• Three direct trains per week and direction from 6 May 2019
• Kreuztal terminal begins operations

(Frankfurt/Main, 17 April 2019) Kombiverkehr KG, Europe’s largest provider of intermodal transport
services, is expanding its European network with a new north-south connection. From the beginning
of May 2019, the just recently opened terminal in Kreuztal, in the Siegen-Wittgenstein district, will be connected to the announced direct train link to and from Verona in northern Italy. At the same time, the company will also be running the multi-group train from the Kornwestheim terminal to Italy in close cooperation with Mercitalia Intermodal. The destination and starting terminal in Verona is Quadrante Europa. With this new product, the Frankfurt-based company is expanding its range of services to and from Italy via the Brenner Pass within Europe’s largest intermodal network to a total of 148 train departures every week.

Some capacities of the train to and from Kreuztal have already been allocated to a forwarding
company specialising in services to and from Italy. The new train will be offered to all existing and
prospective customers of the operator as an open train product, which means it can be used by any
logistics company. “In order to make the product customer friendly, we have done all we can to deliver a timetable that suits future users as much as possible”, explains managing director Robert Breuhahn. This was far from easy, given the current high usage both of the Verona Quadrante Europa terminal and of the Italian track, but ultimately success was achieved: “On almost all days of the service, late closing times for acceptance and early collection times demonstrate the attractiveness of our new product.”

The new trains will start in both directions on the evening of 6 May 2019. Forwarders and logistics
companies can ship their transport units at all departure terminals – both in Kreuztal and
Kornwestheim and in Verona – on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. Semitrailers cannot be
transported on the Kornwestheim – Verona v.v. route. At just 38 hours or thereabouts, the journey
time of the new train gives forwarders and transport companies the option of the rapid and also
extremely environmentally friendly transport of goods and merchandise between the economic
centres of South Westphalia and the greater Stuttgart area and Verona in Venetia. Hazardous goods
can be transported in addition to conventional goods. The only exceptions are substances of classes
1 and 7 and those on the “Red list” of Mercitalia Rail.

The new container terminal of Kreisbahn Siegen-Wittgenstein was officially opened in the presence of
representatives from politics, business and logistics at a ceremony held on the company’s grounds in
Kreuztal in mid-September 2018. It has a total surface area of 18,500m², two transshipment platforms
each 225m in length and a 191m long siding. The modern cargo handling systems and seamless
connection of road and rail make the facility in Kreuztal one of the most efficient transport hubs in
South Westphalia. The terminal will be operated by Südwestfalen Container-Terminal GmbH (SWCT),
a partnership whose shares are split equally between Kreisbahn Siegen-Wittgenstein GmbH and
Kombiverkehr KG. The terminal will begin operations shortly with the launch of the train to and from
Verona.

“The Kreuztal terminal is the only location at the southern end of the Rhine-Ruhr region that can be
accessed by transport units with a P400 profile without using the Rhine corridor. Up to 45,000
transport units a year can be shipped round the clock seven days a week thanks to the very latest
measures we have taken to reduce noise emissions at the site”, emphasises the other managing
director, Armin Riedl. “Given the current background of a continuing rise in trailer shipments in
general, and especially in the Rhine-Ruhr region, our stake in the terminal's operating company is of
particular relevance for the future design of new intermodal routes for this economic region. With this shuttle train to and from Verona, we have now laid the foundation for the successful development of the terminal.”



From 6 May 2019 there will be a new destination for forwarders wanting to connect the terminals in
Kreuztal and Kornwestheim in intermodal services with the economic region of northern Italy: the
Verona Quadrante Europa terminal.