Lineas is the largest private rail freight operator in Europe.[1] Headquartered in Belgium, it also operates from various sites across France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, and Spain. The Federal Holding and Investment Company (Federale Participatie- en Investeringsmaatschappij) holds 10% of the shares. Private equity group Argos Wityu and the management of Lineas together hold the remaining 90%.
The primary business activity of Lineas is the transport of goods by rail. The company has proclaimed its ambition to realise a ‘modal shift’ in Europe, moving a greater amount of freight off the road and onto rail.[2] In 2014, Lineas launched the Green Xpress Network (GXN) with 23 rail connections between European stations. GXN combines different types of freight into a single train.
History
During 2005, the European Union gave the green light for the liberalisation of rail transport.[3] Following this decision, the National Railway Company of Belgium (NMBS/SNCB) was restructured into the NMBS/SNCB-Group, consisting of three companies: NMBS/SNCB, Infrabel and NMBS/SNCB-Holding. Until 2011, rail freight transport activities were a division of NBMS/SNCB, which operated under the name B-Cargo. Under NMBS/SNCB, B-Cargo was a loss-making division. In 2011, B-Cargo became a subsidiary called NMBS/SNCB Logistics. Privatisation took place in 2015, under the name B Logistics and with investments from the independent private equity group Argos Wityu.[4] Prior to privatisation, the company was not profitable; however, profitability soon increased. In early 2017, B Logistics changed its name to Lineas.[5][6]
Starting in January 2017, Lineas has had a partnership with the British freight operator GB Railfreight (GBRf) under which an average of 30 trains per year, running two to three times per month, from Antwerp to Irvin.[7] During 2019, Lineas doubled the capacity on the trains in and out of Antwerp to alleviate the impact of the works on the Oosterweel Link on Belgian mobility; by the following year, the company was reportedly removing 5,300 containers every week from Antwerp's road traffic (compared to 2,600 before).[8] Two years later, Lineas commenced a new container train between Interface Terminal of the North Sea Port and the Pesanti terminal in Piadena, Italy;[9] another new service, in collaboration with DFDS, was also launched between Belgium and France.[10]
In February 2020, Geert Pauwels won the European Railway Award. He received the award because of the transformation of a loss-making division of the Belgian railways into a profitable private rail freight operator.[11] On 9 April 2020, Lineas unveiled a white locomotive, the 'Heroes Loc', in the Port of Antwerp as a tribute to heroes in the fight against the coronavirus, as well as to address problems in the railway sector caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.[12] Shortly thereafter, in response to the low level of the Rhine river, the company put on additional trains to enable river traffic to be carried by rail instead.[13][14] The Belgian government issued financial support to both Lineas and the rail freight sector at this time, implementing a reduced tariff for freight trains.[15]
In 2020, partnership between Lineas, the Dutch rail infrastructure owner ProRail, and the French rolling stock manufacturer Alstom demonstrated a highly autonomous shunting locomotive.[16][17] During January 2023, the company announced that within two years, it would be operating automated freight services on the Betuweroute freight line in the Netherlands.[18]
In January 2021, SNCB transferred its remaining stake in Lineas to the Belgian federal government’s holding and investment company SFPI.[19][20] On 1 April 2022, Lineas became the first rail company to apply a dynamic energy surcharge to all of its services; a spokesperson stated that this change was made to compensate for soaring energy prices.[21][22] That same year, the Netherlands Authority for Consumers and Markets concluded that Lineas had been discriminated in the allocation of train paths at two emplacement yards in the Netherlands.[23]
Prior to early 2023, Lineas, along with The Signalling Company, participated in the joint venture ERTMS Solutions; a 93.9% stake in the latter was acquired by Škoda Transportation at this time. The Signalling Company has been a major supplier of Class B signaling system and European Train Control System (ETCS) equipment to various companies, including Lineas.[24]
Products and services
Lineas offers products and services for freight transportation throughout Europe. The organisation offers logistics services, including first and last mile delivery by rail, truck or inland waterway and GXN long distance. Other services of the company are: maintenance, fleet management, fleet advice, wagon and locomotive rental, picking, technology and training. The different types of transport are: block train, single wagonload (distributed transport), intermodal units, pallets, exceptional transport and the Green Xpress Network. The Green Xpress Network (GXN) offers 23 rail connections between European economic hubs. GXN combines different types of freight of large and small volumes into a single train.
Fleet
By 2017, Lineas had more than 7,000 wagons and 250 locomotives.[25] During the late 2010s, the company was engaged in a fleet expansion that was largely targeted at the international freight market.[26] Throughout the 2020s, hundreds of Lineas' locomotives were being retrofitted with ETCS.[27] Starting in 2021, Lineas, Ermewa and Beacon Rail have had a long-term partnership based on the sale-and-leaseback of both diesel locomotives and wagons.[28]
The company has proclaimed its ambition to realise a ‘modal shift’[2] in Europe, moving freight off the road and onto rail, to improve the supply chain of companies and address societal issues caused by traditional trucking such as mobility issues, climate impact due to high carbon emissions, health hazards due to air pollution, and unnecessary road casualties.
Lineas has offices in Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and Spain. The company is also active in Austria, the Czech Republic, Liechtenstein, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Sweden and Switzerland. In Belgium, there are daily rail connections between Antwerp, Genk, Ghent, La Louvière, Liège and Zeebrugge. At the European level, Lineas is the largest private rail freight operator.[1] Lineas develops its international and Green Xpress Network with mixed conventional and intermodal connections, as well as block trains for companies.
Lineas is a member of Rail Freight Forward,[29] the coalition of European rail freight companies aiming to reduce the negative impact of freight transport on mobility, climate and the environment by shifting freight from road to rail. The coalition aims to increase the modal share of rail freight in Europe from 18% in 2020 to 30% by 2030.
Lineas is also a member of the Belgian Rail Freight Forum.[30] In France, the company is part of the 4F, the Fret Ferroviaire Français du Futur.[31] In Germany, it is a member of the NEE, the Netzwerk Europäischer Eisenbahnen.[32]
In February 2020, Lineas became a member of the European Rail Freight Association (ERFA). The coalition aims to play a role in creating a common, fully liberalised and competitive European rail freight market.[33]
In June 2020, Lineas won the Voka Sustainable Business Charter (VCDO).[34] As a result of the charter, the company was the first Belgian transport company to receive the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR) Certificate for Sustainable Business in October 2020.[35] Lineas was also appointed Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) Pioneer for Sustainable development by the United Nations.[35]
During June 2023, Linease announced that it was combining its various Dutch businesses into a single entity.[36][37] Around the same time, the company’s two shareholders, the French investment fund Argos Wityu (90%) and the Belgian federal government (10%), are working on a first tranche of capital injection with the reported target of 20 million euros.[38][39]
