TX Logistik expands rail services between Cologne and Istanbul

TX Logistik AG, a company of Mercitalia Logistics (FS Italiane Group), aims to further expand its intermodal rail freight transport between Istanbul and Cologne. To this end, the company will present its European network at Logitrans Istanbul, Eurasia’s largest transport and logistics fair, and showcase the current handling system NiKRASA 3.0, which allows non-craneable trailers to be easily loaded onto trains.

(Troisdorf/Istanbul) For TX Logistik, Turkey is a market with good growth prospects for intermodal transport. Therefore, the railway logistics company launched its first connection in June between Istanbul and Cologne. In cooperation with a traction partner, which operates the route between Halkali Terminal in Istanbul and Curtici in Romania three times a week, several units are currently being loaded each week. In Curtici, these units are then taken over and fed into TX Logistik’s own intermodal connection Cologne – Curtici, which currently operates with seven round trips per week.

Increasing demand for intermodal transport towards Europe

In 2023, the number of loadings in Turkey is expected to increase further. One advantage is the transit time between Cologne and Istanbul, which averages nine days and ideally only takes seven days. According to TX Logistik, there is a growing demand for intermodal transport towards Europe, especially among smaller and medium-sized logistics companies in the Turkish economic area. Therefore, discussions with this target group will be deepened at Logitrans, which takes place from November 16 to 18, and possible plans for 2023 will be specified – also utilizing the NiKRASA handling system.

Photo: © TX Logistik