Hupac hampered by maintenance

RAIL WORKS AHEAD

COMBINED TRANSPORT • HUPAC ENJOYED STRONG DEMAND IN THE FIRST HALF OF THE YEAR, THOUGH ITS EFFORTS TO SHIFT FREIGHT OFF THE ROADS WAS HAMPERED BY RAIL MAINTENANCE WORK

SWITZERLAND-BASED HUPAC, which specialises in combined transport operations, moved 575,000 road loads onto the rails in the first half of 2022. This marked a modest increase of 1 per cent over the same period last year, despite what it calls “a lively development” in demand in the first quarter. Traffic slumped in April and June, however, largely due to capacity restrictions on the rail network caused by intensive construction activity on the Rhine-Alpine corridor, which particularly impacted transalpine traffic through Switzerland.

Michail Stahlhut, CEO of the Hupac Group, explains: “In the north-south corridor, we were not able to achieve our set growth targets. On the other hand, traffic in the north-east and south-east corridors developed positively. Traffic in Spain remained below expectations due to capacity bottlenecks.”

Aside from track work, the rail sector has also been affected by broader supply chain issues. Pandemic-related port congestion around the world is cascading down into European sea ports, domestic terminals and combined transport operations. “Our response to the capacity restrictions caused by construction activity on the network are investments in reserves and emergency measures,” says Stahlhut. Hupac is building in resilience by adding nearly 900 additional items of rolling stock this year, either purchased or leased; many of these wagons will be stationed as reserves at nodes in the network to provide capacity at times of disruption, with the aim of contributing to service stability.

READY FOR ANYTHING If combined transport is to offer shippers an attractive alternative to road transport, it must be able to offer a dependable service and this is something that Hupac is very keen to work on, especially as there will inevitably be additional construction work in the coming years. “The focus must be increasingly on capacity-saving planning and on efficient diversion routes,” the company says. Time-sensitive combined transport needs full train path capacity on a weekly basis, even during construction activity, in order to avoid supply chain bottlenecks.

“All parties involved in the transport chain must significantly increase their ambition for more capacity under the given circumstances,” Stahlhut stresses. A short-term switch to pure road transport is only possible to a small extent for combined transport customers. In particular, the extensive corridor renovations planned in the German network from 2024 onwards remain a risk for Europe-wide supply if construction measures are not planned in line with the market and functional rerouting concepts are not created. This can be prevented by improving the international coordination of construction sites along the entire corridors and, in some cases, by upgrading the diversion routes. Smaller measures such as additional switches, changes to operating rules, etc can make a big difference and must be implemented as a priority.

For the rest of this year, Hupac expects that capacity will be sufficient to meet demand, despite ongoing construction at various points on the Rhine-Alpine corridor, as diversions and alternative service routes have been put in place, along with reserve train compositions. “We have understood our customers’ request for more transparency and will provide a detailed capacity preview with monthly updates from August,” Stahlhut adds. “This will enable transport companies and shippers to better manage traffic volumes even in the event of capacity restrictions.” www.hupac.ch