Freight news – Page 136
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NewsAAE and Knorr-Bremse announce service partnership
EUROPE: The RailServices division of Knorr-Bremse has agreed a deal to supply brake valves to the network of workshops which maintains wagons owned by leasing company AAE. Under the agreement announced on October 14, Knorr-Bremse will supply remanufactured components to the workshops on a just-in-time basis. ‘As we no ...
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NewsFirst customer for metre gauge Evolution
BRAZIL: GE Transportation has announced its first order for the Evolution ES43BBi, an eight-axle diesel locomotive with AC traction motors developed specifically for 1 000 mm gauge railways in Brazil. Paper manufacturer Klabin has ordered seven locomotives to be delivered at the start of 2016. The locomotives will be used ...
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NewsHigh-capacity wagons for Volkswagen's inbound logistics
EUROPE: Following successful trials with two prototypes, this month leasing company Touax Rail is to supply Volkswagen with the first series-built vehicles from an order for 300 high-capacity sliding-wall wagons. Volkswagen Logistics awarded Touax a contract in October 2013 for the development and lease of 300 twin-axle wagons, which were ...
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NewsDB to close Eberswalde and Zwickau maintenance facilities
GERMANY: Deutsche Bahn announced plans to close the DB Fahrzeuginstandhaltung rolling stock maintenance subsidiary’s Eberswalde and Zwickau sites on October 8. DB said there has been a significant reduction in wagon maintenance activities, as a result of fluctuations in the cyclical market and operators optimising their fleet planning to ...
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NewsMAPNA to build diesel locos under licence
IRAN: Vossloh and MAPNA Group have reached a ‘long-term partnership’ agreement for the German firm’s G1206 four-axle multi-purpose diesel locomotive to be produced under licence in Iran. Imminent changes to European regulations will preclude future deliveries of the G1206 to customers in the EU, but Vossloh believes the design is ...
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NewsClass 66 locos to get engine stop-start technology
UK: DB Schenker Rail UK is to fit Auto Engine Stop-Start technology supplied by ZTR to 90 of its Electro-Motive Diesel Class 66 locomotives by the end of 2015. Announcing the decision on October 1, the freight operator said trials undertaken since February had found that the amount of ...
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NewsVTG acquires AAE to expand wagon leasing fleet
EUROPE: German wagon leasing and logistics company VTG AG announced on September 29 that it had agreed terms to acquire Swiss leasing company Ahaus Alstätter Eisenbahn Holding AG, in order to strengthen its position as the ‘largest private wagon hire company in Europe’. Subject to approval by the competition authorities, ...
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NewsFerromex and Ferrosur order EMD SD70ACe
MEXICO: Electro-Motive Diesel of the USA is to supply 19 SD70ACe locomotives to freight operator Ferromex and 15 of the same type to its sister company Ferrosur, EMD’s parent Progress Rail Services announced on September 24. The locomotives are due to enter service by June 2015 under contracts which both ...
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NewsLandfill trains to boost SLR freight
SRI LANKA: The Ministry of Urban Development has unveiled a US$107m project to use rail to transport municipal waste from Colombo to a proposed landfill in the northwest of the island. The scheme will be funded by the government as part of the Metro Colombo Urban Development Project to ...
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NewsDHL launches Suzhou – Warszawa block train
INTERNATIONAL: DHL Global Forwarding has launched a scheduled weekly intermodal service from Suzhou in China to Warszawa in Poland, with a journey time of around 14 days. The company says the block train running via the Trans-Siberian route ‘takes half the time of ocean freight and is a sixth of ...
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NewsMetrans takes delivery of Traxx locomotives
EUROPE: The Metrans rail freight subsidiary of the Hamburger Hafen & Logistik port and logistics group is taking delivery of 20 Bombardier Traxx F140 MS multi-system electric locomotives. These will primarily be used to haul freight from Hamburg and Bremerhaven to the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Hungary, and also ...
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NewsBelgrano reopening
ARGENTINA: On September 11 Minister of the Interior & Transport Florencio Randazzo joined Governor of Jujuy province Eduardo Fellner to welcome first freight train to arrive in Palpalá, following work to restore a section of the 1 000 mm gauge Belgrano network to operating condition. ‘In 120 days of intense ...
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NewsWagon leasing company calls for subsidy rethink
EUROPE: State subsidies for the installation of low-noise wagon brakes need to be rethought to increase uptake, according to Mark Stevenson, Chief Executive of wagon leasing company AAE. Replacing cast iron brake blocks with low-noise LL blocks cuts noise by around a half, according to Stevenson, and quieter trains ...
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NewsTEN-T funding bids invited
EUROPE: The European Commission’s Innovation & Networks Executive Agency announced on September 11 that it had opened the bidding for €11·9bn of funding to improve European transport links under the revised TEN-T programme. Member state governments have until February 26 to submit proposals, with the selected projects to be announced ...
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NewsCN inaugurates Winnipeg training centre
CANADA: Canadian National’s C$35m employee training centre in Winnipeg was officially inaugurated on September 9. President & CEO Claude Mongeau said ‘this state-of-the-art training centre is a cornerstone in CN’s workforce renewal, which this year will see the hiring of more than 3&bsp;500 employees across our North American network. It ...
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NewsRussian government approves United Transport & Logistics contribution
INTERNATIONAL: The Russian government has formally approved Russian Railways’ planned contribution of assets to the United Transport & Logistics Co intermodal freight joint venture of the national railways of Russia, Kazakhstan and Belarus. RZD is to contribute its 50% plus two shares stake in TransContainer and 100% minus one share ...
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NewsDB Schenker launches Hamburg – Zhengzhou train
INTERNATIONAL: DB Schenker and the Port Authority of Zhengzhou launched the first freight train from Hamburg to the Chinese city on September 1. This complements a weekly service from Zhengzhou to Hamburg which was launched in August 2013. ‘We are proud that from today, Hamburg is not only a destination ...
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NewsEQT acquires Hector Rail
SWEDEN: The EQT Infrastructure II private equity investment fund has agreed to take a majority stake in open access freight operator Hector Rail from the Høegh family, founders Mats Nyblom and Ole Kjörrefjord and other minority owners. The transaction announced on September 4 is expected to close ...
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NewsPKP Cargo in talks to buy Czech open access operator
EUROPE: Polish freight operator PKP Cargo announced on September 2 that it had signed a preliminary agreement for the potential acquisition of Advanced World Transport, the Czech Republic’s largest open access rail freight operator. AWT has an 8% share of the Czech market and also operates in Slovakia, Slovenia, Hungary, ...
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NewsUlaanbaatar Railway modernisation strategy
MONGOLIA: An agreement outlining a strategic partnership for the development of Ulaanbaatar Railway was signed by the Minister of Roads & Transportation Amarjargal Gansukh and Russian Railways President Vladimir Yakunin on September 3. By March 1 2015, the ministry and RZD are to agree to terms of reference and ...