Freight news – Page 176
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NewsDalian rolls out 9·6 MW electric locomotive
CHINA: The first of 500 powerful Co-Co electric locomotives being built by China Northern under an agreement with Bombardier was rolled out at Dalian works on December 29. Ordered by the Ministry of Railways in February 2007 at a cost of €1·1bn, the 9·6 MW locomotives are a single ...
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NewsCoal Master Plan drives capacity investment
CAPACITY: With expenditure of A$1·3bn in the next financial year, infrastructure manager QR Network is delivering the largest capital investment programme in its history, but planning assessments suggest that much more capacity will be needed to meet projected demand in the next five years.
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NewsRemodelled network off to a shaky start
FRANCE: This month SNCF relaunches its troubled wagonload business with shuttle trains linking three main hubs and 30 yards. Laurent Charlier reports.
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NewsThird autoroute ferroviaire planned
In a keynote speech opening the Freight without Frontiers conference, French Secretary of State for Transport Dominique Bussereau gave details of his government’s views on further development of autoroute ferroviaire services. He said that France and Italy had decided to continue beyond 2008 with the pilot shuttle service over the ...
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NewsQR to lease diesels
AUSTRALIA: Downer EDI announced on December 12 that it had signed an agreement with Queensland Rail to lease nine GT46Ace diesel locomotives to QR National's expanding standard-gauge intermodal business. The first loco was expected to be delivered before the end of the year, and the remainder by mid-2009. Valued at ...
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NewsSNCB goes back for more
BELGIUM: SNCB has exercised options for an additional 60 Class 18 electric locomotives and 72 M6 double-deck coaches. An option has been taken up for Siemens to supply a further 60 Eurosprinter ES60U3 electric locomotives at a cost of €222m, with deliveries to run from June 2010 to April ...
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NewsGlobaltrans expands in oil and Kazakhstan
GLOBALTRANS: Russian private rail freight operator Globaltrans has bought two tank wagon leasing companies, as part of its policy of increasing exposure to the oil and oil products markets and gaining an entry to Kazakhstan. The company will pay US$79m over two years to acquire a 61% stake in ...
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NewsSNCF places Traxx order
FRANCE: On December 5 Bombardier announced a €160m firm order to supply SNCF with 45 Traxx F140 DE diesel-electric locomotives. The first delivery is scheduled for May 2010, and orders for a further 35 locomotives could follow. Bombardier has now sold more than 1 300 locomotives from the Traxx ...
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NewsBelgrano to be split
ARGENTINA: The federal government has begun the process of returning the metre-gauge Belgrano network to public ownership, by means of a decree published on October 31. The concession awarded to Belgrano Cargas SA in 1999 was to be terminated within 90 days, while the ‘state of emergency’ under which the ...
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NewsGrain branch upgrades funded
AUSTRALIA: Premier of Victoria John Brumby announced on October 20 that the state is to refurbish more freight-only branch lines as part of an A$38·7m funding package to support the state’s rural economy. The state government has launched a programme of works to raise speed limits and boost operating efficiency ...
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NewsHeavy haul automation contract placed
AUSTRALIA: Ansaldo STS announced on December 4 that it had been awarded a €103m contract to provide automation technology for the driverless operation of Rio Tinto's Hamersley and Robe River heavy haul railway in the Pilbara region of Western Australia. The automation project will be completed by 2012, enabling ...
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NewsStandard interface will simplify telematics
TELEMATICS: The adoption of a Standardised Message Structure forms a crucial element in the development of an open- standards telematics interface which will allow railway operators and suppliers to work towards cost-effective and compatible systems.
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NewsCN buys back lines
CANADA: Three lines sold by Canadian National in the 1990s have been repurchased from Québec Railway Corp at a cost of C$49·8m. As well as the Ottawa Central Railway, New Brunswick East Coast Railway and Chemin de fer de la Matapedia et du Golfe, CN will take over a train ...
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NewsDB tests 1 km train
EUROPE: DB and Betuwe Route infrastructure manager Keyrail conducted trials with a 1 000 m long freight train between Oberhausen and Rotterdam over the weekend of November 29-30. DB's operations are currently based on trains with a maximum length of 750 m, but the technical and economic feasibility of ...
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NewsPilbara lines declared open access
AUSTRALIA: The long-running battle to bring open access to the heavy-haul iron ore railways in Western Australia reached another milestone on October 27, when Commonwealth Treasurer Wayne Swan 'declared' BHP Billiton's Goldsworthy railway and Rio Tinto's Robe River and Hamersley lines under the National Access Regime within the Trade Practices ...
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NewsRail Cargo Austria cleared to buy MÁV Cargo without GySEV
HUNGARY: The European Commission announced on November 25 that it had cleared Rail Cargo Austria's plans to acquire MÁV Cargo, subject to a commitment that the ÖBB Holding subsidiary will cut its links with cross-border operator GySEV. Hungary's Ministry of Economy & Transport put the state railway's freight division ...
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NewsAccords signed to bring broad gauge to Wien
SLOVAKIA: In a ceremony at the Dobra container transfer terminal near the Ukrainian border, Minister of Transport Lubomir Vazny signed a Memorandum of Intent on November 25 with Russian Railways President Vladimir Yakunin and Deputy Director of Ukrainian Railways Michael Kospjuk for the construction of a 1 520 mm gauge ...
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NewsQishuyan completes first locally-built China Mainline Locomotive
CHINA: GE Transportation and its Chinese partner Qishuyan Locomotive rolled out the first China Mainline Locomotive to be assembled in China at a ceremony on November 25. The Ministry of Railways placed a US$450m order for 300 of the CML diesel locos in October 2005. The first two ...
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NewsFreight maglev study
USA: Despite a conspicuous lack of progress in developing maglev for the passenger sector, it seems that North America remains fixated with the concept. We hear that Union Pacific has commissioned Skytech Transportation and American Maglev Technology to develop a feasibility study for an 8 km maglev line to ...
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NewsFreight merger still stuck in the sidings
EUROPE: Delegates attending Terrapinn's CEE Rail conference in Budapest on October 28 were given a clear warning that reinforcing rail's share of the freight market through mergers and acquisitions would be far from straightforward.