Rail and Road for Oversize Cargo Win

In oversized cargo transport, a relatively niche segment of the logistics market, success requires the highest degree of professionalism. Demand for oversized transport services greatly affects the condition of the overall logistics market. At the end of September and beginning of October 2021, AsstrA transported 2 rail wagons with a total weight of 125 tons for one of the company’s main clients. The cargo traveled from Hungary in 15 days.

“The shipment involved three stages: road transport, terminal operations – i.e. reloading the cargo from the trucks to rail platforms – and rail transport from the terminal in Hungary to the destination station. In the first stage, we delivered the cargo to the Hungarian-Ukrainian border with specialized vessel bridge trailers equipped with special fastening systems and customized supports. After the wagons were delivered to the Hungarian-Ukrainian border, the wagons were reloaded and put on previously prepared 1520mm railway bogies. From there we were able to complete the shipment by rail to the final destination,” says Przemysław Boroński, Head of the Heavy Lift Department at AsstrA-Associated Traffic AG.

“For us, this was a unique project requiring a combination of expertise in both road and rail transport. In road transport, we call this type of cargo an oversize load. In rail transport, we call it an extraordinary load with an excess loading gauge. The project was also unique for our client. Our task, apart from arranging the route, was to transport complete wagons previously mounted on 1520 mm bogies from the railway terminal on the Hungarian-Ukrainian border. For this shipment from Hungary, our key challenge was to efficiently coordinate local rail carriers as well as border and customs services,” emphasizes Ewa Trochimiuk, Rail Transport Manager at AsstrA.

As part of the project, the group's experts were responsible for planning and implementing the entire transport process, including obtaining all permits and organizing all necessary support services from the police, power grid managers, trolleybus operators, etc. The project involved a wide range of responsibilities, including arranging initial loading at the factory, arranging reloading at the railway terminal, monitoring the condition of the cargo, ensuring customs clearance, organizing a railway board for accepting on 1520mm tracks, overseeing the shipment along the entire transport route, and accepting the wagons at the destination station. Planning the project took 3 months, and it was executed in 15 days. Thanks to the experience and close cooperation of teams from several AsstrA branches, the cargo safely reached the end recipient one day faster than expected, an impressive result the customer was very pleased with.