Federal Holding and Investment Company, Argos Wityu
Number of employees
1700
Website
www.lineas.net
Lineas is Europe's largest private rail freight operator.[1] Headquartered in Belgium, it also operates from various sites across France, Germany and the Netherlands. The company, that was established as the successor to the freight division of the Belgian National Railway Company (NMBS / SNCB) and privatized in the context of the liberalization of the rail freight market, has rapidly expanded its operations across Europe. Shareholders are the Federal Holding and Investment Company (Federale Participatie- en Investeringsmaatschappij) and private equity group Argos Wityu.
The primary business activity of Lineas is the transport of goods by rail.
Operations
Lineas operates an extensive rail network across Europe, with key operational hubs in Flanders and Wallonia in Belgium, alongside major logistics centers in Germany, France, and the Netherlands. The company has strong ties with the largest North Sea Ports (Antwerp, Ghent, Zeebrugge, Rotterdam, Terneuzen) and plays a crucial role in connecting Europe’s industrial heart and largest chemical clusters. As a cross-border rail transport operator, Lineas provides its own traction in Belgium, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, France and Germany. Moreover, the company has a presence on both the French and German sides of the Rhine.[citation needed]
Products and Services
Products
Lineas offers a wide range of rail freight transport services. These include:
Block trains: Dedicated trains for large-volume transport.
Single Wagon Load: Flexibility for smaller loads.
Intermodal trains: Transport of standardized containers
First Mile / Last Mile: Efficient loading and unloading at sidings
Ad hoc / Spot trains: On-demand services for immediate transport needs.
Value-added Services
Main industry segments
Lineas serves a variety of industries. The key industry segments include:
Automotive
Steel
Chemicals
Industrial and Consumer Goods
Container Transport
Special Transports
Innovations and Technologies
Lineas invested heavily in technological innovation in recent years. The company’s digital platform, MyLineas, allows customers to manage their transports in real time. Key features include:
Direct access to planned transports.
Online planning & check in
Real-time updates and estimated time of arrival (ETA) information.
An interactive map for visualizing rail freight operations.
An intuitive dashboard with embedded reporting, accessible across devices.[citation needed]
Corporate Affairs
In recent years, Lineas has focused on promoting a level playing field within the rail freight sector and between rail and road transport. To address competition with major State-owned rail operators and reduce potential market distortions, Lineas has emphasized the need for fair competition measures. Additionally, the company advocates for the removal of tax advantages granted to road transport and supports the internalization of external costs, such as road congestion, pollution, and safety-related expenses, across all transport modes.[citation needed]
Management
Lineas is led by Bernard Gustin, supported by a team of executives.
The Executive Leadership Team is composed of:
Bernard Gustin, Executive Chairman and CFO a.i.
Alban François, Operations
Jan Luyten, Human Resources
Anne Grandjean, Public Affairs & Communication
Mark Geuens, Data & Information
Luc Pirenne, Sales
Country Managers:
Jeroen Vermaelen, country manager Lineas Belgium
Matthieu Aernouts, country manager Lineas France
Katrin Kröger, country manager Lineas Germany and The Netherlands
History
During 2005, the European Union gave the green light for the liberalisation of rail transport.[2] Following this decision, the National Railway Company of Belgium (NMBS/SNCB) was restructured into the NMBS/SNCB-Group, consisting of three companies: NMBS/SNCB, Infrabel and NMBS/SNCB-Holding. Until 2011, rail freight transport activities were a division of NBMS/SNCB, which operated under the name B-Cargo. Under NMBS/SNCB, B-Cargo was a loss-making division. In 2011, B-Cargo became a subsidiary called NMBS/SNCB Logistics. Privatisation took place in 2015, under the name B Logistics and with investments from the independent private equity group Argos Wityu.[3] Prior to privatisation, the company was not profitable; however, profitability soon increased. In early 2017, B Logistics changed its name to Lineas.[4][5]
Starting in January 2017, Lineas has had a partnership with the British freight operator GB Railfreight (GBRf) under which an average of 30 trains per year, running two to three times per month, from Antwerp to Irvin.[6] During 2019, Lineas doubled the capacity on the trains in and out of Antwerp to alleviate the impact of the works on the Oosterweel Link on Belgian mobility; by the following year, the company was reportedly removing 5,300 containers every week from Antwerp's road traffic (compared to 2,600 before).[7] Two years later, Lineas commenced a new container train between Interface Terminal of the North Sea Port and the Pesanti terminal in Piadena, Italy;[8] another new service, in collaboration with DFDS, was also launched between Belgium and France.[9]
