Railport Arad intermodal terminal, Curtici, Romania;
Credit: © Railport Arad
On Tuesday 10 September 2024, Luxembourg's national railway company, the CFL, announced the launch of a new intermodal connection between Bettembourg-Dudelange (Luxembourg) and Curtici (Romania).
This intermodal connection will run between the Intermodal Terminal Bettembourg-Dudelange and the Railport Arad in Curtici.
With the first train running on 8 October 2024, ensuring three weekly rotations from Bettembourg-Dudelange to Curtici, this new connection is serving the need to connect Western Europe with Romania in particular, and more generally with the Balkans and Turkey, noted the CFL. The increasing number of shippers with production sites in Romania as well as the daily road congestions at the Hungarian-Romanian border contributed to the decision to create this new connection.
For this project, CFL multimodal is collaborating with CFL cargo and Ecco Rail on the rail traction. This train will offer a capacity of 40 slots suitable for craneable and non-craneable containers and trailers. Both terminals are fully operational 24/7 and act as gateway hubs to other European countries, such as via Bettembourg to France, Belgium, Germany, Spain and via Curtici to Turkey. This transport solution is expected to reduce CO2 emissions by around 22,000 tonnes compared with road transportation.
"We see this opportunity not just as a simple link between Bettembourg-Dudelange and Curtici, but also as a more ambitious project linking Romania and the Benelux countries, as well as Turkey and the Balkans, to Western Europe," explained Sven Löffler, Chief Commercial Officer at CFL multimodal. "We are excited to expand our customer portfolio and support the EU's ambitions to shift freight from road to rail."
"During its fifteen years of activity, Railport Arad was and still is a pioneer in the field of intermodality in Romania and in Central and Eastern Europe. We are confident that with this new connection between Bettembourg-Dudelange and Curtici, we are promoting once again the most modern transportation way in our larger region," added István Wagner, General Manager Railport Arad.
(Pictured: Bettembourg-Dudelange intermodal terminal; © CFL multimodal)
