Eisenbahn und Häfen GmbH

The Eisenbahn und Häfen GmbH (literal "Railway and Port company Ltd.") (abbr.: EH) is a service company providing rail transportation and associated storage as well as operating the Rhine ports of Schwelgern and Walsum-Süd.

The company is owned by ThyssenKrupp and has its headquarters in Duisburg.

Background – operations
Employing approximately 1,300 employees with around 100 million tons of freight is moved per year (~70 million tonnes by rail and ~25 million tonnes of bulk goods handled by the port), the company is responsible for both railway and port operations, management and maintenance.

Railways
With over 90 locomotives and about 2,000 freight cars Eisenbahn und Häfen GmbH operates in the Ruhr area providing rail transportation to its parent Thyssen Krupp as well as other industrial companies including Hüttenwerke Krupp Mannesmann GmbH, Mannesmannröhren-Werke GmbH, Mittal Steel Ruhrort GmbH and TSTG Schienen Technik GmbH & Co. KG. The primary cargos are steel, coke, iron ore and other steel products such as steel slab and coil.

Within the Ruhr area the network is over 500 km in length, with over a thousand switches. As well as fully operating the railway the company carries out infrastructure maintenance and inspection.

Within individual sites the company uses mainly shunting locomotives such as Krauss-Maffei Class MH 05 (522 kW power). The company also has higher powered MaK G 1205 (1,119 kW) and MaK G 1206 (1,500 kW) locomotives which are certified for use on Deutsche Bahn AG lines. Other services include the operation of private sidings, rolling stock maintenance, time-sensitive operations and, in association with other freight companies, supra-regional transportation. As part of the services offered EH implements various systems including centrally operated signalling and switches, central radio communications and control, and time-sensitive logistics planning.

EH locomotives and some wagons carry a livery of primary yellow and red with blue numbering.

EH Güterverkehr GmbH
EH Güterverkehr GmbH (literally "EH freight", aka EHG) is a subsidiary company operating as a private rail company on open access lines - in 2006 it transported approximately 7 million tons.

Ports
Together the ports help serve the inward and outward flows of material related to the steel industry the organisation primarily serves. Both ports stock control systems are computerised.

Schelwegern port
The main cargo is imported iron ore and coal brought from overseas via Rotterdam and the Rhine. The iron ore and coal is transported in unpowered barges and unloaded by Gantry cranes onto conveyor belts leading the coking plant at Duisburg via grinding and/or sizing equipment in the case of coal, and to blending equipment or storage in the case of iron ore, both ultimately destined for the steel furnaces of Thyssen Krupp. The unloading systems are monitored, assisted, or controlled by computer, with the bulk flows monitored on an IT system.

Additionally there are loading facilities for granulated blast furnace slag. A total ~22million tonnes of material is handled by the port.

Walsum port
Walsum port handles steel products such as rolled steel. In an area of 260,000m2 there are covered loading sheds for rain sensitive materials, as well as outdoor storage areas and access directly to the banks of the Rhine where two 26tonne cranes operate. Both facilities can be accessed by rail links.

Approximately 2.5million tonnes of steel per year are handled by the port.

Additional facilities
An air controlled warehouse at Beeckerwerth with both road and rail links is operated for the storage of ThyssenKrupp steel products. For the railway workshops equipped for wheel turning as well as general overhaul are held.

History, industrial heritage trail and other recreations
The prehistory of the Eisenbahn und Häfen goes back to 1919, with the first port operations at Alsum and Schelwegern, major growth starting in 1926 with the creation of the Stahlwerke AG. At this time the railway and ports were departments of the group itself. In the post war (WWII) era the steel operations were split up which negatively affected the operations of railway and ports as well. In 1953 Thyssen began to re-conglomerate.

The Eisenbahn und Häfen forms part of "The Industrial Heritage Trail of the Ruhr" – a regional tourist project, as part of the Duisburg section.

Locomotives
Historically the Eisenbahn und Häfen operated dual power diesel / electrically operated locomotives. Two of these units are preserved one at the museum at Oberhausen Hauptbahnhof (Oberhausen Central station) another at Westfälischen Industriemuseum Henrichshütte (Westphalian Industrial Heritage Museum) after being withdrawn. Since 2005 the lines are unelectrified.

The Eisenbahn und Häfen uses shunters and light freight locomotives.