VTG announced an investment of “tens of millions of euros” to build its first carbon-neutral maintenance workshop for its freight wagon fleet.
The facility will be located in Grossräschen, in the German state of Brandenburg, where VTG has had a presence since 2020, where it currently processes wagons that are returned when their leases expire.
The Minister of Infrastructure and Regional Planning for the State of Brandenburg, Guido Beermann, members of the German Bundestag and the Brandenburg Landtag (State Parliament) and the Chief Operating Officer Europe & Chief Safety Officer at VTG, Sven Wellbrock, held a ground-breaking ceremony.
“Building the new maintenance workshop in Grossräschen is a tremendously positive signal for Brandenburg and the rural spaces in our state. The money invested here will create secure and highly qualified jobs as part of a sustainable, climate-friendly transport system. We look forward to seeing Grossräschen do its bit to advance green rail freight in Europe in the future,” the Infrastructure Minister said at the ground-breaking ceremony.
The 1,700-m2 facility is due to go into service in early 2024. It will have the capacity to handle around 2,000 freight wagons per year, making the company more independent of external repair shop services.
The project involves building a new workshop with adjacent office and warehouse space on the 65,000-m2 site, which boasts around 10 km of sidings. In the future, a modern, app-based shopfloor management system will be introduced for the workshop’s administrative processes. The aim of this system is to optimise the value chain by adopting more accurate, just-in-time delivery to the workshop, thereby boosting productivity in a smaller space. Only in this way can investments in the future of rail freight pay for themselves. Work in Grossräschen will focus on intermodal wagons, covering everything from the repair of typical damage to major revisions. The local team will also be able to inspect tank cars and provide mobile maintenance service.
The entire complex will operate on a carbon-neutral basis. Thermal heat pumps will be installed, and most of the electricity needed will be generated by the workshop’s own PV installations. Beyond that, only green electricity will be sourced to run the facility. An electric marshaling engine will be deployed to move wagons around the workshop area.
The project will create around 40 new jobs in Grossräschen, with the company looking for people such as fitters, welders, warehouse operatives, quality assurance staff and marshaling staff.
The carbon-neutral maintenance workshop is at VTG’s core element to implement its sustainable strategy which supports the company to become climate-neutral by 2040.
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