Euro Cargo Rail (ECR), the French subsidiary of DB Cargo, has completed its restructuring measures to enable it to focus on three newly-established transport corridors.

The company has regrouped its operational functions, streamlined processes and improved internal communication. ECR’s priority is now to concentrate on transport corridors oriented around existing operations and which bundle all trains.

Priority

ECR has established three corridors: Nord, Mediterranée and Atlantique. The Nord corridor covers mainly services between northern France, Belgium and the UK, while the Mediterranée corridor covers trains in south-eastern France and links from Italy to the Mediterranean and Spain, especially the major port of Barcelona. The Atlantique corridor runs from Saarbrücken in Germany to the Atlantic coast via Paris and Bordeaux, linking Germany, France and Spain.

Staff assigned to each corridor work at both ECR’s Paris headquarters and in the regional sites. They are now responsible for the trains that run mainly in their corridor. As well as taking care of production, they will also handle customer service, providing customers and partners with relevant information.

Streamlined

ECR is also carrying out internal restructuring to allow streamlined and more efficient train planning and production. New positions are being created at its Paris headquarters in order to better integrate planning and production. Currently up to nine different units are involved in train dispatch management, and this will be reduced to just two.

Gottfried Eymer, CEO of ECR, said: “I am very proud of the work we have done over the past year and a half. This allows us to open a new chapter in the service and quality of our services. This restructuring means that customer service staff get the relevant information more quickly, and can respond more swiftly as a result. That helps directly improve the quality of the service for our customers.”