West Europe - Area 4

On 22 January 2021 the Danish Safety Authority has banned the circulation of semitrailers on pocket wagons on the Danish railway network. The trigger for this decision was the report of a semi-trailer that was not correctly anchored in its pocket wagon while crossing the Storebælt Bridge by train.

The traffic ban has a validity of 14 days. Technical investigations are in progress.

In order to maintain the traffic in this difficult environment, Hupac foresees short term gateway solution to/from Taulov for containers and swap bodies as of week 4. If needed, alternative solutions for trailers with rerouting from/to Hamburg and other terminals close to the German-Danish border will be set up.

It is now crucial to fully understand the underlying reasons for the reported situation and to introduce appropriate measures. Hupac is available to support the European process of technical analysis and to share its know-how.

The Hupac Group has a fleet of about 3.400 pocket wagons and carries around 200.000 semitrailers per year. The current technology of fixing the semitrailer on the wagon is similar to the technology adopted for fixing the semitrailer on the truck. It is the result of decades of experience and can be considered as safe.