Investment to raise the speeds of freight trains is needed to prevent deindustrialisation in the Balkans, says Philippe Rombaut, owner of Bulgarian fertiliser manufacturer Agropolychim which is investing in its own fleet of wagons
At Agropolychim we believe in railways as the most environmentally friendly way of transporting goods. However, rail freight is appallingly slow in the Balkans.
Trains from Varna in Bulgaria to Târgu Mureș in Romania take five to six days, although it is only 650 km; one could do it by bicycle in that time. And there is no indication from Romania that anything will be improved soon. Unless drastic improvements are made, it will be game over.
‘Unless drastic improvements are made, it will be game over’
Serbia is overhauling its railways with investments of €12bn which hopefully will be ready in the next two years. A freight train to Hungary or Croatia should then take less than 48 h. And that could mean a lifeline for some fertiliser factories, power plants and other industries which will need blue ammonia produced using low-carbon methods or green ammonia produced using renewable energy.
The EU’s Carbon Cross Border Adjustment Mechanism which will equalise the price of carbon between domestic products and imports is coming in 2026, and will start biting hard in 2030. Preparation is everything; plants which are not equipped for carbon sequestration and without a low carbon footprint supply of key materials will have to shut down.
Agropolychim is expecting a throughput of more than 250 000 tonnes/year of blue ammonia at our terminal in Varna West, and has ordered 100 tank wagons from The Greenbrier Companies’ Wagony Świdnica in Poland. These will have a capacity of 106 m3 or 55 tonnes, and will be fitted with all the latest safety features. Our total investment is more than €15m, with no subsidies asked for.
We are also doubling our rail loading facilities from 1 000 to 2000 tonnes/day, and have purchased a Mercedes Benz Unimog U432 road-rail vehicle for shunting.
But while Agropolychim is ready, the state owned railway infrastructure companies are not.
It is not just a matter of rails. Instead of subsidising non-sustainable projects linked to single companies with negative financial outcomes, EU Green Deal funding should prioritise improving the railways in southeast Europe. This would have a much bigger impact for a lot of businesses. It is green, and would be one of the most effective countermeasures against deindustrialisation in this part of Europe – countries which get their rail freight up to speed will save their industry.
