Rhein drought heightens pressure to invest in Germany’s rail freight capacity

Rhein drought heightens pressure to invest in Germany’s rail freight capacity EUROPE: Severe low water on the River Rhein this summer forced more freight onto Germany’s rail network at short notice, laying bare how little spare capacity was available, both in train paths and terminal access. Thomas Wintle assesses the implications for the rail networks that mirror the inland shipping lane. Germany has become used to dwindling levels along the River Rhein disrupting summer freight traffic. As one of Europe’s most important freight arteries, linking the North Sea ports with the industrial regions of north and western Germany, any sustained loss of capacity has major consequences for the roughly 80% of Germany’s inland waterway freight carried on the river. However, by mid-August this year, the disruption had become extreme. At Kaub, the critical bottleneck on the river, the gauge fell below 100 mm on August 14, compared with the previous record low of 250 mm in 2018, with the low water forcing some vessels to reduce their loads to less than a quarter of normal capacity. IHK Südlicher Oberrhein, the regional chamber of commerce in Freiburg, declared that ‘the Rhein had never carried so little water’; its survey of 170 companies along the river found that 78% were facing higher costs, more than two-thirds had reorganised their logistics, and almost one in three had already cut production. ‘Since the last extreme low water in 2018, too little has happened’, said deputy chief executive Alwin Wagner. Rail becomes emergency alternative With capacity disappearing from the river, companies increasingly sought alternatives, with rail becoming a vital option. The railway had little room to absorb the sudden increase in demand, however. By August 12, DHL Global Forwarding was reporting lead times of around six weeks for rail bookings as shippers competed for train paths and terminal capacity. On the same day, the federal government and affected Länder agreed emergency measures intended to create more room for diverted freight. DB InfraGO was asked to provide additional paths on the main railway corridor running parallel to the Rhein and to examine whether planned enhancement work and maintenance could be rescheduled to release further freight capacity. Rules governing federally funded combined transport terminals have also been relaxed until September 30, allowing rail-served facilities to handle additional cargo, including bulk commodities normally outside conventional combined transport. DB InfraGO subsequently established a central co-ordination function for low-water traffic and began publishing the remaining available freight paths along the corridor. Rail freight operators were meanwhile able to find additional rolling stock: RheinCargo added three weekly Rotterdam – Duisburg ‘out and back’ coal workings, while Captrain introduced three to four additional weekly coal trains and increased its Germany – France coke flow frequency from four to five round trips per week. DB Cargo said around 400 wagons could be mobilised at short notice. Network capacity runs tight The problem was also evident among major industrial rail users. Badische Stahlwerke, which produces up to 2.5 million tonnes of reinforcing steel a year at Kehl, moves 43% of its inbound and outbound traffic by rail and around 50% by river. The company depends on single-wagonload services and had already criticised DB Cargo over rising prices and declining reliability. During the low-water episode, Managing Director Florian Glück said that shifting additional freight onto road or rail was ‘hardly possible at short notice because of the lack of capacity’. The squeeze was further compounded by major summer engineering works on the main Rheintal corridor. DB InfraGO’s renovation of the Troisdorf – Koblenz – Wiesbaden right-bank route had begun in July, forcing existing traffic onto diversionary lines already classified as temporarily overloaded. DB InfraGO said it was continually reviewing whether individual construction and maintenance measures could be rescheduled, but only residual capacity remained on those routes. Meanwhile, the federal government said that additional low-water paths could be provided only ‘within the available capacity’. The capacity problem also spilled across Germany’s borders. Assessing traffic linking with the Dutch and Belgian ports, tri-modal operator Contargo said in late July that the usual German diversion routes via the left bank of the Rhein and Siegerland were already ‘operating at full capacity’ because of traffic displaced by the right bank works. The remaining alternatives were more than 200 km longer in each direction and required additional locomotives, crews and wagons, leaving its rail service providers ‘reaching the limits of their available resources’. From emergency capacity to permanent infrastructure Recent rainfall in Germany has since brought some relief to the drought conditions. Low-flow monitoring recordings taken on August 22 at Kaub, Mainz, Worms and several other gauges enabled some restrictions on navigation to be eased, and ferry services began resuming along the Rhein. Conditions for larger inland vessels were still expected to take several weeks to return to normal, however. At Kaub, the low-water phase had lasted 43 days. The episode has nevertheless sharpened a question Germany has faced since the severe low water of 2018: how much additional rail and terminal capacity should be available when the Rhein can no longer carry its normal volumes? Transport Minister Steffen Bilger said last month that Germany had ‘drawn important lessons’ since the severe low water of 2018, taking steps to improve emergency planning, additional storage and transshipment capacity since earlier disruptions. ‘We can now react earlier, provide better information and organise transport more effectively’, he stated. However, August again showed the limits of relying on temporary operating measures and whatever terminal capacity happened to be available. As