Six times a week, the transport company Schenker loads up a 600-metre long freight train in Narvik (Norway) and Kiruna (Sweden) – to transport farmed salmon to Europe.
It’s Europe’s fastest freight train, averaging a speed of 75 kilometres per hour. Yearly the train transports 25,000 containers, which is equivalent to 12,500 transports with trailer. The “DB Schenker North Rail Express” is also Northern Europe’s longest freight train.
The train loads up in Narvik, then takes the “Malmbanen” and the “Ofotbanen” railway line to Kiruna, where several salmon containers, from Troms and Finnmark, are lifted on to wagons. Then the train rolls south through Sweden. The hub is located at Oslo-Alnabru. Here traffic is directed onward. Some are reassigned for flights to the Far East or the United States, the remainder is reassigned to trucks or trains that transport the goods to the Continent.
Rail transport reduces transport time by up to one day, and “DB Schenker North Rail” saves the road network in Norway, Sweden and Finland for a lot of wear and tear from heavy vehicles.
Schenker’s Head of Communications, Einar Spurkeland was quick to point out to Salmon Business the many advantages of the “heavyweighter” back in 2014:
“The benefit gained by the environment is marvellous. For long hauls, trains are enormously beneficial and important in terms of carbon emissions and use of resources”.
This story was first time published at www.ilaks.no 17 March 2014
