All clear for electric trains to JadeWeserPort Wilhelmshaven
Wilhelmshaven – Right on schedule and in time for the Deutsche Bahn winter timetable, the work on electrifying the railway infrastructure of Germany’s only deep-water container port, JadeWeserPort Wilhelmshaven, has been completed. In step with the electrification by Deutsche Bahn of the Oldenburg – Wilhelmshaven main line, the port’s 4 km feeder line and 16-track pre-routing group went electric on December 7th, with official operations starting today. This completes the expansion of JadeWeserPort‘s hinterland rail connection, creating a route optimally equipped for handling further goods transport.
Olaf Lies, Lower Saxony’s Minister for Economic Affairs, Transport, Building and Digitization says: “With the electrification of the railway infrastructure of JadeWeserPort and the expansion of the Oldenburg – Wilhelmshaven line, the seaport hinterland connection to Germany’s only deep-water container port will be further optimized. This is a very important and long overdue step for our port and a real milestone for the connection, which not only the port industry has been waiting for many years. An efficient and climate-friendly rail-based connection of the ports to the hinterland is a central prerequisite for the transport of goods. The electrification of the railway line will therefore further strengthen the position of the JadeWeserPort in international seaport competition.“
Andreas Bullwinkel, Managing Director of Container Terminal Wilhelmshaven JadeWeserPort-Marketing GmbH & Co. KG (JWPM): “Today we can offer our customers an efficient and environmentally friendly transport option for their volumes via rail to destinations throughout Germany, Switzerland and Austria. Numerous railway operators have been serving the JadeWeserPort for years with several frequencies per week. We assume that the share of rail traffic will increase in the future.”
The port infrastructure company JadeWeserPort Realizations GmbH & Co. KG (JWPR) worked as a business agent together with JWPM on the planning. Holger Banik, Managing Director of JWPR, thanks his team: “Everyone involved was always aware of the great importance of the electrification of the feeder line and the pre-routing group for our port. The electrification of the seaport connection will have a positive effect on rail freight traffic.”
Michael Blach, Chairman of EUROGATE Group Management, added: “The commissioning of the electrified Oldenburg – Wilhelmshaven section is an essential prerequisite for further promoting the positive development of the Wilhelmshaven port location. Germany’s only deep-water port is thus ideally connected to important economic centres in Germany and Europe. Various railway companies have already announced new connections for 2023 to and from JadeWeserPort. This gives us momentum for bold new investments and the further development of the EUROGATE Container Terminal Wilhelmshaven.”
Background
The 16-track pre-routing group has the function of a buffer between the container port and the hinterland with connections to important economic centres in Germany and the industrial regions of Northern Europe. Up to twelve full-length trains can be dispatched here at the same time. It is an integral part of JadeWeserPort’s port railway, which connects the port’s freight village and the terminal directly with the hinterland.
