Freight news – Page 170
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NewsRight time for large wagon order
EUROPE: International Railway Systems has announced a contract to supply 'several hundred' 95m3 Zacns tank wagons to leasing firm GATX Rail Europe in 2009-10, with options for more. The exact number of vehicles is not being disclosed. Johannes Mansbart, CEO of GATX Rail Europe, said the time ...
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NewsPowerHaul arrival brings GE into European loco market
UK: The first two GE Transportation PowerHaul locomotives for Freightliner were unloaded at the South Wales port of Newport on November 7-8, after crossing the Atlantic onboard the ship BBC Kusan. 'We are excited today with the arrival of the first PowerHaul locomotives as this represents GE Transportation's entry ...
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NewsTrain lessor looking east
EUROPE: The Railpool leasing joint venture of HSH Nordbank and KfW IPEX-Bank is aiming to expand its presence in eastern Europe, according to Account Director Torsten Lehnert, who was speaking during the Nordic Rail 2009 event. ‘Our focus is to go east, perhaps into Hungary or Romania’, said Lehnert. ...
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NewsBerkshire Hathaway to buy BNSF
USA: An agreement for Berkshire Hathaway to acquire the 77·4% of Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corp it does not currently own was announced on November 3. BNSF Corp is the holding company which owns and manages one of the largest Class I railroads in North America through principal operating ...
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NewsLithuanian Railways hosts fire rescue exercise
LITHUANIA: Following the signing of a co-operation agreement earlier this year, Lithuanian Railways and the Vilnius Fire & Rescue Service hosted their first emergency training exercise on October 22. Guests included representatives of the Transport & Communications Ministry and the State Railway Inspectorate. The objective was to improve the ...
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NewsPrivate coal line gets go-ahead
INDONESIA: On October 21 state-owned coal miner PTBA announced it had received government approval for a 307 km railway which will link its Banko Tengah mine in South Sumatra with a port at Srengsem in Lampung province. To be used solely by PTBA, the railway will have a capacity of ...
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NewsLocos ordered for fewer and more efficient trains
CANADA: Orders for a total of 70 diesel-electric locomotives were announced by Canadian National on October 21. GE Transportation is to supply 35 ES44DC locomotives of 4 400 hp from the fourth quarter of 2010, while EMD will provide 35 SD70M-2s of 4 350 hp from January 2011. ...
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NewsLOTOS Kolej orders Traxx locomotives
POLAND: The LOTOS Kolej transport subsidiary of oil and gas group LOTOS signed a €18·6m order for six Bombardier Transportation diesel-electric freight locomotives on October 14. The 2 400 kW Traxx locomotives will be built at Kassel using bodyshells from Wroclaw and bogies from Siegen. Deliveries start in ...
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NewsChina strengthens Russian ties
INTERNATIONAL: China’s Ministry of Railways has signed a memorandum of understanding to work with Russian Railways on the development and introduction of high speed trains in the Russian Federation. The MoU covers both the upgrading of existing lines for faster speeds and the construction of dedicated high speed lines. The ...
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NewsMineral line accord signed
MONGOLIA: Surveying and detailed design of a new railway to open up the mineral deposits in the South Gobi area is expected to get underway in November, following the signing of a formal accord between the Transport Ministry and Russian Railways on October 15. The memorandum of agreement was signed ...
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NewsCTL restructures to boost east-west traffic
POLAND: Open access rail freight operator CTL Logistics is to restructure its cross-border operations from December 1, in a bid to boost its share of the rail freight market between Germany, Russia, Ukraine and Belarus. CTL Logistics President Krzysztof Sędzikowski announced on October 15 that the company wants to become ...
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NewsMoatize coal link funded
MOZAMBIQUE: Construction of a second rail link into the Moatize coalfield is expected to get underway before the end of this year, following the announcement of a US$500m package of international funding put together by the government to support local investors. Transport Minister Paulo Zucula says funding from the Dutch ...
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NewsIntermodal accord signed
EUROPE: International consultations will start shortly to find a new operator for the trans-Alpine intermodal services on the Lyon – Torino corridor, following the signing of a bilateral accord between France and Italy on October 9. In a bilateral meeting alongside the European Union council of transport ministers in Luxembourg, ...
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NewsMember States warned over First Railway Package
EUROPE: The European Commission is stepping up the pressure on EU Member States over their failure to implement fully or correctly the Directives in the First Railway Package, which are intended to open up the rail freight market to competition. This package includes Directives 91/440/EEC as amended, 95/18/EC as amended ...
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NewsContainers to the Caucasus
ARMENIA: Russian intermodal operator TransContainer has expanded its international network with the launch of its first service to Armenia, in co-operation with the South Caucasian Railway. An initial shipment on October 7 carried containerised traffic for Russian aluminium supplier Rusal. As a subsidiary of Russian Railways, TransContainer is developing its ...
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NewsTrans-Alpine RoLa still growing
SWITZERLAND: Despite the general slump in rail freight and trans-Alpine transit traffic, the international rolling motorway service between Freiburg im Breisgau in southern Germany and Novara in northern Italy is continuing to attract more business, according to René Dancet, Chairman of RAlpin AG. Presenting on October 7 the results for ...
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NewsThree shortlisted for rolling motorway
FRANCE: Transport Minister Jean-Louis Borloo and Transport Secretary Dominique Bussereau announced on October 5 that three bidders had been shortlisted for the concession to operate a service carrying road trailers between the Aquitaine region, Paris and Nord-Pas-de-Calais. Known as the Autoroute Ferroviaire Atlantique, the service is due to start in ...
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NewsVale coal haul
COLOMBIA: Last month Brazilian mining firm Vale expected to begin using the Atlantic railway network to carry up to 3·5 million tonnes of coal a year between its mines and Puerto Córdoba. Vale bought a 8·4% stake in railway concessionaire Fenoco in April, and has built a 7 km ...
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NewsExperimental battery locomotive unveiled
USA: Norfolk Southern unveiled an experimental 1 500 hp battery shunting locomotive at its Juniata workshops in Altoona, Pennsylvania, on September 28. Based on an EMD GP38 locomotive, NS 999 has no onboard power plant, instead the 1 080 lead-acid 12 V cells are charged by plugging the locomotive ...
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NewsArctic bridge ceremony marks Yamal progress
RUSSIA: A ceremony held on a remote flood plain on the Yamal Peninsula on September 24 marked completion of the longest bridge within the Arctic Circle. The 3∙9 km structure over the Yuribey River will carry the 572 km line from Obskaya to Karskaya which is currently being built by ...