Modern System Offering a Range of Solutions

The Belgian railway freight system (B-Cargo) is modern and highly developed, offering businesses a wide range of tailor-made solutions for goods moving between both national and European destinations. With 2,210 miles (3,536 km) of track, the country's rail infrastructure is among the highest-density networks in the world. In addition to carrying more than 200 million passengers in 2007, the railways also handled some 57,7 million tons of freight.

Quicker delivery times thanks to NARCON's efficiency

B-Cargo's recently established National Rail Container Network (NARCON) provides daily national rail connections between the Ports of Antwerp (Mainhub) and Zeebrugge and five inland terminals strategically located to serve Flanders and the European hinterland: Courtrai, Genk, Mouscron, Charleroi, and Athus.

Transhipment at the Mainhub is done through vertical shunting: gantry cranes move containers while wagon sets stay together, thereby shortening delivery times. All standard types of maritime containers (20', 40' and 45') can be accommodated by the system. Each of B-Cargo's 400 4-axled wagons assigned to NARCON duties makes approximately 20 trips per month.

Rapid transit and on-time arrivals

B-Cargo offers daily EurailCargo transport to and from Europe's major economic zones with rapid transit and reliable on-time arrivals a keynote - there are no border stops and the freight wagons used are capable of speeds of more than 62 mph (100 kph). The Hermes international communications and tracking system enables B-Cargo's staff to keep customers informed of their shipment's progress. Service is tailor-made to meet a customer's consignment requirements.

Five links are at present covered by EurailCargo: Belalpia to the Munich region and western Austria, Belvetic to Switzerland, Interdelta to south-east France, Scaldo to eastern Austria and Necktra to the Mannheim region as well as to Switzerland and Northern Italy. At the moment, Belalpia and Carad only provide services out of Belgium. The EurailCargo trains run every working day from Monday to Friday.

Multi-functional platforms

Working with IFB (Inter Ferry Boats) and private partners, B-Cargo also offers services based on the multi-functional platform concept, combining rail and road transport. The system is flexible and meets a client's full logistic needs for a shipment. In addition to the loading and unloading of wagons, the services provided extend to storage, road transport to or from the railway and final distribution.

Quality standards are in place to cover all operations and performances, as well as shipment tracking, and information flows. Goods that arrive by rail at a multi-functional platform base on Day A are delivered to their final destination on day A+1 at the very latest.

European freightways and international intermodal services

In recent years Belgian railways has been involved with counterparts in other European countries in efforts to develop dedicated freight lines, known as freightways. The first of these became operational in 1998 and now links the economic centers of Antwerp and Brussels in Belgium with Luxembourg, Lyon and Marseille in France, Torino (Milan), Genova, La Spezia and Gioia Tauro in Italy, and Barcelona and Valencia in Spain. Capacity has been increased and, in addition, nearly 40 additional paths have since been added around Europe. The advantage lies in much higher average train speeds and therefore faster delivery times.

Haeger & Schmidt Container Line GmbH, a subsidiary of IFB, offers regular services from Antwerp, Rotterdam and Zeebrugge to Niederrhein (Emmerich, Emmulsum, Duisburg, Neuss, Düsseldorf Dormagen, Leverkusen, Köln), Mittelrhein (CSA Andernach, Mainz, Hoechst Frankfurt) and Oberrhein (Wörth, Kehl, Strasbourg, Ottmarsheim, Weil, Basel, Birsfelden). On top of the liner service, H&SCL also offers the delivery/collection by road, transhipment, stripping & stuffing and depot management.

International services include "The Alsace Flanders Express" (Antwerp/Strasbourg), which travels four times per week between the Ports of Antwerpen & Zeebrugge and the inland French Port of Strasbourg; the "North Sea Bridge" regular service (Zeebrugge / Duisburg), 5 times per week, from Zeebrugge to Duisburg, and the "Duisburg Shuttle service" (Antwerp/Duisburg), with five roundtrips per week between Antwerp Main Hub and Duisburg. From the Main Hub, connections are offered to all maritime quays in Antwerp.

IFB is able to deliver dedicated mono-client train products for customers wishing to underwrite their own train service. IFB provides the traction, the wagons and the transport documentation, and liaises with the terminals involved to insure a high quality product.

Source:  SNCB holding, http://www.nmbs.be |  B-Cargo , http://www.bcargo.be |  Inter Ferry Boats, http://www.interferryboats.be