CargoBeamer now runs 22 weekly round-trips between Kaldenkirchen in Germany and Domodossola in Italy, making the transalpine corridor one of the most frequent intermodal rail connections in Europe. The German operator, which specialises in carrying semi-trailers by rail, is raising frequencies on three services in response to what it calls "rising demand across all lines".

The Kaldenkirchen–Domodossola increase forms the centrepiece of the expansion. The route links Germany's key logistics region with northern Italy across the Alps, and its 22 round-trips per week put it in the top tier of European intermodal corridors by frequency.

What is changing on the French and Italian services?

CargoBeamer has also boosted its French domestic service between Calais and Perpignan, which crosses the country on a north-south axis. The route now runs eight round-trips per week. That marks the second frequency increase in 2026 and doubles the level offered at the start of the year.

The company reads the doubling as "a strong testament to the significant demand for scalable, reliable intermodal connections that are open to transporting both craneable and non-craneable semi-trailers". That last point matters commercially: capacity for non-craneable trailers widens the addressable market beyond the standard cranable box fleet, drawing road freight volumes onto rail without equipment investment by the shipper.

The third service, Kornwestheim (Stuttgart)–Milan (Sacconago), goes from four to five weekly round-trips. CargoBeamer launched this connection in April, after the discontinuation of the transalpine rolling highway, and has now added capacity within months of its start.

Why does frequency drive the business case?

Tilman Apitzsch, CCO of CargoBeamer, said: "We believe that high-frequency routes are the key to unlocking the full potential of intermodal transport and have therefore increased the frequencies on three of our routes."

He added: "The more often a train runs on a given connection, the more it strengthens the reliability and schedule attractiveness of our routes, providing an even stronger offering for time-sensitive supply chains."

For shippers and forwarders, the calculation is straightforward. Higher frequency shortens waiting time between departures, cuts buffer stock, and makes rail a viable slot for time-sensitive supply chains that previously defaulted to road. For CargoBeamer, denser operations spread fixed terminal and traction costs across more departures, improving unit economics on each corridor.

What comes next for the terminals?

The capacity gains so far are only an interim step. CargoBeamer's expanded terminals in Kaldenkirchen and Domodossola go live in 2027, and Apitzsch says the company is "excited to drastically increase the frequency on Kaldenkirchen–Domodossola again" once they do.

That signals further headroom on the corridor: terminal throughput, not path availability, currently caps how many trains CargoBeamer can run. With the Stuttgart–Milan service already scaling within months of launch and the Calais–Perpignan route doubling since January, the operator's trajectory points to continued capacity growth through 2027.