Until the end of January 2024, Rail Cargo Group (RCG) is fully dedicated to transporting sugar beets for AGRANA’s sugar processing campaign in the agricultural sector. AGRANA has initiated sugar beet processing at its refineries in Tulln and Leopoldsdorf, Lower Austria. The annual campaign demands swift and meticulous planning, requiring the coordination of locomotives, carriages, and personnel to be ready in the right place at the right time within a short timeframe.
Aligning with a climate-friendly and sustainable strategy, AGRANA once again relies on RCG’s extensive experience in the ongoing sugar beet campaign. Across nearly 36 collection points in Lower Austria, Upper Austria, Burgenland, Styria, and Carinthia, sugar beets are gathered and loaded onto trains. Up to 13 trains, either in a single wagonload or in a unit train, transport loads of up to 1,400 net tonnes daily to the refineries. This accounts for approximately 2.6 million tonnes of conventional sugar beet and 40,000 tonnes of organic sugar beet, cultivated on over 36,000 hectares of farmland. RCG plays a significant role in more than half of these sugar beet transports, covering an estimated 365,000 train kilometers by the end of January – a distance equivalent to circling the equator almost ten times.
RCG’s Hungarian subsidiary has also joined in the transportation of sugar beets, handling four trains daily until the end of January 2024. Over the campaign, they are expected to cover more than 150,000 kilometers, transporting between 450,000 to 470,000 tonnes from approximately 40 shipping points to the Magyar Cukor Zrt sugar refinery in the coming months.
Image source: https://www.railcargo.com/en/news/start-of-the-sugar-beet-campaign