involves grants of 80 percent and 20 percent in subsidized loans. Deutsche Bundesbahn must keep the terminal open for public use for 20 years and the private operator must keep the terminal open for 5, 10 or 20 years depending on their financial contribution (the more the private company finances itself, the shorter the obligation to keep the terminal open for public use).

**3. Improving the management of container terminals**

- a. A system to automatically track the containers inside a terminal from the reception to the delivery at the gate has been developed and the prototypes tested in a number of trials.

- b. The efficiency of terminal operations is improved by the possibility of continuously and automatically updating the terminal operating system database with the position of each container handled by this system.

- c. The benefits produced by this type of technology include: (i) a reduction of the average time for container handling; (ii) increase of terminal productivity; (iii) a better level of service for terminal customers; and (iv) a general reduction in operational costs.

**4. Exploiting and integrating ICT**

- a. The availability, quality and timeliness of information can significantly improve the efficiency of the activities carried out in intermodal terminals. Reliable expected time of arrivals and unloading information can help receiving terminals to provide information to forwarders and truckers, enabling them to arrive on time at the terminal.

_Source: “In search of efficiency to support intermodality growth” European Commission (2006)_

# 5.4.2 Cross‐border rail

Despite long term operational problems on cross‐border rail services in Southern Africa, there is an increased desire by all the governments to support a road‐to‐rail shift. Both Grindrod Freight Services and Transnet have committed large investments into cross‐border rail services, and are under pressure to increase general freight rail volumes in order to achieve profitable and sustainable operations.

## **Box 13: Improving integration for regional railways: Lessons from south‐east Europe**

1. **Implementing border‐crossing agreements.** A Border Crossing Agreement (BCA) has five key principles: (i) compliance with open access standards; (ii) introduction of a joint border zone (JBZ); (iii) cooperation between border authorities; (iv) police and customs control over moving trains; and (v) establishment of border‐crossing commissions (BCCs) for open access border‐crossings. The following items are key within the JBZ:

- a. **Single window principle for freight customs:** all customs services should be carried out by the customs authorities of both countries at one location in the JBZ.

- b. **One‐stop‐shop for the use of rail infrastructure in the JBZ:** a one‐stop‐shop where the applicant receives all information, including the timetable, fees and technical parameters that enable use of a specific train path.

2. **Using selective investments to establish joint border stations or moving clearance to defined inland terminals.** A potential investment measure could be the transfer of certain border‐crossing activities to major inland terminals. International trains should only be inspected / shunted / split at a limited number of inland terminals to: (i) reduce border‐crossing times; (ii) achieve higher commercial speed for trains; and (iii) streamline border procedures. This notion is based on conventional single wagonload or wagon groups used by incumbent state‐owned railways. With the entry of non‐state private rail operators, the rail concept changes to one with block train systems: (i) from sidings to sidings in conventional block trains; (ii) from sidings to terminals or vice versa in conventional block trains; and (iii) from terminal to terminal in conventional block trains.

3. **Ensuring coordination of track access charges (TACs) across freight corridors within the region.** Excessively high freight TACs across one segment of a corridor can shift freight rail traffic onto trucks. This not only affects the domestic market, but also has knock‐on effects throughout the corridor. This suggests the need for coordinated TAC regimes across major freight corridors, to make _31_