Deutsche Bahn launches rail bridge for relief supplies to Ukraine

07/03/2022

PRESS RELEASE

DB Cargo and DB Schenker have set up a logistics network and an aid corridor for humanitarian aid: Trucks and freight trains bring large and small donations directly to the crisis areas • Citizens can also donate in kind directly

(Berlin/Essen, 7 March 2022) Deutsche Bahn has set up a logistics network on road and rail to transport relief goods from Germany directly to Ukraine. This means that thousands of tons of food, drinking water and sanitary ware are brought directly to the country by truck and freight train. The logistics teams of DB Cargo, DB Schenker and DB Transa-Spedition work hand in hand: donations are collected in Germany by truck, packed in containers and finally transported by freight train in DB Cargo’s European rail network across the border to Ukraine.

This is made possible thanks to a cooperation between the Polish subsidiary of DB Cargo and the Ukrainian railways and the DB Schenker teams on site in Poland. This logistics network can also accept individual donations. In the next few days, collection points will be opened at various Schenker branches in Germany for the reception of humanitarian aid, which is currently particularly needed in Ukraine. Supported by helpers from the Federal Agency for Technical Relief (THW), the articles are pre-sorted and professionally packed into containers – DB informs as soon as the last detailed questions about opening hours and locations have been clarified.Since March 2, the first truckloads of dry food and hygiene products from wholesalers and food companies from Mannheim and the Rhine-Main area have been rolling in trucks towards Ukraine. Further transports are currently being put together and then start their journey by container train. This goods network is still receptive – especially large donors can contact the hotline below. DB Schenker and DB Cargo have put together an ad hoc sales team for this purpose. “Colleagues tell us that road infrastructure and border crossings between Poland and Ukraine are completely congested, and there is also a lack of truck drivers driving to Ukraine. However, freight trains get through, a single train can transport up to 52 containers and thus bring urgently needed relief goods to still functioning terminals in the east and west of Ukraine,” says Sigrid Nikutta, Member of the Board of Management of Deutsche Bahn for Freight Transport and head of DB Cargo AG: “Never has a freight train with more solidarity and love been on the road – we will not leave the suffering people in Ukraine alone.” Jochen Thewes, CEO of DB Schenker: “Now is the time not to talk much, but to act. At DB Schenker, we see ourselves as a global family. If anyone in this family needs help, then we are there. Our strong European logistics network helps us to supply Ukraine with relief supplies quickly and easily. On rail and road and in our warehouses, we are sending a signal: logistics, peace and freedom know no borders.” DB has set up a hotline for the rail bridge to Ukraine. Here, freight can be registered and the collection coordinated, especially for companies and large donations. Transport is free of charge for donors. The hotline is manned on weekdays from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Phone: 030-720220640