Europe’s Largest Freight Yard Just Went Fully Autonomous

The Netherlands just made a bold move in the world of rail logistics. This week, Siemens Mobility and Dutch rail infrastructure manager ProRail announced the completion of a €110 million automation overhaul at Kijfhoek, the country’s largest and most important freight yard.

Located just outside Rotterdam, Kijfhoek is the artery between Europe’s busiest port and the rest of the continent. Over 100 freight trains move through the yard every day, making it a pressure point in the European supply chain. Now it runs on code, not clipboards.

What’s Actually New

The Kijfhoek upgrade wasn’t just about new hardware. Siemens gave the entire yard a digital overhaul, starting with a powerful interlocking system. That’s the core of rail safety: routing trains, controlling signals, and managing switches. In the past, this was done manually or through aging relay systems. Now, it’s all automated.

Layered on top is real-time yard management software that sorts, schedules, and routes wagons automatically. IoT sensors are embedded throughout the yard to keep tabs on the condition of tracks, switches, and signals, feeding data to AI systems that predict maintenance before something breaks.

Even the shunting, the slow, tedious process of moving wagons into position, is now automated. No more waiting for someone to walk across the yard and climb into a locomotive.

Why It Matters

There’s a reason this isn’t just a local story. Kijfhoek is a testing ground for what the rest of Europe is about to need. With freight volumes rising and roads choking on cargo trucks, shifting more logistics to rail is one of the fastest ways to cut emissions and improve efficiency.

The automation push doesn’t just increase Kijfhoek’s capacity by up to 20%, it slashes delays, reduces operating costs, and makes the whole system safer. No more playing Tetris with trains by hand. No more late-night troubleshooting in the dark.

Siemens’ Big Flex

For Siemens Mobility, this is a showcase project. Kijfhoek now serves as a working demo for what modern yard automation can deliver, from digital interlocking to predictive maintenance. Expect to see this blueprint pitched across Europe and beyond.

The Takeaway

Most people don’t think about how freight gets across borders. But if you’ve ever wondered what “smart infrastructure” looks like in practice, Kijfhoek is it.

Quietly, the Netherlands just gave the rest of Europe a look at the future of rail logistics, and it’s fully wired.