Betuwe freight railway line secured by Hytrans.
Special fire trucks with high volume pumps and more access points along the tracks will enhance safety along the new 78 kilometer freight railway line from Oberhausen to the Netherlands border at Emmerich.
Part of the new safety plan for the Betuwelijn are new Hytrans Fire System pumps mounted on cross terrain fire trucks each with up to 4 kms of hose. Units such as these are already in place in the towns of Emmerich and Duisburg but more will be acquired and stationed along the new freight line where it passes communities. The federal government will foot the bill according to the German Minister for the Environment Barbara Hendricks of the SPD party. North Rhine-Westphalia Transport Minister Michael Groscheck emphasized the economic benefits of the track for the state and Ronald Pofalla from the German Federal Railway maintained that all parties were in agreement now about the project. However Thomas Verbeet, the Fire Chief of the town of Wesel spoke of a ‘forced compromise’ intended to have the matter settled before the summer break and Sabine Weiss the CDU party MP for Wesler said that only when all fire authorities in all the communities along the track voted for the plan would it be agreed to. When further questioned about what she had meant by ‘all parties’ being in agreement The Minister for the Environment Hendricks said she meant the Federal Government, The State Government as well as the town of Oberhausen.