Train spotting The use of trainspotting information on railfreight transport in the Netherlands

Overview Situation in the Netherlands Different types of rail freight transport Getting information from the web

Situation in the Netherlands During the time we could not publish all the data we had also problems obtaining all the data. Mainly caused by foreign enterprises. The definition of foreign enterprises are enterprises who do not have an office in the Netherlands. We had huge problems getting any information. The solution was to use the invoice data gathered by the infrastructure manager on freight trains. These state the place of loading, place of unloading, distance and weight of the train in the Netherlands. From this we can calculate all information for annex B.

Situation in the Netherlands train number from to weight Tonkm *1000 nr Train Km 49500 border Germany Rotterdam 40000 5800 32 4640   border Germany 39000 The solution was to use the invoice data gathered by the infrastructure manager on freight trains. These state the place of loading, place of unloading, distance and weight of the train in the Netherlands. From this we can calculate all information for annex B. After we had permission to publish more details, we wanted to get all details for annex A without increase in administrive burden. This meant land of loading/ unloading, type of goods.

Types of railfreight transport When interpreting the data you have to know the different types of freight transport. Unit cargo is a great amount of different transport on 1 train. This information you have to get from the enterprises. Unit Cargo

Types of railfreight transport Charter Charters are one type of goods from the factory to a single destination. Most times this is bulk transport. Examples are coal transport, iron ore, grains, cars.

Types of railfreight transport Container shuttle are from one gateway or hub to another. Container Shuttle

Getting information from the web Based on the information from the infrastructure manager we can see if it is unit cargo, charter or shuttle. For charter or shuttle transport we can try to find additional data.

Getting information from the web There is a small community of trains potters who take pictures and some details about the trains. These details include train number, destination and type of goods. If we combine this information, we have enough information for Annex A In the case of containers huttles we calculate the amount of containers and TEU.

Getting information from the web In the comments it says that this transport is from Dusseldorf and Koln to Rotterdam. We also have the train number and now we can connect that information to get a complete picture.

Conclusion For charter and shuttle transport we were able to get the needed information With the help of the internet, we were able to give only annex A data. 35% of the total transport was gathered this way.