Novelis is continuing its strategic partnership with LINEAS, a European rail freight operator, to ensure the transport of aluminum ingots, coils, and scrap by rail between Novelis’ European locations across its rail logistics network.
“In total, Novelis, in cooperation with LINEAS, moves over 1,000 trains per year across the rail network in Germany, ensuring freight transport between the company’s European production sites,” said Roland Leder, vice president of Supply Chain for Novelis Europe. “Compared to road transport, rail transport is estimated to save approximately 78 percent of CO₂e emissions.”
Rail is the most important means of transport for material deliveries between Novelis’ ten European production sites, accounting for 95% of inter-company shipments. Due to weight restrictions for truck transport, long aluminum ingots weighing up to 25 tons from Novelis’ plant in Nachterstedt, Germany (the largest aluminum recycling/casting plant in Europe), are mainly transported by rail and sent for further processing to the company’s Alunorf joint venture plant in Neuss, Germany (one of the largest aluminum rolling plants in the world).
The Novelis site in Göttingen, Germany, is the central hub for the company’s European rail logistics network, where trains are assembled to ensure optimal material distribution between all locations.
“Our long-standing cooperation with Novelis shows how rail freight can support large-scale industrial supply chains in a reliable and sustainable way,” said Alban François, COO at LINEAS. “We are proud to support Novelis’ European logistics network, ensuring efficient transport between its production sites.”
Decarbonized Rail Network
This recent announcement is a continuation of the company’s investment in the decarbonization of its rail network. In December 2025, Novelis announced that it was investing around €43 million in the expansion of its rail logistics in Europe, with the purchase of 220 new Shimmns railcars.
“With this investment, we are laying the foundation for even more efficient and environmentally friendly logistics,” explained Leder. “The new railcars are expected to increase our flexibility, optimize material flows, and enable better utilization of the trains. Thanks to built-in GPS trackers, we always know where each material delivery is currently located.”
Supplied by On Rail Gesellschaft für Eisenbahnausrüstung und Zubehör mbH from Mettmann, Germany, the new Shimmns wagons are flexible in use (capable of transporting aluminum coils, scrap, and ingots), enabling the company to replace the previously rented wagons, which were only suitable for one type of material.
Another advantage of the new wagons is that the additional capacity will allow significantly more aluminum ingots to be transported by train in Germany. Some of these transports were previously carried out by truck due to a lack of train capacity. The changeover should not only save costs, but also reduce CO₂e emissions, since approximately 2,000 truck trips and thus 78% of CO₂e emissions can be avoided annually.
The first 30 railcars have already been delivered to Novelis, with the remainder scheduled to be completed by September 2026. The official handover of the first railcars took place on December 2, 2025, at the DUSS terminal in the Göttingen freight transport center.
Novelis is committed to the consistent decarbonization of its plants and processes through renewable energies, more efficient operating procedures, and sustainable logistics. The investment in its rail network supports Novelis 3×30, the company’s vision to advance aluminum as the material of choice with circular solutions. A key goal of the vision is to reduce CO₂e emissions per metric ton of flat-rolled Novelis aluminum to below 3 tonnes by the end of 2030.