rail promotion by the EU commission – trend to co-existence of different transport modes
5. Capacity– »Constraints in network & terminals«
   60% of transport performance will be produced by 25% of network capacity; terminals are overload; Primary of passenger transport (15 min-slots!

Question 5

In the process of shipping goods via rail, we discussed the function of a “loading track free of charge” (Freiladegleis).

For what is it used?

Answer 5

A loading track free of charge is an alternative for loading the ordered wagons directly at a rail terminal. It is a track on which the rail operator “parks” the ordered wagon for a pre-defined time-span for loading and/or unloading by the shipper /sender.

Question 6

In Germany, 20.000 km of the 35.000 km rail-network is electrified.

What is the advantage of electrified tracks in comparison to tracks without electrification?

Answer 6

Electrified railway lines offer the possibility of faster acceleration and breaking. So it is possible to use the available track capacity with a higher sequence / number of trains.

Question 7

What are the standard gauge and maximum length of a block train in Germany and most European states?

Answer 7

• The standard gauge in Germany and most European states is 1435 mm.
• The maximum (technical) length of a train is 700 m.

Question 8

What are the biggest technical and organizational problems in train transport when crossing national borders?

Answer 8

Biggest problems in freight transport by rail when crossing borders are:

• changing of gauges with the additional handling of load or investment in gauge-flexible wagons
• changing of voltages on electrified tracks in different countries
• different regulations for riding trains in different countries

Question 9

Which kinds of product groups for rail-based logistics do you know?

Answer 9

The main product groups are:

• Wagon load traffic with single wagon load traffic and block trains/shuttle trains
• Part load traffic
• Combined traffic (in the narrow sense → exchange of complete loading unit)
• Multimodal traffic (combined traffic in broader sense → exchange of contents of loading units, e.g. transshipment of pallets)

Question 10

Please describe the operational characteristics of block trains!

Answer 10

• Network structure:
  single-stage, direct transport from source to sink, “lot size” of one train length (12-30 wagons; until 4.000 to gross weight) without the usage of marshaling/shunting yards [Rangierbahnhöfe]
• Object structure:
  no-time sensitive bulk goods with low value to weight ratio
• Critical resources:
  availability of rail links [Gleisanschluss] at source and sink
• Activity level / competition:
  typically relatively stable; a lot of NE operators [nicht bundeseigene Eisenbahnen] because of low infrastructure and investment needs

Question 11

What is the difference between a shuttle and a block train?

Answer 11

A block train is a complete train which is decoupled at the end of the trip and a new sequence of wagons is built. A shuttle-train is a complete train which is not decoupled at the end of the trip but only unloaded and loaded. A shuttle train keeps the sequence of its wagons.

Question 12

Please describe the operational characteristics of single wagonload traffic!

Answer 12

• Network structure:
  multi-stage, in-direct transport from source to sink, “lot size” of single or wagon groups with the usage of marshaling yards [Rangierbahnhof]; loading /unloading and shunting [rangieren] is done by the client
• Object structure:
  no-time sensitive bulk goods and FWL-transports
• Critical resources:
  availability of rail links [Gleisanschluss] at source and sink
• Activity level/competition:
  relatively stable; share of railway transportation by single wagon load is approx. 30% but 50% of all revenues → product for large customers

Question 13

Please describe the operational characteristics of intermodal traffic!

Answer 13

• Network structure:
  multi-stage, in-direct transport from source to sink, “lot size” of trailers, containers, trucks with the usage of marshaling yards or intermodal terminals
• Object structure:
  loading unit (container, trailer) is the only handling unit during whole transport in different modes
• Critical resources:
  the potential of consolidation, rail links and/or speed of goods handling, distance > 600 km
• Activity level / competition:
  differentiation between “maritime traffic” (from the harbors) and “continental traffic”; close cooperation of tractors and operators

Question 14

What is the difference between product groups and production systems of DBSchenker?

Answer 14

A product group describes the service product which is offered to potential clients (e.g. single wagon load traffic).

A production system describes the internal possibilities of rail operators how this service product can be realized. (e.g. single wagon load traffic by using the railway junction system)

Question 15

Which kinds of product groups and production systems for their implementation do you know?

Answer 15

• Block trains as a product group
  → block train/shuttle trains for implementation
• Single wagon load traffic as a product group
  → railway junction system for implementation
• Intermodal traffic as a product group
  → direct train and hub concept as production systems

Question 16

What are the dominating product groups on the German rail market for freight transports? Why?

Answer 16

The dominating product groups are block trains and single wagon load traffic.

The reasons:

• block trains are simple to establish and to implement (a lot of private operators); the needed fix costs investments are low
• single wagon load traffic:
  most of the shippers/senders don’t have enough load per shipment for one entire block train. The only possible solution on the market available is single wagon load traffic - here DB Schenker rail is the only competitor on the market and can dictate the price level.

Question 17

What is the average speed of a block train in comparison to a train in single wagon load traffic - transporting goods from one terminal to the other?

Answer 17

• The average speed of block train: 120 km/h
• The average speed of a train in single wagon load traffic: 30 km/h

Question 18

How would you define and explain the concept of “Railports”?

Answer 18

To be attractive for a broader base of potential clients DB Schenker Rail introduced in non-urban areas the concept of “Railports”. The characteristics of railports are:

• Railports should work as the bridge between road and rail; they are a chance to attract new customer groups without having a direct rail connection
• Railports are enlargements of the product portfolio for DBSchenker by the possibility to implement more multimodal transport- and logistics – solutions (e.g. the “Railports” are used as production “buffers”)
• Railports combine the flexibility of road transports (regional service for pre- and post-haul) and the efficiency of consolidated freight transports by rail (main-haul)

Question 19

What are the possibilities for industrial companies to get their load on rail solutions?

Answer 19

• Using the rail connections of the companies
• Pick-up places, loading tracks free of charge
• Bi-lateral agreements of companies about the usage of rail-connections
• Port with rail connections
• Terminals
• Railports

Question 20

How would you describe a transport order of freight, which is qualified to be transported by train? Explain three characteristics!

Answer 20

• An easy access to the existing terminal system (close location, direct rail connection or good road access)
• A transport distance larger than 600 km because of Economies of Scale and Distance (lower prices)
• A high volume which needs to be sent regularly - or volume from other clients which can be consolidated at the terminal to a block train
• A high chance for backloads for the operator (transport from and to ports or to economical hot spots)