BASF takes over quartz sand train operations from Captrain in Germany

Captrain's German subsidiary Regiobahn Bitterfeld Berlin (RBB) has agreed to use BASF's industrial railway to haul quartz sand between Hohenbocka and Schwarzheide in eastern Germany. BASF InfraService & Solutions Lausitz operates the railway serving the Lausitz Industrial Park in Schwarzheide. Under the new agreement, its locomotives and railway staff will also be used to transport freight on behalf of RBB, rather than exclusively serving the industrial site. The division of responsibilities is straightforward: RBB will continue to organise and manage the quartz sand transport, but BASF's railway will physically haul the wagons between Hohenbocka and Schwarzheide. The two companies already cooperate on rail logistics. Captrain group companies transport freight from BASF's Ludwigshafen chemical complex to RBB's hub in Bitterfeld, which serves 18 destinations in eastern Germany and the Czech Republic. BASF plans to use its available locomotive and staff capacity for further third-party rail freight contracts.