Discover Germany | Special Theme | The Future of Mobility
CargoBeamer Gates are compact, scalable and fit everywhere.
Innovation to relieve overcrowded roads from heavy cargo The Leipzig-based CargoBeamer AG is a specialist for transporting heavy cargo – on rail and not on the road, with trains operating between Venlo, Cologne and Milan on a daily basis. With its GateModules, CargoBeamer offers an economic solution to shift goods from environmentally problematic road cargo to railroad tracks - automatically and fast. TEXT: JESSICA HOLZHAUSEN I PHOTOS: CARGOBEAMER
It is something everyone has experienced in one way or another: increased road cargo volumes lead to more traffic jams, because thousands of trucks are heading back and forth on European roads. Thus, finding an alternative has really become key for the transport sector: strengthening rail-based cargo therefore has become more and more important to not only relieve the roads, but also the society and of course the environment. CargoBeamer solves a great deal of the immanent problems: the company has developed innovative rail wagons and so-called ‘Gate70 | Issue 51 | June 2017
Modules’ that allow to automatically load standard road semi-trailers onto wagons. A technology that applies to almost 100 per cent of road semi-trailers on European, Russian, Chinese, Central Asian and Turkish markets. “The loading process is extremely fast. It takes only 15 minutes to unload and reload a full train,” says Dr. Hans-Jürgen Weidemann. “All humans have to do is a double click on an industrial panel PC.” Weidemann developed the idea together with Michael Baier in 1998 as a private in-
itiative. In 2003, the company was finally founded on a professional level as jointstock corporation. With venture capital from private shareholders, CargoBeamer started designing and constructing the first wagon and terminal prototypes in 2008. CargoBeamer is fully certified and operational since 2015. It is a good example for the power of technical innovation and takes the transport sector to a completely new level. Overall, CargoBeamer, based in Leipzig, proves Saxony’s entrepreneurial spirit: as early as the 19th century the German federal state was an innovator for machine engineering and railway technology – and still is today. So, it might not come as a surprise that it was here the CargoBeamer idea was developed. “CargoBeamer offers a very economic solution to shift goods from environmentally problematic road cargo to clean rail