OmniTRAX has entered into a partnership with current operator Coast Belle Rail Corp to run the 24 km Santa Maria Valley Railroad which serves commercial and agricultural customers in California’s Central Coast Valley. The deal announced March 12 ‘marks our first rail joint venture acquisition’, said Omnitrax EVP Nathan Brown. ‘As a multi-generational, privately held company, Omnitrax has the capacity to create deal structures like this that can preserve the benefits of local involvement and knowledge.’
Israel’s National Council for Design & Building has approved the transport ministry’s plans to build a freight terminal near Kiryat-Malachi on the line to Be’er-Sheva to support a switch of aggregates and sand traffic from road to rail; the ministry calculates that 16 million tonnes will be hauled over the next decade.
On March 3 GB Railfreight started moving imported steel slab for Tata Steel UK from the Port of Bristol at Portbury to Port Talbot steelworks. The service will run until the end of 2027 when Tata Steel’s electric arc furnace is due to be commissioned. Bristol Port Co is supporting GBRf with battery-powered electro-permanent magnets which can be used to lift the slabs weighing up to 30 tonnes to improve train preparation efficiency.
CN competed its acquisition of Iowa Northern Railway on March 1, following the US Surface Transportation Board’s approval for the deal announced in December 2023. CN said merging Iowa Northern’s 280 route-km with CN’s 32 000 km network would offer single-line service to seamlessly connect grain, fertiliser, renewable fuels and industrial markets.
KTZ Express and China Railway Container Transport Co have launched a container service between Chengdu in China and Łódź in Poland via Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Iran and Turkey with a travel time of 52-60 days. The first train carried television components.
Pinsly Railroad Co has promoted Steve Laird to Vice-President Commercial, responsible for marketing and pricing as well as commercial administration for all the group’s railways. Jared Sleeth has been promoted to Assistant Vice-President Business Development, responsible for commercial development of the Grenada Railroad.
DB Cargo UK has created what it believes to be the UK’s first net zero rail freight terminal, at Cricklewood in north London. The site procures 100% Renewable Energy Guarantees of Origin verified renewable energy and has switched from diesel to hydrotreated vegetable oil to fuel on-site machinery.
The Broe Group has appointed Morgan Stoll as Senior Vice-President of Information Technology, providing IT leadership across all its businesses including railway group Omnitrax.