Konkan Railway inaugurated a multimodal logistics park at Balli station near Madgaon in Goa state on March 28. The park has been set up with an investment of Rs430m by Konkan Railway and Container Corporation of India Ltd.
Swedish port operator Yilport has awarded Green Cargo a three-year contract to operate shuttle trains between Granudden and the container terminal at Fredriksskans. ‘With these shuttle services, we’re showing that it is possible to compete with trucks even on shorter routes of 14 km, if they are efficiently planned’, said Lennart Westring, Sales Executive at the operator which was involved in the launch of the shuttle in 2008 has run it for all except two years since them. An expansion project is underway to double the harbour’s capacity by 2020.
Pol-Miedź Trans is to lease four Pesa 111Ed Gama Marathon 3 kV DC electric locomotives with last mile engines from the Rail Capital Partners joint venture of Pesa and PFR. The agreement has flexible terms to align with operating contracts won by PMT, which currently has a fleet of 60 locomotives, of which nine are modern designs, and 1 500 wagons.
RZD Logistics has launched a thrice-weekly container train between Moscow’s Kuntsevo-2 hub and the Tolmachevskaya terminal in Novosibirsk. The journey time of six to seven days is twice as fast as trains formed of conventional covered vans, and comparable to road transport. RZD Express is facilitating the delivery of small and modular consignments on the route.
UK infrastructure manager Network Rail began £60·4m programme of weekend works to upgrade the single track branch to the Port of Felixstowe on April 7. The project running until autumn 2019 includes installing a 1·4 km loop near Trimley station, upgrading level crossings and installing bi-directional signalling. This will provide the flexibility needed to run up to 10 additional freight trains in each direction per day, and also improve the reliability of existing passenger services.
Nipigaz has completed the construction of a 12 km line connecting Zavodskaya-2 near Ust-Pera on the Trans-Siberian route to provide access to Zavodskaya, the site of the future Amur gas processing plant.
Rail Cargo Group has launched its own 'seamless, high-frequency' twice-weekly service between Linz and Duisburg, with the Austrian yard acting as a hub for wagonload freight to and from Germany.
FELB now offers a FCL and LCL service leaving Taiwan by sea every Thursday and then continuing by rail through Shanghai and Suzhou in China to Vorsino in Russia, with a transit time of 24 to 26 days.
Russian manufacturer RM Rail has obtained certification for three wagon designs. The Type 15-1225 phenol tank wagon has a steel barrel with internal zinc coating, and the Type 15-1225-01 a stainless steel tank with a design life of 27 years suitable for loads including phenol, acetone or polyalkylbenzene resin. The Type 15-1232-04 wagon has a steam heating jacket for the transport of liquid nitrogen fertilisers.