In February 2020, Geert Pauwels won the European Railway Award. He received the award because of the transformation of a loss-making division of the Belgian railways into a profitable private rail freight operator.[10] On 9 April 2020, Lineas unveiled a white locomotive, the 'Heroes Loc', in the Port of Antwerp as a tribute to heroes in the fight against the coronavirus, as well as to address problems in the railway sector caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.[11] Shortly thereafter, in response to the low level of the Rhine river, the company put on additional trains to enable river traffic to be carried by rail instead.[12][13] The Belgian government issued financial support to both Lineas and the rail freight sector at this time, implementing a reduced tariff for freight trains.[14]
In 2020, partnership between Lineas, the Dutch rail infrastructure owner ProRail, and the French rolling stock manufacturer Alstom demonstrated a highly autonomous shunting locomotive.[15][16] During January 2023, the company announced that within two years, it would be operating automated freight services on the Betuweroute freight line in the Netherlands.[17]
In January 2021, SNCB transferred its remaining stake in Lineas to the Belgian federal government’s holding and investment company SFPI.[18][19] On 1 April 2022, Lineas became the first rail company to apply a dynamic energy surcharge to all of its services; a spokesperson stated that this change was made to compensate for soaring energy prices.[20][21] That same year, the Netherlands Authority for Consumers and Markets concluded that Lineas had been discriminated in the allocation of train paths at two emplacement yards in the Netherlands.[22]
Prior to early 2023, Lineas, along with The Signalling Company, participated in the joint venture ERTMS Solutions; a 93.9% stake in the latter was acquired by Škoda Transportation at this time. The Signalling Company has been a major supplier of Class B signaling system and European Train Control System (ETCS) equipment to various companies, including Lineas.[23]
Fleet
By 2017, Lineas had more than 7,000 wagons and 250 locomotives.[24] During the late 2010s, the company was engaged in a fleet expansion that was largely targeted at the international freight market.[25] Throughout the 2020s, hundreds of Lineas' locomotives were being retrofitted with ETCS.[26] Starting in 2021, Lineas, Ermewa and Beacon Rail have had a long-term partnership based on the sale-and-leaseback of both diesel locomotives and wagons.[27]
The company has proclaimed its ambition to realise a ‘modal shift’ in Europe, moving freight off the road and onto rail, to improve the supply chain of companies and address societal issues caused by traditional trucking such as mobility issues, climate impact due to high carbon emissions, health hazards due to air pollution, and unnecessary road casualties.
Lineas is a member of Rail Freight Forward,[28] the coalition of European rail freight companies aiming to reduce the negative impact of freight transport on mobility, climate and the environment by shifting freight from road to rail. The coalition aims to increase the modal share of rail freight in Europe from 18% in 2020 to 30% by 2030.
Lineas is also a member of the Belgian Rail Freight Forum.[29] In France, the company is part of the 4F, the Fret Ferroviaire Français du Futur.[30] In Germany, it is a member of the NEE, the Netzwerk Europäischer Eisenbahnen.[31]
In February 2020, Lineas became a member of the European Rail Freight Association (ERFA). The coalition aims to play a role in creating a common, fully liberalised and competitive European rail freight market.[32]
In June 2020, Lineas won the Voka Sustainable Business Charter (VCDO).[33] As a result of the charter, the company was the first Belgian transport company to receive the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR) Certificate for Sustainable Business in October 2020.[34] Lineas was also appointed Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) Pioneer for Sustainable development by the United Nations.[34]
During June 2023, Linease announced that it was combining its various Dutch businesses into a single entity.[35][36] Around the same time, the company’s two shareholders, the French investment fund Argos Wityu (90%) and the Belgian federal government (10%), are working on a first tranche of capital injection with the reported target of 20 million euros.[37][38]
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