TRIESTE – Adriafer , a railway company controlled by the Trieste Port System Authority, will adopt the r2L connector system to allow trucks to board the train.
The idea behind the initiative is to transform what is not intermodal into intermodal. In this way, as is already the case in various inland port realities, an attempt is made to build a "railway highway" through the solution of the Austrian Vega , which makes the transport by rail of all truck semi-trailers accessible, even those that cannot be moved by crane .
The r2L system was developed by the Austrian VEGA Trans to meet the needs of some transport proposals for new road vehicles (semi-trailers, road tractors, vans). The system was then developed more extensively with a couple of new dock leveler versions, and marketed to other operators. This process led to the end of 2020 to amarketing agreement with the VTG wagon rental company .
At the moment the service is not active, but Adriafer is gearing up to be able to offer it, through the Apulian operator Lotras , which already manages the connection between the Interporto North site of the Turin intermodal terminal and the Cervignano Interport . But it is also present on the route between Cervignano and Villa Selva (Forlimpopoli). In this way, once the service has started, Adriafer will be able to be present along the East-West route , which should be a new source of development for the port of Trieste and the logistics system of Friuli Venezia Giulia.
The project is particularly interesting considering that it is aimed attens of thousands of vehicles in transit right through the ports of Trieste and Monfalcone , but also of those transiting through Gorizia and the rest of the region. With the entry into operation of the new devices, it will certainly be possible to evaluate new railway services, again with the aim of removing as many heavy vehicles as possible from the road.
Furthermore, the proposal is part of a context in which the lack of means, the difficulty in finding drivers and the rising prices of transport would make it particularly attractive. Adriafer could also contribute to responding to the flow of trucks from Eastern Europe, which crosses Friuli Venezia Giulia every day, with an increasingly less sustainable impact in terms of costs and environmental protection policy.