Dear customer,

We would like to make you aware of an incident which occurred in Germany last month which is having a continued impact on freight services to and from Italy. On August 12th 2017 there was a collapse during construction of a new rail tunnel in Rastatt, this has caused serious deformation to the existing track at ground level which has subsided by up to half a metre. On average 200 freight trains use this route per day to/from Karlsruhe & Basel, and it is the main rail freight route between Italy and north-western Europe. At this stage the rail network anticipates that the line will be put back in operation from 9th October 2017.

The result of this collapse is that freight trains are diverted via other already congested routes, and many loads usually sent via the rail network are now being sent via road. This has had an impact on the availability and cost of vehicles on the market. Whilst we do not anticipate any major issues with our groupage services there may be an impact for freight moved as full loads via road or intermodal transport, for any specific concerns please direct your enquiry to your usual operational contact.

Best regards,

Viamaster International Limited

Source: https://www.railfreight.com/corridors/2017/08/23/railway-karlsruhe-basel-remains-closed-till-9th-of-october/

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