Voestalpine stays on the trains of the Rail Cargo Group

The Rail Cargo Group (RCG), the ÖBB’s cargo division, has signed a three-year logistics services agreement with voestalpine on 11 April, thus securing an order for the transport of 8.6 million tonnes of raw materials and finished products per year. The existing agreement, which expired at the end of March, has thereby been renewed and significantly expanded.

Under the contract RCG will transport raw materials to voestalpine’s sites in Linz and Leoben/Donawitz and carry outgoing transports of finished goods from the Linz plant. Moreover, RCG will continue to invest in the optimisation of the transport system, including unloading. RCG will collaborate with voestalpine’s materials experts on wagon design and construction and on the development of new European industrial standards for the rail sector.

The voestalpine group will continue to draw on RCG’s skills and reliability. The new logistics agreement will see the rail logistics specialist shifting greater volumes for voestalpine Rohstoffbeschaffung GmbH and voestalpine’s logistics subsidiary Logistik Service GmbH (LogServ), some of which will involve modal shift from road to rail.

The group’s high-quality product and systems solutions using steel and other metals make voestalpine a key partner for the European automobile and domestic appliance industries and for the oil and gas industry worldwide. Moreover the company is a world leader in turnout technology and special rails, as well as steel for tools and special profiles. The group turned over EUR 11.1 billion in the 2015/16 financial year, achieving an operating result (EBITDA) of EUR 1.6 billion. It employs some 48,500 staff worldwide, of whom 14.5 per cent have shares in the company.

www.oebb.at; www.voestalpine.com