Connection Hamburg / Hannover Lehrte - Verona Q.E.
Lokomotion is no longer just the executing RU, but the responsible RU and therefore the direct contractual partner.
Connection Köln - Verona Q.E. v.v.
Lokomotion is no longer just the executing RU, but the responsible RU and therefore the direct contractual partner.
Connection Rostock - Verona Interterminal v.v.
Lokomotion is no longer just the executing RU, but the responsible RU and therefore the direct contractual partner.
Our connections to be converted are in operation.
Munich-based Lokomotion GmbH, in which we hold a 20 per cent stake as a shareholder, has played a major role in our transformation towards more diversity in traction. We have now further intensified our excellent cooperation. The particularly nice thing about this is that Kombiverkehr KG's Italian transport services have been firmly anchored in Lokomotion's DNA since the company was founded. The company's focus was essentially on organising Brenner transports between Munich and Verona on behalf of DB Cargo. In the course of the transformation, Lokomotion gradually took over the role of contractual carrier for Kombiverkehr's entire Italian traffic. When the question arose in spring 2024 as to whether Lokomotion wanted to take on this new responsibility, very busy weeks and months began in order to make the transition of the transport operations as smooth as possible.
- Make or buy decisions for the German inbound and outbound routes
- Expansion of dispatching activities including the establishment of a new location in Essen
- Development of IT interfaces with all service partners
- Building up resources in the area of train drivers and traction units
- Organising cooperation with traction partners in Germany and Italy as well as with local service providers
With this step, Lokomotion is not only expanding its geographical area of operation (in own traction or with partners), but is also increasing the depth of added value in the individual transport operations. The aim is to manage the entire Italian transport operations for the customer Kombiverkehr from a single source. Good communication and finding solutions in dialogue with partners is all the more important when things are not running so smoothly from an operational perspective.
The first few weeks of January have shown that the intensive preparatory work for the changeover has paid off. Now it is important to maintain a stable and high-quality service, even when volumes increase.
SBB Cargo International has recently started providing traction for the trains on our existing Ghent - Mortara v.v. route. Together with our partner, we connect the business centres in Belgium and northern Italy via France, thus avoiding the upcoming construction work in the Rhine Valley. Our customers benefit from five round trips between the Ghent Interface Terminal and Mortara KT as well as fast A/C transit times and authorisation for the transport of hazardous goods.
SBB Cargo International now also works for Kombiverkehr KG on domestic German services. Trains with SBB traction run three times a week in both directions between Köln-Eifeltor and Basel Weil am Rhein.
SBB Cargo International is a leading rail transport company based in Switzerland that specialises in cross-border freight transport, particularly along the north-south axis between Germany, Switzerland, Italy and the Netherlands. The company is a subsidiary of Swiss Federal Railways (SBB) and was founded in 2010. It works closely with international partners to meet the growing demand for environmentally friendly freight transport across Europe.
Not entirely new to the Kombiverkehr KG family of rail transport companies, but definitely worth mentioning as an important traction partner in domestic German transport alongside KombiRail Europe: e.g.o.o. Eisenbahngesellschaft Ostfriesland-Oldenburg. The East Frisian company has been working for us on the route between Dörpen in Emsland and the Ludwigshafen chemical site in the Rhine-Neckar metropolis since 2018. And it has been extremely successful and, above all, very reliable.
Trains with the dark green Vectron dual-mode locomotives named ‘Bremer Roland’ and ‘Friesische Freiheit’ run three times a week in our German network.
Ostfriesland-Oldenburg mbH
About e.g.o.o.
With ten modern locomotives and 65 employees, e.g.o.o. offers high-quality services in the field of Germany-wide rail freight transport. The northern German rail freight company was founded in 2008 and, in addition to intermodal services for combined transport, also serves other business areas in local and long-distance transport. Shunting services in north-west Germany in particular, as well as special transport services in the area of infrastructure maintenance, round off the portfolio.
It's done! We have successfully completed the traction changeover project in just six months. As of February, we have mastered this task with the combined efforts of all railway undertakings (RUs) and our own workforce. Converting the transport operations in a short space of time was a complex undertaking. ‘It involved the overall handling of the transport operations - from traction, wagons and order processing to the interaction in international business,’ reports Managing Director Armin Riedl. The wagon management in this certainly unique project in rail freight transport was handled by the company's own subsidiary Dienstleistungsgesellschaft für Intermodale Verkehre (DIV).
Large service packages at KombiRail Europe, Lokomotion, SBB Cargo International and also still at DB Cargo
Most of the alternative rail transport companies are long-standing, permanent partners. However, new ones have also been added. Four rail freight companies are now responsible for particularly large service packages. These include the wholly owned subsidiary KombiRail Europe B.V. and Munich-based Lokomotion GmbH, in which we hold a 20 per cent stake. KombiRail Europe now handles all national transport, continental transport between Germany and the Netherlands and between Duisburg and Poznan. ‘Hardly any other rail transport company has managed such a ramp-up curve in such a short space of time,’ says Managing Director Heiko Krebs. The organisation at KombiRail Europe had to be set up accordingly, additional traction units had to be hired, locomotive drivers had to be recruited and the IT systems had to be adapted.
Lokomotion has also taken on additional transport operations. What is new is that the specialist for transalpine transport now operates in a direct contractual relationship with Kombiverkehr instead of previously acting as an executive carrier for DB Cargo. ‘We will, of course, remain associated with our original shareholder, the rail freight operator DB Cargo,’ emphasises Armin Riedl. ‘We are very grateful that we were able to agree early handover dates with them in a proven close and cooperative partnership. This was the only way to realise a ramp-up in the traction changeover instead of converting the entire package of connections in one day at the timetable change in a rush job. DB Cargo therefore played a major role in the successful transformation and continues to be an important partner in our network.’ We will continue to procure traction services from DB Cargo for the French and Spanish services as well as for two train products to Sweden and one to Italy.
The fourth traction company in the group is SBB Cargo International. It operates on our behalf from Mortara to Duisburg, Rotterdam and Ghent. For the first time, the trains will run on the Mortara-Ghent route on the French side. ‘This means we always have an efficient and reliable alternative to the Rhine Valley route,’ says Heiko Krebs, highlighting another advantage of the reorganisation. This makes rail freight transport more resilient overall, as further disruptions and impairments cannot be ruled out on the German side of the Rhine in the coming years due to construction sites. In addition to the aforementioned transport services, the Swiss company also operates the Antwerp-Duisburg and Cologne-Basel trains.
Kombiverkehr works with 18 rail freight companies, eleven of which are direct contractual partners
Following the traction changeover, a total of 18 railway undertakings are now partners of Kombiverkehr. Eleven of these are direct contractual partners - so-called contractual carriers - who in turn commission seven other rail transport companies to provide services as executive carriers. New additions to the intermodal network include Frachtbahn from Vienna and Hector Rail from Bochum. In total, we changed partners on around 35 routes.
