The economic slowdown in the second quarter of this yearalso had its effects on rail freight transport. From April to June 2011 the amount of goods transported on rail only grew by 5.8 percent as the Federal Statistical Office announced last Tuesday. During the economic boom at the beginning of 2011, the growth rate compared to last year was about 10.6 percent. Overall, 188 million tons of goods were transported on rail in the first half of 2011. With the increase of 8.1 percent , the growth rate was almost as high as before the crisis in the first half of 2008. This growth rate especially showed in domestic traffic. The volume of transported goods in the first half of the year increased by 9.4 percent to 127.8 million tons and was considerably higher than before the crises (118.4 mllion tons). The growth rate in international traffic on the contrary was clearly lower than in the first year of 2008.

Source: Greenpeace Magazin, 01.09.2011

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