Combined transport
made easy

r2L enables semitrailers to be used for combined transports – opening the way to shift countless freight consignments from road to rail.

Combined transport is the ideal solution as a flexible, climate-friendly way to meet today’s transportation needs. While rail takes care of the long haul, trucks can cover the last mile where necessary. Yet, one serious problem makes this more difficult than it sounds: 95 percent of the semitrailers in use today are not craneable, which means they cannot be transferred from trucks to modular freight wagons.

Craneability, the easy way

The solution to this problem is roadrailLink, or “r2L” in short. Developed by VTG in collaboration with its partner VEGA International, this innovative transshipment and transport technology makes it economically viable to lift non-craneable semitrailers of all kinds onto rail freight wagons. This is accomplished with a fully galvanized r2L solution: a platform or ramp that terminal cranes and reach stackers can lift vertically onto and off double pocket wagons.

Fewer trucks on Italy’s roads

The concept has already convinced a large number of customers, including one major Italian logistics firm. The latter is currently deploying r2L on two routes as an efficient and climate-friendly way to link southern Italy with the north of the country and the rest of Europe. These transports are already taking several thousand trucks off Italian roads, reducing traffic congestion and easing the burden on the environment.

Simple and safe handling

The r2L solution needs no traditional ramps or other fixtures to drive semitrailers onto and off the rails, so handling is practical and convenient. On the one hand, shifting the trucks from road to rail is simplicity itself. On the other hand, terminal capacity is not obstructed by having to have mounting ramps lying around. Transshipment takes literally a matter of minutes, and the use of laser measuring technology makes it so precise that little or no manual intervention is needed: Without leaving their cab, the drivers of terminal tractors can simply position each semitrailer to perfection.