Rotterdam makes major rail investment

Rotterdam Port has unveiled a EUR 275 million (USD 302 million) project to reroute 2.5 miles (4 kilometers) of rail freight track away from a bridge in the port so that shipping and rail traffic will cease to get in each other s way. The new rail track will bypass the Caland Bridge, a steel vertical lift bridge, which is used by rail and road traffic and will reach the end of its technical lifespan in 2020. The increasing traffic on the 100 mile (kilometers) double track Betuwe freight railway connecting Rotterdam with the German rail network will no longer be obstructed by shipping, when the new route is completed the port authority said. The port authority said it offered to contribute EUR 100 million toward the cost of the new route and carry out the construction because the (Dutch) government doesn t have sufficient funds to do this in the coming years. The Ministry of Infrastructure and the Environment is contributing EUR 113 million and the EU is providing the remaining EUR 62 million. The Betuwe Route, which opened in 2007 at a cost of EUR 4.7 billion, was aimed at significantly increasing rail s share of container and bulk traffic between the German hinterland and Europe s largest port.