BELog Baustoffe-Entsorgung-Logistik has signed an agreement to lease a third Stadler EuroDual locomotive from Frauenfeld-based European Loc Pool. Due for delivery by the end of 2023, the locomotive will primarily be deployed on routes from central Germany to Stuttgart and Heidenheim in the south of the country.
Portuguese rail freight operator Medway has launched its second ‘Goods on the Railway’ travelling exhibition to raise awareness of the environmental sustainability and the importance of reducing carbon emissions in the transport sector. Launched at Braga on June 30, the container-based display with a range of family activities is scheduled to tour the country over the coming months.
VTG has started the construction of its first carbon-neutral maintenance workshop at its Grossräschen facility in Brandenburg, which has around 10 km of sidings currently used for processing off-lease vehicles. Due to be operational by 2024, the 1 700 m2 workshop will have the capacity to overhaul around 2 000 wagons per year, creating around 40 jobs. Speaking at a groundbreaking ceremony on June 29 attended by Brandenburg’s Minister of Infrastructure & Regional Planning Guido Beermann, VTG’s Chief Operating Officer Europe Sven Wellbrock said the company would be ‘significantly enlarging our footprint at an attractive location in the heart of Europe’.
Canadian agribusiness group Richardson International has announced plans to expand eight of its grain elevators in Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta served by Canadian Pacific Kansas City to enable the operation of 2 590 m long trains under CPKC’s High Efficiency Product model. Work is due to start this summer for completion by the end of 2024.
Green Cargo and timber company Fiskarhedens Trävaru have reached agreement with logistics company Träfraktkontoret i Göteborg, terminal operator Västerdala Terminal and Järnvägsspår AB to include the Malungsfors terminal in Dalarna as part of the Green Cargo network from December. At present Fiskarheden has been served by a weekly shuttle, but in future the terminal will see up to five container trains per week to and from the port of Göteborg, with scope for expansion to include other intermodal and wagonload freight.
The French government and Hauts-de-France région have agreed to fund a €53m upgrading of the 4·4 km freight line between Calais Ville and the port of Calais, increasing its capacity from four to 15 trans each way per day. As well as track renewals and the installation of noise barriers, the work will see the replacement in October of the Mollien bridge carrying the railway over the Calais Canal.
Network Rail has selected Maccreanor Lavington Architects to help develop a master plan for the regeneration of more than 12 ha of brownfield land at Bow Goods Yard, which was used as the main construction hub for the 2012 Olympic Games, and remains one of the largest freight railheads in the UK capital. The aim is to create a sustainable rail freight campus with an integrated last-mile logistics hub to serve the Greater London area, including workspace for emerging and creative businesses and landscaped open space adjacent to the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park.
