GERMANY: DB Cargo has outlined capacity for up to 900 wagons as record-low Rhine levels severely restrict chemical and steel shipments by barge through western Germany.

Low water levels on the Rhine River in Germany
Low water on the Rhine River in Germany. Illustrative photo — does not depict a specific DB Cargo shipment.

“900 wagons replace 200 inland vessels,” DB Cargo CEO Bernhard Osburg said, according to The Rail Agenda. DB Cargo’s public announcement said around 400 additional wagons could be made available at short notice, while a subsequent report by The Rail Agenda described total potential capacity of 900 wagons, including 300 immediately available.

A single freight train can replace up to 10 inland cargo vessels because of its faster turnaround, Osburg said in a dpa report carried by Ghana News Agency — a concrete substitution ratio behind what would otherwise be a vague pledge of “extra capacity.” DB InfraGO has appointed a special low-water coordinator for north-south flows along the Rhine and Elbe, while 15 of Germany’s 16 federal states have introduced temporary exemptions from Sunday driving restrictions for eligible lorry movements, most running until Aug. 31, some until the end of September.

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How a long-term low-water rail reserve would be funded

The low-water response comes in the same year DB Cargo is required to restore its long-term viability by the end of 2026 under the European Commission’s state-aid decision on its restructuring; the freight operator reported an adjusted operating loss of €1 million in the first half of 2026.

The announcements published so far do not provide figures for how much traffic has actually moved from barge to rail, and financing remains to be clarified for a proposed long-term reserve concept involving up to 500 additional wagons, according to a dpa report carried by Ghana News Agency. Any additional trains would have to operate on a network already constrained by corridor closures under Germany’s Generalsanierung corridor programme, and passenger association PRO BAHN said on Aug. 14 that regional and long-distance passenger services must not be thinned out to make room for freight.

What to watch

Watch for whether DB Cargo publishes actual barge-to-rail volume figures, since the wagon numbers so far describe capacity offered, not cargo moved. Also worth tracking: how the funding question for the proposed long-term reserve of up to 500 wagons is resolved as DB Cargo implements its EU-approved restructuring plan.

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