The international transport and logistics company Gebrüder Weiss and the ÖBB Rail Cargo Group have been working together for three decades. To mark this anniversary, Wolfram Senger-Weiss, CEO of Gebrüder Weiss, and Christoph Grasl, member of the management board of the ÖBB Rail Cargo Group, celebrated together with numerous guests at the Vienna Central Station on May 6. The highlight of the event was the ceremonial christening and commissioning of the jointly designed Taurus locomotive named “Europa”. The anniversary locomotive will operate on routes across Central Europe.
Long tradition in rail freight
“Gebrüder Weiss was one of the pioneers of rail freight transport in Austria more than 170 years ago,” explained Wolfram Senger-Weiss. “Long before trucks took over the majority of freight transport, rail transport was part of our core business,” he emphasized to the guests. Starting with small transports between Lindau and Munich in 1853, Gebrüder Weiss continuously expanded its rail freight services over the next 170 years. One example is the subsidiary company GW Rail Cargo. Based in Maria Lanzendorf near Vienna, the rail freight forwarding company organizes rail transports throughout Europe for international companies. Every year, up to 1.5 million tons of goods are transported in around 1,000 block trains to recipients in central Europe. The goods include mineral oil, chemicals, gases, agricultural products, and steel.
Orange Combi Cargo: a success story of partnership
A milestone in the partnership with the Rail Cargo Group is the Orange Combi Cargo (OCC), a block train that has been running daily for 16 years between Vienna, Wels, Hall i.T. and Bludenz. It provides a stable, environmentally friendly transportation solution within Austria, transporting food and beverages, drugstore products and building materials among others. It replaces approximately 60 truck trips per day, avoiding around 9,000 tons of CO2 emissions per year.
“The Orange Combi Cargo is a prime example of our cooperation. Thanks to the OCC, we have shifted more than 240,000 truck journeys from road to rail since 2008,” sums up Christoph Grasl, member of the management board of ÖBB Rail Cargo Group. “With every ton that we transport by rail with Gebrüder Weiss, we benefit the environment.”
Working together for climate-friendly freight transport
A significant proportion of rail transport consists of transit traffic, particularly between western ports such as Rotterdam and Hamburg on the one hand and the Adriatic ports on the other. Stable networks and partnerships such as the one with the Rail Cargo Group are essential for Gebrüder Weiss in shifting transports over to rail.