In the first half of 2011 almost 50% more trains than in 2010 ran on the freight only railway Betuwe Route, which connects the Port of Rotterdam with the European hinterland.
The railway operator attributes the growth partly to a shift from the conventional network and in addition, considerably more ore and coal were transported by rail due to the recovery in the car industry. In the second quarter, 16 coal and ore trains on average ran every day.
Currently between 450 and 510 freight trains use the Betuwe Route every week to the European hinterland. This is expected to grow to 600 per day by the end of 2011.