RCG maintained fuel supply in Austria

After the Schwechat refinery broke down, ÖBB Rail Cargo Group (RCG) organised new transport services from the surrounding foreign countries at short notice, making a significant contribution to ensuring security of supply.

Rail freight transport is essential to the system and to supply. The freight railways have repeatedly proven this to be true, especially in 2022, a year of crisis. This can also be seen in the OMV refinery outage from June to October 2022. ÖBB Rail Cargo Group (RCG) organised 330 additional replacement transports from Germany at very short notice and in so doing maintained the fuel supply.

Efficient collaborative planning of new transport concepts

The international presence of RCG with its own locomotives and personnel and its close cooperation with partner railway companies were critical to its success. Together with OMV, we responded to the supply situation on a weekly basis and planned train schedules to the fuel depots. Joint coordination meetings involving all the operational units concerned were held on a daily basis to ensure efficient organisation of the new transport concepts.

Damage to the OMV refinery in Schwechat

At the beginning of June 2022 following a mechanical incident, considerable damage was caused to the crude oil distillation plant during the legally required water pressure test carried out as part of the final work required for the general overhaul of the OMV Schwechat refinery. This plant is responsible for processing most of the crude oil into its components and thereby preparing it for further processing in the refinery. Since mid-October 2022, the OMV Schwechat refinery has been running at full capacity again despite the incident in June 2022.

24.11.2022