High-Speed Rail Freight (HSRF)
High-Speed Rail Freight (HSRF) involves the use of high-speed trains. The business community in Østfold, Norway has expressed a desire for the Skagerrak Line to be used for HSRF such as fresh salmon, groceries, high-value goods and mail between Oslo and Gothenburg and onwards to Hamburg, with the ability to continue by high-speed train to Asia.
It’s perfectly feasible to use high-speed trains for HSRF on the Skagerrak Line and meet the technical requirements of Swedish Transport Agency infrastructure compatibility regulations regarding high-speed trains.
International low-value freight traffic on the Oslo-Gothenburg railway will not be affected by the Skagerrak Line, which will only handle HSRF and perishable goods to Denmark and Germany.
It’s also possible to operate standard containers using freight wagons specially designed for HSRF.
EU directive EU/1299/2014 stipulates a maximum length of 400 metres, a maximum axle load of 17 tonnes and a maximum train weight of 1,000 tonnes, and a speed of at least 250 km/h.
Because high-speed rail freight can compete pricewise with truck, sea and air freight, it will help open up major new market areas for time-critical goods, which could include mail, E-commerce goods and perishable goods such as salmon.
Perishable goods like salmon hauled by HSRF from Norway can reach a significantly larger market in Europe within 10 hours, which is important for perishables. HSRF trains will traffic both the Skagerrak Line and the conventional rail network in Sweden, Denmark and Germany. Norwegian calculations show that 244,000 tonnes of seafood were exported in 2013, and that this will increase sixfold to 1,464,000 tonnes by 2050, equivalent to 492 million meals.
