The railway convois livrant du charbon et du pétrole à travers l’Allemagne auront desormais la priorité sur les trains de voyageurs, in order to guarantee the approvisionnement énergétique du pays longé dans l’incertitude par les baisses de livraisons de gaz russe, a mercredi decidé government.
“To guarantee supply, energy transport will temporarily have priority over the rails,” the Ministry of Economy announced after the Council of Ministers.
“It is not an easy decision to make, because it means, in case of tension, that other trains will have to wait,” Transport Minister Volker Wissing admitted for his part.
But “the railway is already in full use, so if additional energy transport is needed, we must prioritize it,” he added.
“Other trains will have to wait”
Specifically, the manager of the DB Netz railway network must “adapt the conditions of use of the railway network to prioritize the transport of oil and coal”, according to the Government’s decision.
In the wake of the war in Ukraine, Russia has reduced its deliveries of Russian gas to Germany by 80% since the spring, plunging the country into uncertainty ahead of winter.
To guarantee the energy supply of its companies and citizens, the government has decided in particular to make greater use of fossil fuels, in particular coal.
“We want to free ourselves as quickly as possible from the clutches of Russian energy imports,” Economy Minister Robert Habeck said on Wednesday.
Result: the need to transport these raw materials to power plants explodes.
However, the low water level in the rivers of the country, which has experienced a severe drought in recent months, considerably slows down river transport, overloading the rail network.
Rail delivery problems are already apparent.
Thus, the Heyden 4 coal-fired power plant, in the west of the country, which the energy company Uniper will relaunch next Monday, will have to operate in a “limited” manner due to lack of sufficient deliveries, the group announced.
Source: BFM TV
