UK: GB Railfreight has signed a deal to lease 41 Greenbrier 101·6 tonne hopper wagons from Nacco Leasing for a minimum of five years.
This will support a five-year extension to GBRf’s 2014 contract to haul silica sand from Sibelco Europe’s King’s Lynn quarry to the Guardian Industries plant in Goole and Ardagh Group's UK glass sites in Barnsley and Doncaster.
The wagons are to be built by Greenbrier’s Wagony Swidnica business in Poland and delivered in time for the start of the extended Sibelco contract in August 2017. GBRf said they would almost double the load per wagon from 36 tonnes to 70 tonnes, with more track-friendly bogies and easier maintenance.
‘GB Railfreight recognises the challenges that the freight industry currently faces and that, in order to create sustainable growth, modern and innovative solutions are needed for our customers’, said GBRf Managing Director John Smith. ‘This contract extension with Sibelco is a primary example of close working between ourselves and the customer to better understand what is needed to improve services. In this case, it was agreed that we would invest in new-build hopper wagons to increase capacity and efficiency’.
