Rhine-Alpine News
05.05.2021
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Genoa: Record Rail Investments
Photo: Genoa Port
The Italian national rail infrastructure operator RFI will carry out upgrades in the region Liguria in North-West Italy for 13.4 billion euros. This should result in an increase of 49 percent in the number of freight trains per day by improving the connection between Genoa’s port system and the rest of Europe. In 2024, the works are to be completed.
Numbers will increase with the creation of a new breakwater (outer dam), which is planned to start in January 2022. This will allow handling the largest container ships, with an average length of 400 meters and a capacity that can reach 24 thousand TEU containers.
The ongoing interventions will lead to the creation of a single urban area, connecting the triangle of Genoa, Milan and Turin within a maximum of one hour. It includes works on the new Genoa-Milan High-Speed line Terzo Valico, which is currently halfway. This ensures the connection of last mile between the Terzo Valico and the historic port and allows the separation of traffic flows between the regional and long-distance trains, thus eliminating bottlenecks. Additional tracks around the port will eliminate further bottlenecks.
Rotterdam: Increasing Throughput
Photo: Danny Cornelissen
The volume of freight handled in the port of Rotterdam in the first quarter of this year totalled 115.8 million tonnes. This constitutes a 3.0% increase over the same period last year. Growth is mainly in biomass, coal, mineral oil products and TEU containers. The first quarter of 2020 had shown a sharp downturn because of the Corona crisis. The 2021 increase makes up for about half of it.
Ro-Ro volumes in the first quarter were at normal levels, showing an increase of +3.4%. This is somewhat remarkable in view of the new post-Brexit situation, which introduced new customs formalities as of 1 January.
Read the details here (external link).