CargoBeamer is increasing the frequency of trains traveling from Domodossola, in North-West Italy, to Kaldenkirchen, on the German-Dutch border. The route is part of the TEN-T Rhine-Alpine Corridor. From 11 weekly rotations, the frequency is going to be increased to 17.

Starting on 5 September, there will be three daily departures for a total of 34 trains operated every week connecting Northern Italy with Western Germany. The service is open for all semi-trailers, including non-cranable ones, with transit time being a little over 20 hours. CargoBeamer offers individual check-in and pick-up services as well.

The market for non-cranable semi-trailer transshipment is growing, creating new opportunities for rail operators. Over the past few years, in fact, many companies have been working on several techniques that allow non-cranable semi-trailers to be transported on rail as well.

From 11 to 17 weekly rotations

The route between Domodossola and Kaldenkirchen has been active since 2015.  Now, there will be three daily departures (northbound) from Tuesday to Saturday and two on Mondays. For the Kaldenkirchen-Domodossola route (southbound), there will be three daily departures between Monday and Saturday with the exception of Friday, on which there will be two daily departures.

Each train can normally be loaded with 31 semi-trailers. On the current schedule of 11 weekly rotations, almost every train is fully booked. According to a CargoBeamer spokesperson, a similar trend can be expected with the new increase to 17 rotations every week.

More specifically, “products shipped between both sites are mostly chemicals, both ADR and non-ADR, plastic goods, food, refrigerated and non-refrigerated, different kinds of liquids, automotive goods, and groupage”, as the CargoBeamer spokesperson told RailFreight.com.

CargoBeamer’s plans for the North-South Corridor

“We see that there is a strong need for unaccompanied intermodal traffic on the Rhine-Alpine Corridor between Germany and Italy. The way over the Alps is extremely feasible for rail transport, as our utilization rate of 95% on Kaldenkirchen-Domodossola shows”.

The spokesperson for CargoBeamer stated that the company is “continuously looking to increase frequencies and offer new lanes to our clients. For example, the frequency of the Calais-Domodossola route has recently been increased from 4 to 6 weekly rotations. CargoBeamer also plans to open a new lane by Q3 or Q4 of this year, which we are going to announce in the near future.”