Europe’s leading rail logistics comes from Austria

Transport companies in 13 European countries with about 1,270 trains transport 88.4 million net tonnes of cargo every day.

The 2020s will bring the renaissance of rail freight transport – we are shaping the future”, says Clemens Först, Spokesman of the Board of Management of ÖBB’s Rail Cargo Group. Agricultural goods, motor vehicles, building materials, hazardous chemical goods, wood, paper and steel are just some of the things that more than 5,800 employees send on their way every year in 24,231 freight wagons at 16 Rail Cargo terminals. The energy crisis and the fight against climate change make rail transport an indispensable factor in logistics. Clemens Först gives an insight into the corporate philosophy.

When you hear the term ÖBB Rail Cargo Group, you think primarily of cargo trains, but it encompasses an international logistics group. Please briefly outline the most important parts of the company.
Clemens Först: We are the sustainable logistics backbone of the economy and the leading rail logistics provider in Europe. We offer our customers multimodal end-to-end logistics solutions from the first to the last mile for a wide range of industries across the entire Eurasian continent. We not only take care of transport itself, but also of additional logistics services such as transshipment, storage and customs clearance. This distinguishes us from pure rail freight companies. We are operating in 18 countries, most recently also in Serbia and China with our own subsidiarie

How much does classic rail freight transport account for in your company?
Först: If the definition of classic rail freight transport means raw materials transport, then the share is around 60 percent. The remaining percentages are mainly made up of intermodal and multimodal transports.

What are the most frequent transports or destinations?
Först: In 2022, we handled more than a third of the net tonnes transported in the steel, building materials and mineral oil industries. Our main markets are Austria and Hungary as well as the three main axes through Austria – the Danube, Semmering and Brenner. 80 percent of our transport is international.

How many trains and wagons of the Rail Cargo Group are on the move every day?
Först: Every year, we bring around 464,000 trains safely to their destination, which means 1,270 trains every day.

Will the Rolling Road (ROLA, Rollende Landstraße) retain its importance in times of electrification?
Först: Diesel versus electricity is not a unique selling point for the use of the ROLA. There are numerous reasons why hundreds of thousands of trucks use the ROLA to cross the Alps: Rest periods, saving on tolls, noise and congestion avoidance, various driving bans for trucks over 7.5 tonnes such as holiday travel bans, weekend driving bans or night driving bans, permit quota for EU third countries and many more. With 2.5 million trucks in transit through the Brenner Pass each year, and that number is going up, the issue of truck relocation will continue to play a major role: Not only in terms of the environment and safety, but also in order to preserve the quality of life of the local residents. Furthermore, we assume that electric mobility will not replace combustion technology in long-distance freight transport in the short to medium term.

With your end-to-end delivery, could you theoretically replace the Rolling Road or take over the last mile?
Först: The shipping industry makes the choice of transport mode. Due to the lack of incentives in many neighbouring countries, the choice of the shipper or his forwarder falls on truck transport. This is where ROLA comes in as a link in the road haulier’s transport chain for a section of international road freight transport through Austria. The goal must be to create fair framework conditions to handle the entire transport mainly by rail and only the proverbial first and last mile by road.

What are the advantages of the container terminals you operate?
Först: The terminals along central corridors and the most important national economic centres form the central link in an integrated intermodal transport chain. We thus create the basis for a broad range of services and ensure efficient coordination between shippers, forwarders, operators as well as rail transport companies, but also shipping companies. From the handling of intermodal loading units to the collection and delivery of trains and wagon groups, we reliably offer the entire range of services from a single source, with our core task being the handling of containers, swap bodies and semi-trailers. Terminal capacities are crucial for the performance of our intermodal TransNET and the individual TransFER connections. Within ÖBB, we are therefore constantly expanding und developing our existing terminals.

