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PSA Italy launches “Stuttgart Express”
Terminal and logistics operator PSA Italy announced the launch of its Stuttgart Express rail service, which will connect PSA Genova Pra’ terminal with Stuttgart in Southern Germany twice weekly. To run for the first time on May 4th 2023, the service will provide a fast, reliable, cost effective and sustainable alternative to transporting containers to and from this region by road.
The Stuttgart Express is the second international round trip container rail service that PSA Italy operates directly from its Genova Pra’ terminal. In 2018, it had launched the thrice weekly ‘Southern Express’ service that links the Genova port with Basel in Switzerland. Stuttgart Express will depart at 0500 hours Monday and Thursday from Genova Pra’ terminal and at 1900 hours on Tuesday and Friday from Kornwestheim in Stuttgart.
Transporting containers from Genova to and from Stuttgart by rail is fast, reliable and cost effective: The up-to-500 meters long train will transport containers between the Italian coast and Southern Germany with a transit time of less than 24 hours. PSA Italy expects 94 percent of trains to arrive within two hours of the scheduled arrival time at a cost that is significantly lower than transporting a container by road.
The Stuttgart Express will help companies reach their sustainability targets by facilitating a modal shift from road to rail. According to an accredited tool developed by the environmental NGO Ecotransit World, switching from trucks to the Stuttgart Express will reduce carbon emissions by 83 percent and energy consumption by 49 percent, compared to transporting containers by road1 along the Transalpine corridor.
The capacity and efficiency of both Stuttgart and Southern Express services will increase in the next couple of years with two planned upgrades. Firstly, the Italian railway infrastructure provider RFI will lay an additional 750 meters of rail tracks in PSA Genova Pra’ terminal (as part of its expansion of the nearby Voltri station). Secondly, the third Pass of the Trans European Transport Network (TEN-T) Rhine-Alpine Core Corridor rail line (also known as Terzo Valico) will become operational. These two upgrades combined will allow Stuttgart and Southern Express block trains to extend to 750 meters in length.
PSA Italy’s CEO Roberto Ferrari is confident that the Stuttgart Express will be a great success. “Shifting the transport of containers between ports and the European hinterland from road to rail is absolutely necessary in the fight against climate change. The new Stuttgart Express will make this possible for many organisations in a cost-effective and efficient manner.”