Freight news – Page 92
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NewsŽOS Zvolen rehabilitates ADY locomotives
AZERBAIJAN: Slovakian rolling stock maintenance company ŽOS Zvolen has completed work on the first two of five ČKD-built CME3 Co-Co diesel-electric locos which are being refurbished for Azerbaijan’s national railway ADY. The locos which were oringally built in the 1980s arrived at the ŽOS Zvolen site in late April. ...
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NewsNurminen Logistics sells Russian wagon fleet
RUSSIA: Finnish freight company Nurminen Logistics plc announced on October 30 that it had sold its Russian wagon fleet of around 350 vehicles to TransLes. Part of the Rustranscom Group of freight companies, TransLes is one of the largest wagon operators in Russian forestry sector with a fleet of ...
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NewsKiwiRail electric haulage reprieved
NEW ZEALAND: The government has agreed to fund the refurbishment of 15 locomotives to enable electric haulage of freight trains on the North Island Main Trunk line to continue. The Brush Class EF electric locomotives dating from 1986-88 have become increasingly unreliable, and in December 2016 KiwiRail announced its intention ...
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NewsPKP Cargo purchases Dragon 2 locomotives
POLAND: PKP Cargo signed a 45·3m złoty contract for the purchase of three Dragon 2 E6ACTa six-axle electric locomotives from manufacturer Newag on October 25. The locomotives have already been produced and are awaiting regulatory approval for entry into service, which is expected by the end of this year. ...
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NewsSaudi Railway Co and Greenbrier announce joint venture
SAUDI ARABIA: The Greenbrier Companies and Saudi Railway Co have signed an agreement to establish a joint venture to invest in the Saudi rail freight market and potentially the wider Gulf Co-operation Council region. The agreement is subject to the completion of final due diligence by the parties and ...
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NewsBranch line to serve Samsun logistics hub
TURKEY: Infrastructure manager TCDD has awarded a TL190m contract for the construction of a railway between the existing Samsun - Sivas line and TCDD's Gelemen rail logistics centre. The lead contractor will be a consortium of Dekovil Entegre Sistemler and Feza Taahut. The contract involves construction of a 6·7 km ...
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NewsWorld rail freight news round-up
The 40th Traxx MS2 locomotive ordered by Hamburger Hafen & Logistik's rail subsidiary Metrans was handed over by Bombardier Transportation at the Praha Uhříněves container terminal on October 25. The locos are being used to haul trains between the North Sea ports of Hamburg, Bremerhaven, Rotterdam and Antwerpen, and the ...
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NewsTAZARA awards dry port concession
ZAMBIA: Tanzania-Zambia Railway Authority and Dar es Salaam Corridor Group have entered into an agreement for the development of a rail-served dry port at New Kapiri Mposhi. DCG was the winner of a competitive bidding process, and is to develop the facility under a 25-year build-lease-transfer public-private partnership. TAZARA ...
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NewsDriving innovation in rail freight
EUROPE: ‘We need a quantum leap’, suggested DG Move’s Director of Land Transport Elisabeth Werner, speaking at a workshop in Brussels on October 25 to launch the European Rail Industry Freight Agenda. Emphasising that rail freight had a key role to play in the decarbonisation of European transport, Werner warned ...
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NewsState aid for modal shift approved
BELGIUM: The European Commission has approved a state aid scheme which is designed to encourage the modal shift from road to rail and inland waterway of freight traffic to and from Belgian seaports. The €70m scheme running to the end October 2023 provides a subsidy per train or per ...
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NewsRail terminal opened to serve Jaguar Land Rover car factory
SLOVAKIA: Infrastructure manager ŽSR has opened a public intermodal freight terminal at Lužianky in near Nitra to serve the Jaguar Land Rover car factory which was officially inaugurated on October 25. The Jaguar Land Rover plant has the capacity to produce 150 000 cars a year. Up to 80% of ...
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NewsSBB Cargo to test autocouplers in intermodal traffic
SWITZERLAND: In January 2019 SBB Cargo plans to begin a full-scale test of wagons fitted with automatic couplers on intermodal services. Under a SFr1·5m programme, a fleet of 100 wagons has been equipped with hybrid couplings that feature an autocoupler which folds up to reveal a conventional screw coupler. SBB’s ...
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NewsWorld rail freight news round-up
On October 17 Samskip launched a thrice-weekly intermodal service linking Melzo east of Milano with TMA Logistics’ Holland Cargo Terminal in Amsterdam in 24 h. The same locomotive is used throughout, operated by BLS, and arrivals coincide with shortsea sailings to Hull in the UK. The service is in addition ...
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NewsSulphuric acid wagons ordered
RUSSIA: Ural Mining Metallurgical Co has awarded United Wagon Co’s TikhvinChemMash plant contracts to supply a total of 73 sulphuric acid tank wagons by the end of January. UMMC’s Sredneuralsk Copper Smelter is to receive 17 of the wagons, the Mednogorsk Copper & Sulphur Plant 30 and the Chelyabinsk Zinc ...
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NewsBNSF and GE to test battery freight loco
USA: A battery-electric main line freight locomotive is to be tested in California from 2020, under a research programme supported by local pollution control grants. BNSF and the San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District have been awarded $22·6m from the California Air Resource Board under the Zero & Near-Zero ...
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NewsElectro-diesel Vectron takes shape
GERMANY: Siemens Mobility has started the construction of two prototype Vectron Dual Mode electro-diesel locomotives, filling a gap in its current product range. The first is expected to be ready for display at the Transport Logistic fair in München next June. With authorisation for operation in Germany expected by the ...
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NewsLongest train heralds manganese export drive
SOUTH AFRICA: Rising demand for manganese from steel mills has prompted Transnet Freight Rail to launch a programme to drive up capacity for handling manganese ore on its 1 067 mm gauge network. Manganese traffic has grown from around 5 million tonnes a year in 2012 to 12·8 million ...
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NewsIronhorse Resources acquires Arizona short line
USA: Ironhorse Resources has acquired the San Pedro & Southwestern Railroad from ARG Transportation Services, and renamed it as the San Pedro Valley Railroad. The transaction announced on October 17 was handled by specialist company RR Mergers & Acquisitions. The Class III short line serves regional businesses in Cochise County, ...
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NewsShift2Rail announces 2018 grants
EUROPE: Shift2Rail is to provide up to €77·3m of co-funding for 19 research and innovation projects with a total value of €152·6m, the joint undertaking announced on October 17. The funding to be awarded under the 2018 Call for Proposals brings the cumulative spending on railway research to €490m, which ...
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NewsThree strategic decisions at OTIF General Assembly
INTERNATIONAL: Three strategic decisions were taken at the 13th General Assembly of the Intergovernmental Organisation for International Carriage by Rail which was held at the end of September. These covered: the creation of a new appendix on the safe operation of trains, intended to open the way to the ...