Transport by rail is already being considered environmentally friendly. Can the Rail Cargo Group become even greener, and how?
Först: Rail is per se the most sustainable means of transport – if only because it enables emission- free freight transport. The ÖBB Rail Cargo Group alone saves one million tonnes of CO2 per year in Austria with its freight transport services, and this figure is even higher throughout Europe. In Austria, we use 100 percent green traction current for transports.
We also implement various measures to optimise capacity utilisation in freight transport. The measures range from longer and heavier trains to training of drivers and innovative wagon materials. After all, modern wagon materials make it possible to transport more tonnage and thus save energy. Routes are also regularly optimised, and we try to avoid empty runs.
In addition, we operate our warehouse sites in Vienna-Freudenau and Lenzing in a climate-neutral manner. We record greenhouse gas emissions there, reduce them continuously and offset unavoidable emissions by investing in climate protection projects. With the climate neutrality of the Lenzing site, we support wind energy projects in Bandirma in Turkey. For the Vienna-Freudenau warehouse, we invest in regional projects in the Karwendel Nature Park in Austria. In addition, we support a certified forest conservation project in Brazil.
The many certificates and ratings in the areas of corporate social responsibility and sustainability show that we are on the right track, such as ‘Gold’ at EcoVadis, ‘Very Good’ at the ESG rating of imug | rating, the increase from a C to a B rating at the prestigious CDP rating and B- at the Rail Sustainability Index.

The shortage of skilled workers is obvious in the transport industry, too. How strongly do you feel the lack of staff and what measures do you take to counteract it?
Först: There is no question of a shortage of staff. It is true is that we have a high demand for new colleagues. Altogether, ÖBB has 42,600 employees working in bus and rail as well as an additional 2,000 apprentices in 130 different professions. By 2028, we at ÖBB will have taken on around 18,000 new colleagues. This is partly due to generational change – around one fifth of the current workforce will retire in the next few years. This means that around 40 percent of the entire workforce will change. We have been aware of these developments for a long time, which is why we have stepped up training and recruitment in the past decade. Every year, we look for around 3,000 new employees for our future-oriented jobs. We offer comprehensive opportunities for work-life balance, flexible working time models, a wide range of career opportunities, health management and much more.

There are twelve men and one woman on your management board. Are there too few qualified women in the logistics sector? How do you try to get more women into management
Först: Women are a crucial part of our company’s success, and we are convinced that diverse teams make us stronger. We have therefore set ourselves the goal of increasing the proportion of women in the ÖBB Group from currently 15 to 17 percent by 2027. In Austrian freight transport, the share of women is currently at around 37 percent. We want to make ÖBB, which is traditionally male-dominated, more female and are aware that managers in particular are important role models. Therefore, we also want to include more women in these positions and promote women internally. In concrete terms, we are implementing a wide range of measures to achieve this. For example, a women’s network has been established to promote exchange and networking within the company. In addition to an equal opportunities officer, there is also a mentoring programme for female managers. We are very pleased that our Group has recently taken an important step: since 1 July, we have had a woman as Chief Financial Officer of ÖBB Holding for the first time.

China wants to strongly open up the markets in Europe with its new Silk Road. Is this a big competition for the Rail Cargo Group, or are you relaxed about this?
Först: We have been operating with a branch office in Shanghai since 1 January 2023. The main aim is to further expand the transport route on the Central Corridor (Kazakhstan-Azerbaijan/ Georgia-Black Sea-Romania-Central Europe). There, we offer our customers end-to-end logistics from Europe to Asia from a single source and create cost-efficient and environmentally friendly alternatives to sea and air freight. And not only as an operator service,but also with multimodal end-to-end logistics solutions for industrial customers. We can offer intermodal transports, trucking, customs clearance, transshipment including additional forwarding services and more for the entire Eurasian region. It therefore goes without saying that we do not see the intermodal rail connection between China and Europe as competition, but as a perfect complement to our intra- European TransNET.

Is there anything you cannot transport?
Först: If the goods being transported do not exceed the maximum height and width profile, there are no limits to rail freight transport. In addition to our classic goods, such as raw materials, cars, consumer goods, mineral oil, wood, containers or waste, we also transport unusual ones, such as circus equipment, entire trains, like the new TGVs from France or the armchairs and bar stools for the audience of the ‘Starnacht’ in Mörbisch, a hit TV event in Burgenland. In addition, we not only offer transport from A to B, but also additional logistical services such as handling, storage and customs clearance.