The Retrack network connects the most important economic centers within Europe. Thanks to its own locomotive pool, consisting of both diesel and electric trains, VTG Rail Logistics can carry out freight transportation just as flexibly on the network as single wagonload traffic as it can with groups of wagons or block trains.
In 2007, an alternative concept to the national railway’s single wagon system was devised within the context of an EU project – what emerged was Retrack. Multiple RUs joined forces with the aim of simplifying single wagon transport and offering customers a new cross-border European portfolio with a reliable running schedule.
“In 2014, after several partners had withdrawn from Retrack, VTG decided to take control of the project. With our Bräunert RU, which is approved through a railway operations management license, we, and the partners that remained, organized the trains and assumed all the entrepreneurial risks associated with the business,” explains Günther J. Ferk, Managing Director of VTG Rail Logistics.
Safety credentials and certification as a specialized waste management company
For the VTG-owned RU, part A of the SiBe safety certification has been applied for in Germany. Acquiring the national certification will make it possible for the RU to apply for approval for international transit (SiBe part B). In addition, after a successfully completed audit, carried out by TÜV Rheinland, VTG Rail Logistics now possesses certification as a “specialized waste management company as a carrier of hazardous waste, pursuant to the EfbV (the German Ordinance on Specialised Waste Management Companies)” and may now also transport hazardous waste within Germany. This applies to all classes of hazardous goods, barring 1, 6.2 and 7 (explosive, infectious and radioactive materials).