Our VTG product FastTrack is as simple as can be: Wagon capacities are booked online via the traigo customer portal. “It’s about as easy as booking a rental car,” says Lukas Nieland, Product Manager for FastTrack. “You only need a few clicks to answer: When do I need it? How big does it need to be? And when will I bring it back? That’s all there is to it.
Planning transports well in advance isn’t always possible. This isn’t really a problem when it comes to road logistics. But when it comes to rail transports, companies face a very big challenge making ad-hoc arrangements. Even if you get lucky and find the staffing and locomotives you need at short notice, there might not be any wagons available for your transport. This is where FastTrack comes in, offering the market immediately available wagon capacities. “The thinking behind FastTrack is: The one with the wagon is the one doing business,” Lukas explains. “We make it possible to generate short-term revenue in the first place.” Since December 2021, the 31-year-old has been working in the newly created position of Product Manager for FastTrack in the Digital Products unit – and is absolutely convinced of the added value that it offers.
“Thanks to FastTrack, our customers can get what they need when they need it – instead of leasing unproductive overcapacities. For VTG, this flexibility has a positive effect on the leasing prices we can charge because it represents added value to our customers.”
“New locations for a broader range of offerings”
With FastTrack, VTG is taking a completely new approach. Part of its fleet is marketed exclusively via FastTrack, thereby making the wagons available to the market openly and flexibly.
“The market for these kinds of last-minute rail transports needs to be developed – but the demand and potential are already there,” Lukas notes. “As VTG, we’re big enough to be able to provide the needed wagon capacity – which is something that smaller wagon keepers can’t easily do.”
At the moment, work is still being done to expand the offering. Since the end of November 2022, there have been three new locations from which VTG provides wagons to customers. “We’re finally back in Germany with FastTrack,” Lukas happily adds. “We’ve established new locations in Hamburg, Hagen, and Senftenberg in Brandenburg.”
Strategic planning in site selection
Choosing locations has a strategic component. “For us, it’s about operating units in places that get a lot of traffic or have good connections,” Lukas explains. “But, in the end, the most important thing is being close to our customers. Hamburg is a good example, as our wagons are available here directly in the port.”
Customers on the Ruhr and Rhine rivers can be quickly reached from the freight depot in Hagen, and Senftenberg serves as a railway junction for Lusatia and eastern Germany.
Along with the new locations, new wagon types are also being added to the program so as to appeal to new customer segments. Whereas only container carriers were offered before, flat wagons are now also available. And small customers are being targeted, too, such as those from construction logistics, who previously weren’t a focus for VTG due to their size.
The product is following a clear growth strategy, and Lukas estimates that 10 new locations will be added by the end of 2023. And the number of available wagons is expected to grow just as ambitiously.
The crucial issue: Infrastructure
“It’s only natural that we need tracks for FastTrack on which we can offer our wagon capacity. But things are getting tighter and tighter on the limited railway network in Europe. Here, we are dependent on the large state infrastructure operators – and therefore on political decisions, too” says Lukas, before looking to the future. “Each year, we will strengthen our position on the railway network in order to gradually acquire more stabling capacity. For the first time, as VTG Rail Europe, we are renting service facilities directly from DB Netz.” Read more about this in the article by Thomas Dittmann in ON TRACK 1/2023.
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