Page 8 - Port of Hamburg Magazine - 03.18

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Halle shunting into heart of Europe with freight traffic
After four and a half years of construction, the new marshalling yard facility (ZBA) in Halle on the River Saale has gone into operation. On the site of the former Halle goods station, a centre has been built that counts among the most state-of-the-art in Europe. With a planned capacity of 2,400 railcars per day, the facility will provide sufficient capacity for single railcar traffic on the Berlin-Munich axis, but above all in the direction of South-Eastern Europe. The federal government and DB – Deutsche Bahn have invested a total of 180 million Euros. It’s a real first: The entire shunting and marshalling operations on the 36 sidings are one hundred percent electronically controlled and monitored.
“Saxony-Anhalt has both a tradition and a future as a trading hub. The marshalling terminal will open up new dimensions in national and international freight traffic. This cutting-edge marshalling facility will shine over the whole of central Germany. It will create im- portant economic initiatives and secure jobs in the re- gion,” stated Thomas Webel, Saxony-Anhalt’s Minis- ter for State Development and Transport.
The new marshalling facility is an important link in the logistics chain for the Port of Hamburg’s hinterland traffic. The hub on the eastern North-South axis will not only connect the German regions to the environ- ment friendly rail network, but the South-East Euro- pean regions, too, better than before. The target is to divert freight traffic from road to rail.
Pivotal in this modernization was replacing the tracks and all technical equipment. The Halle marshalling facility now consists of an arrival zone with eight tracks, a marshalling hump and 36 sorting sidings. The facility is equipped with
cutting-edge train marshalling technology. Two electronic signal boxes handle the fully automated control of opera- tions. The Halle marshalling facility counts among the most modern for rail freight transport in Europe.
Eckart Fricke, the top DB representative for the States of Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt und Thuringia stressed that: ‘For the first time in more than 25 years, we are taking a new marshalling terminal into service. With the state-of-the-art facility in Halle, DB is sending out a clear signal for the future and setting its sights on single railcar traffic in Saxony-Anhalt, the central re- gion, Germany as a whole and Europe.”
Dr. Roland Bosch, CEO of DB Cargo, explained that customers from the steel and chemical sectors will profit especially. The new marshalling terminal, with its branch connection to the central German chemical triangle, and for steel services to and from Czechia, will become an important hub for European rail freight transport. ■
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2,400 RAILCARS PER DAY CAN BE HANDLED IN THE NEW MARSHALLING FACILITY IN HALLE ON THE RIVER SAALE
©Deutsche Bahn