In support of India’s Swachcha Bharat Abhiyan national sanitation programme, on June 1 Chittaranjan Locomotive Works rolled out the first WAG-9H electric freight locomotive to be equipped with a built-in a toilet cubicle with biodigester.
DP World has awarded GB Railfreight a three-year contract to manage the movement and preparation of all trains at the London Gateway port. The company has taken on eight employees from the previous operator.
Canadian Pacific can now lift single containers off wagons for border inspections at the Portal, North Dakota, crossing which is used by intermodal trains between western Canada and the USA’s Midwest. CP said this investment would ‘virtually eliminate non-targeted containers from being delayed at the border crossing.’
Orlen Group merged its two rail freight businesses on June 1, with Orlen KolTrans taking over the assets, staff and operations of Euronaft Trzebinia to become the sixth biggest rail freight company in Poland with a 3∙3% market share.
On June 2 CRRC Qiqihar sent a batch of 10 X2K container wagons from Harbin for delivery to Kenya via the port of Dalian for use on the Mombasa – Nairobi Standard Gauge Railway. The wagons have a capacity of 4 TEU and 78 tonnes.
After a five-year gap Pakistan Railways has restored transit freight facilities in Peshawar for trade with Afghanistan, Minister of Railways Khawaja Saad Rafique announced on June 6.
Shell Canada has appointed Cando Rail Services to provide shunting, light track maintenance and loading and unloading services at its St Boniface oil facility in Winnipeg.
Argentina’s state-owned freight operator Trenes Argentinos Cargas has opened a control centre at its headquarters in Buenos Aires, enabling staff to determine the location of trains on the Belgrano, San Martín and Urquiza networks and contact drivers directly.
PIMK Holding’s Terminali subsidiary submitted the sole bid for a 27-year concession to operate the intermodal terminal which has been built at Plovdiv in Bulgaria. The concessionaire will be required to pay the government an index-linked annual fee plus at least 10% of the annual income from the facility.
KiwiRail has purchased Interislander ferry Kaitaki, which had previously been leased from Irish Ferries under an agreement running to 2020. ‘Our ships are vital for tourism, and an important piece of the integrated transport network for freight’, said KiwiRail CEO Peter Reidy. ‘We make up to 4 000 sailings a year. Last financial year KiwiRail’s Interislander ferries carried more than 1 million net tonnes of freight, 83 000 commercial vehicles and 800 000 passengers.’
