Freight news – Page 148
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NewsSNCF to take 25% stake in Comsa Rail Transport
EUROPE: An agreement for SNCF's logistics business SNCF Geodis to take a 25% stake in Spanish private freight operator Comsa Rail Transport was announced by Comsa EMTE on April 29. The transaction is subject to European regulatory approval. Financial terms were not disclosed, but a representative of Geodis would sit ...
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NewsDB switches Gotthard partners
SWITZERLAND: DB Schenker Rail's transit freight over the Gotthard route will be handled by SBB Cargo rather than BLS Cargo with effect from the December timetable change, BLS Cargo announced on April 2. The move follows the failure of negotiations between DB Schenker Rail and BLS Cargo over the last ...
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NewsMTR seeks to run mainline trains in Sweden
SWEDEN: Saying that the high number shows the success of deregulation of the rail market, infrastructure manager Trafikverket has announced that 46 applications have been made for train paths on the rail network in 2014. Of these, 27 are for passenger operators and 13 for freight, with the remainder being ...
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NewsKuehne + Nagel and VTG to merge rail logistics activities
EUROPE: Wagon leasing and rail transport group VTG and logistics business Kuehne + Nagel announced the signing of a letter of intent to merge their rail logistics activities on April 25. The companies have had a partnership through joint company Transpetrol for more than 20 years. VTG would hold a ...
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NewsPerpignan – Figueres ready for piggyback
EUROPE: A second series of trials conducted on April 14 has confirmed the technical feasibility of operating piggyback services between Perpignan and Figueres, according to TP Ferro which holds the concession to build and operate the 1 435 mm gauge route between France and Spain. Fret SNCF and the French ...
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NewsEtihad Rail takes delivery of EMD locomotives
UAE: The first two of seven SD70ACS locomotives which Electro-Motive Diesel is supplying for the initial phase of the national rail network have been unloaded at Mussafah Port in Abu Dhabi, Etihad Rail announced on April 10. The heavy freight locomotives are to be moved to Mirfa in the Western ...
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NewsRZD to order 350 electric locomotives
RUSSIA: A memorandum of understanding setting out plans to order 350 locomotives was signed by Russian Railways, Siemens and Sinara Group at the Hannover Messe trade fair on April 8. A firm contract is expected to be signed in 2014. The single-section AC and DC electric locomotives for use on ...
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NewsCFR Marfa privatisation bids invited
ROMANIA: The Ministry of Transport formally advertised the sale of a 51% stake in national rail freight operator CFR Marfa on April 5. The starting price is 797m lei. Documentation will be available from April 9, with preliminary and non-binding offers to be submitted by April 23. The prequalified bidders ...
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NewsRoy Hill railway contract awarded
AUSTRALIA: Construction of the proposed 342 km railway to serve the Roy Hill iron ore mine in the Pilbara region of Western Australia is on course for completion by November 2015, following the award of an A$5·9bn contract to Samsung C&T. Under the deal, South Korea’s second largest construction company ...
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NewsPowerHaul fuel savings demonstrated
UK: GE Transportation has published the results of a series of back-to-back fuel consumption comparisons between its Class 70 PowerHaul locomotive and the GM-EMD Class 66. This follows a study on improving the fuel efficiency of diesel traction undertaken by Ricardo for the Department for Transport. Ricardo put forward a ...
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NewsQueensland coal railway terms agreed
AUSTRALIA: Aurizon and GVK Hancock have signed non-binding terms for the development of a 495 km standard gauge railway and associated port infrastructure capable of handling 60 mtpa which would enable the exploitation of coal reserves in Queensland’s Galilee Basin. Last year GVK Hancock received primary environmental approvals for the ...
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NewsSecond batch of KiwiRail locomotives roll out
NEW ZEALAND: The first of the second batch of CNR Dalian diesel locomotives ordered by KiwiRail was rolled out at the Chinese factory on March 13. KiwiRail ordered an initial 20 Class DL locomotives in September 2009, in CNR's first order to supply diesel locomotives to a western country. Powered ...
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NewsRail at heart of US$68bn investment programme
THAILAND: Construction of four standard-gauge dedicated passenger lines and the doubling of 3 000 route-km of metre-gauge lines is at the heart of a US$67·6bn infrastructure investment bill approved by cabinet ministers in Bangkok on March 20. Rail infrastructure accounts for the lion’s share of the planned capital outlay, with ...
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NewsUnified railway law aims to boost Europe - Asia freight
INTERNATIONAL: A joint declaration expressing willingness to create a common legal regime for rail traffic across Asia and Europe was signed by 37 countries at a ministerial meeting in Genève on February 26. The aim is to establish 'a unified set of transparent and predictable' legal conditions for international rail ...
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NewsLegal framework to support Islamabad - Istanbul freight
PAKISTAN: The Intergovernmental Organisation for International Carriage by Rail expects that Pakistan will become its 49th member state in September, after the government deposited an application for accession to the COTIF convention on February 21. The convention sets out a legal framework for international rail transport, and Pakistan's accession is ...
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NewsCFL Cargo delivers 60 metre beams by rail
EUROPE: CFL Cargo transported 14 concrete and rolled steel bridge beams each 60·6 m long from ArcelorMittal's Differdange plant in Luxembourg to Dresden-Friedrichstadt in Germany between March 11 and 12. CFL Cargo had not previously moved beams of such length by rail, and so a detailed transport plan had to ...
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NewsVale suspends Río Colorado project
ARGENTINA: Brazilian mining company Vale announced on March 11 that it had informed the Argentinian government that it was suspending its Río Colorado project to develop potash deposits in the province of Mendoza. According to the company, 'in the current macroeconomic environment the economics of the project are not ...
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NewsConsultation starts on first railway PPP
BRAZIL: Federal land transport agency ANTT has published for consultation draft tender documentation for a 35-year concession to build, operate and maintain a 477 km railway from Açailândia in Maranhão state to the port of Vila do Conde in Belém. This is the first of 12 PPP projects that the ...
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NewsEl Salvador looks to rail for logistics future
EL SALVADOR: Port and infrastructure authority CEPA has signed an agreement with Spanish consultancy Tramrail, which is to assist with the revival of the country’s 914 mm gauge rail network. As well as resuming freight operations, new passenger services are planned from the capital San Salvador to Sitio del Niño ...
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NewsNeo Ikonio freight line inaugurated
GREECE: A 17 km freight line connecting the Neo Ikonio container port near Piraeus with Thriasio on the Athens – Kiato route was inaugurated on February 28. The project was announced in 2000 but subsequently delayed by two years due to financial problems. The total cost was €156⋅6m, split equally ...