Bilger stated, ‘resilience does not happen overnight’. €100m expansion of Ludwigshafen hub Part of the longer-term answer is already taking physical form through federally backed terminal investment. On August 17, BASF formally started the expansion and renewal of its Rhine-side combined transport terminal at Ludwigshafen, one of Europe’s largest road-rail terminals. The low three-digit million euro project, due for completion in 2028, is receiving almost €51m from the federal government through the Combined Transport Terminal Funding Directive, which can cover up to 80% of eligible investment. The terminal already handles more than 1 100 loading units a day on up to 25 block trains, with annual capacity of around 370 000 units across 13 transshipment tracks. BASF traffic accounts for only around 30-40% of throughput, with the remainder handled for external forwarders and shippers. Over the next two years, the two oldest handling modules will be replaced by Module 50, equipped initially with three rail-mounted gantry cranes and provision for a fourth. The cranes will span nine tracks and around 700 m of handling length, while the redesigned layout will provide more room for longer trains, semi-trailers and additional storage and buffer capacity. The investment sits within the Ludwigshafen site that already has more than 230 km of railway. Roughly 30% of its freight moves by rail and 40% by ship, making the ability to switch volumes between modes particularly important when Rhein capacity falls. The modernisation had been in preparation since at least 2024, but at the groundbreaking, both the transport minister and BASF framed the €100m-plus project and other terminal expenditure as a prerequisite for shifting more freight onto rail. ‘With the expansion of the combined transport terminal and thanks to federal funding, we are not only strengthening the efficiency of our logistics, but also creating important prerequisites for Ludwigshafen to remain a competitive and attractive production location in the heart of Europe’, BASF CEO Markus Kamieth said. As for the relevance of the groundbreaking to the summer drought, Kamieth told local press that with every week that the drought and low water continued, the risk of smaller production interruptions naturally increased. He added that he expected the company would have to deal with more low-water situations in future, which is why the investments were worth it for BASF. Calls to accelerate network expansion Industry now wants such investments applied on a larger scale. In an August 19 letter to Germany’s transport minister, IHK Mittlerer Niederrhein, the regional chamber of commerce for the industrial lower Rhein area, argued that businesses could not secure reliable logistics through larger inventories and more flexible transport planning alone. Alongside investment in the river infrastructure itself, it called for ‘efficient alternative diversion and modal shift options’, including on the railway. ‘The current situation must not be merely an occasion for short-term crisis management. A long-term strategy is needed to ensure the navigability of the Rhein for as long as possible, even under the conditions of climate change’, Chief Executive Jürgen Steinmetz said. Two rail schemes were singled out. IHK wants the planned Revierbahn West between the Rhein corridor and Aachen to be designed to accommodate freight, and renewed its call for delivery of the cross-border 3RX project, including adding a second track between Dülken and Kaldenkirchen in Nordrhein-Westfalen, close to the Dutch border. It said the projects would strengthen the resilience of logistics chains to the North Sea ports and create ‘urgently needed redundancies’ in the transport network. Two schemes, different stages The two schemes are at very different stages. Belgium and the Netherlands agreed in February to intensify work on 3RX, while the Dülken – Kaldenkirchen doubling is already included in Germany’s federal rail infrastructure planning as part of the route towards Viersen and Rheydt-Odenkirchen. A 2023 feasibility study estimated the cost of the full international 3RX scheme at more than €660m, including nearly €175m for the German section. The latter section only passes the economic test if the full cross-border route is built, so it still depends on agreement between Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands. Revierbahn West is considerably less advanced. It remains at feasibility stage, and current planning has focused primarily on regional passenger rail requirements. The local authority for the district west of Düsseldorf, Rhein-Kreis Neuss, said in April that detailed freight use and the route’s potential role in connecting the Rhein mining region with the Dutch and Belgian ports was outside the original study scope. Financing is also unresolved, with Rhein-Kreis Neuss saying that the local public transport funding model now being considered would not deliver the freight-capable railway it wants. Funding remains tight The federal government has at least acknowledged the need to keep supporting intermodal capacity. The funding directive that supported Ludwigshafen, which can cover up to 80% of eligible investment, currently runs only to the end of 2026, but transport ministry BMV is planning a one-year extension. Funding the additional network capacity sought by industry may prove more difficult. Germany’s €500bn Infrastructure & Climate Neutrality Special Fund is providing €22bn for transport infrastructure in 2026, including €18.8bn for DB InfraGO, but €16.3bn of the rail allocation is earmarked for maintaining the existing network and €2.5bn for digitalisation. New-build and expansion projects therefore continue to rely largely on the separate federal Bedarfsplan budget, where the transport ministry has acknowledged that ongoing schemes will already absorb most of the funding available over the coming years. Subscribe to gain access to all news Already have a subscription? Log in. Choose your subscription Considering a corporate subscription? Contact us to find out more.