RENFE Mercancías has awarded Stadler a €136·7m contract to supply 12 electric 1 435 mm gauge locomotives by the end of 2025 for use on the Mediterranean Corridor and provide 15 years of maintenance. The order is backed by €15m of EU recovery funding.
Leasing company Beacon Rail has awarded Railcare Lokverkstad a SKr12m contract to adapt five Traxx locomotives for Nordic conditions, including installing the ATC2 safety system and managing the ERA approval process. They will then be leased to Railcare’s freight operating subsidiary.
The US Surface Transportation Board has approved the appointment of former US Federal Railroad Administration Administrator Ronald L Batory as Trustee of the CP-Kansas City Southern Voting Trust, following the death of David Starling. He will serve as the Voting Trustee until STB authorises CP to take control of KCS.
Cargounit has placed a firm order for two Siemens Mobility Smartron locomotives for use in Romania. The order ‘is an offshoot of the strong interest in our offering in this market from local hauliers’, said the leasing company’s President Łukasz Boroń on March 9. ‘This is evidence of the rapid transformation of the locomotive market in central and eastern Europe, where more and more customers are choosing to lease modern vehicles.’
China Railway Construction Corp’s design and research institute is undertaking a feasibility study for the proposed China – Kyrgyzstan – Uzbekistan railway. In January a joint project office was opened in Kyrgyzstan by representatives of the government and the national railway, and their counterparts from Uzbekistan.
Zaldesa has been awarded a 14-month €12·5m contract to develop an intermodal logistics centre situated at Peña Alta on the western outskirts of Salamanca on the main line to Portugal. The complex to be completed by late 2024 will have sidings suitable for use by 750 m long trains and will be able to handle containers and loose dry goods.
Working with Malcolm Logistics, XPO UK & Ireland has launched a three-month trial to migrate shipments between its Crick hub in the West Midlands and Motherwell in Scotland from its shared user pallet network to overnight rail services between Daventry and Mossend. Using rail for the line haul element of the 500 km multimodal flow is around 2 h faster than an all-road journey and reduces greenhouse gas emissions by up to 79%, saving 705 kg of CO2 per vehicle trip avoided.
Former CentrePort CEO Liz Ward will be joining the KiwiRail board on May 1. Her appointment follows those of Rob Jager and Ed Sims who joined the board earlier this year.
Slovakian steel pipe manufacturer Železiarne Podbrezová is taking delivery of three CZ Loko EffiShunter 600 locomotives produced using the bogies and frames of 40 year old ČKD T448 locos. ‘We expect higher operational reliability, lower operating costs and lower maintenance costs’, said Head of Transport Peter Krajan.
Work has started on the €10·5m second phase of enlarging the Terminal Marítima de Zaragoza logistics centre, located on the Mediterranean Corridor and on the future Algeciras to Zaragoza rolling motorway. This will provide more container storage space and accommodate 750 m long trains, enabling throughput to be doubled.
Nurminen Logistics has appointed Niko Orpana as Vice-President, Multimodal & Bulk Terminal Operations. Vice-President Sales Marjut Linnajärvi has been appointed head of the railway business and sales, and Joonas Louho is now VP Cargo Technology.
Trafikverket has extended Railcare’s contract to provide a standby locomotive in Borlänge for a further two years at a cost of SKr15m. Railcare has locomotives and staff available around the clock to move trains that have broken down.
The Short Line Safety Institute has completed its first Assistance for Local Emergency Response training programme at the New Orleans & Gulf Coast Railway, providing staff and local emergency responders with hands-on education sessions and interactive experience-based discussions on incident management.