New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority has extended New York & Atlantic Railway’s concession to operate freight trains on the Long Island Rail Road network for a further 10 years.
Rolling stock repair and leasing company Kladenská Dopravní a Strojní has acquired its first electric loco to join its diesel fleet. The 25 kV 50 Hz AC Class 210 shunter was bought from ČD after overhaul by ČMŽO Přerov, and is primarily designed for hauling trip cross-border freight on behalf of open access operators on the Břeclav – Bratislava – Rajka route.
On November 1 Far East Land Bridge launched a new westbound full–container-load service from Ganzhou to Warszawa, Hamburg and Duisburg via Russia, with an end to end journey time of 17-19 days.
Czech company Unipetrol Doprava has taken delivery of a CZ loko Class 753.6 EffiLiner 1600 Bo-Bo diesel-electric loco, with a second to follow later this year. There is an option for a further two.
Azerbaijan’s national railway ADY has established ADY Konteyner as an intermodal subsidiary which will operate all its container terminals.
CZ Loko has rebuilt a ČKD-built Class 740 locomotive as a Class 741.7 EffiShunter 1600 heavy shunters for used by Czech fertiliser producer Lovochemie. A second loco is being rebuilt at CZ Loko's Jihlava workshops.
Norfolk Southern has released its 2017 corporate responsibility report, Strides in Stewardship. NS says it achieved record locomotive fuel efficiency in 2016, reduced its greenhouse gas emissions to the lowest levels since 2010, cutting emissions intensity by nearly 2%, and reducing kWh of electricity use by more than 9%.
ArcelorMittal Polska’s open access freight operator Kolprem ran its first train on the Czech national network on October 2, carrying steel coil from Kraków Nowa Huta to Lískovec u Frýdku for ArcelorMittal Ostrava.
Maciej Libiszewski stepped down as PKP Cargo President on October 26, being succeeded on an interim basis by PKP Cargo Chairman and PKP SA President Krzysztof Mamiński. PKP Cargo Financial Director Arkadiusz Olewnik has also left the company, and PKP Cargotabor President Witold Bawor has been appointed as Operations Director.
On October 20 TransContainer dispatched its first intermodal train from Moscow to Yekaterinburg, carrying 43 containers with consumer goods, food and cable products. The journey time was 52 h. The initial weekly service is expected to increase to three trains/week.
Transit times for wagonload traffic between western Canada and Norfolk Southern destinations in the eastern USA have been reduced by 48 h since CN and NS launched an interline service in August which allows freight to bypass traditional interchange points in Chicago. CN and NS are interchanging two eastbound and two westbound trains daily through greater Chicago, with traffic interchanged at the NS yard in Elkhart, Indiana.
Eurosib-Logistics has joined the Co-ordinating Council on Trans-Siberian Transportation.
New three-year contracts for Green Cargo and Grenland Rail to delivery woodchips and pulpwood from Norway to Sweden for Moelven and BillerudKorsnäs come into force in December. The operators had taken over the traffic with the demise of Rush Rail in December 2016. ‘With the new agreements, we are offering more efficient traffic plans, where we are increasing the frequency and thereby transporting higher volumes’, said Bengt-Åke Johansson, Strategic Sales Executive at Green Cargo. ‘We are using resources more efficiently and the customers will obtain a more cost-effective and environmentally-friendly traffic plan.’