Australia: A container terminal and balloon loop have been commissioned at Mt Isa as part of a joint project between QR, Mt Isa City Council and Mt Isa Mines, which is making more use of containers to move export minerals to Townsville.
QR carried 131million tonnes of freight in the year to June 30, up by 10million tonnes from 1999. Export coal accounted for a record 104·5million tonnes.
Brazil: GATX Corp has purchased a 35% stake in Bonifacio Logistics, now known as Bonifacio-GATX Inc. The company has 400 wagons for bulk commodities including tanks and hoppers.
Canada: CP has sold four branches in Saskatchewan totalling 550 km to Westcan Rail Ltd. The Consul - Val Marie, Shaunavon - Consul, Limerick - Shaunavon and Meyronne - Wymark routes will be operated by Great Western Railway, a new Westcan subsidiary.
Following closure of the coal mine at Quintette, BC Rail is pondering the future of electric traction on its 129 km Tumbler Ridge branch. The line will remain open to serve Bullmoose mine until 2003, but diesel locos may be able to handle the traffic at lower cost.
OmniTRAX has formed CanRail West Inc to obtain access to customers on designated routes in Saskatchewan and Manitoba under the current review of the Canada Transportation Act.
China: Construction of the 603 km Chongqing - Huaihua route was due to begin at the end of September, for completion in 2005 at a cost of 18bn yuan. The single-track electrified line is expected to carry 5million passengers a year.
Czech Republic: ZS Praha began work to upgrade the 15·5 km from Hrobce to Lovosice on August 22, due for completion in August 2002. CD plans to invest KC5·76bn on upgrading the Decín - Praha - Breclav corridor this year.
Europe: MAV of Hungary and ÖBB of Austria have signed a co-operation agreement on express freight traffic, expected to amount to 100000 tonnes next year. MM Cargo Kft will act as MAV’s collection and distribution agent in Hungary.
France: Construction of the Delta 3 freight terminal is due to begin in November on a 300ha site at Dourges, to be connected to the Paris - Lille and Lens - Ostricourt lines, the A1 motorway and a major waterway. The public sector is providing Fr887m and private companies Fr1·2bn towards the project, due for completion at the start of 2003.
Great Britain: Go-Ahead Group has rejected a takeover bid from C3D Transport UK, formed by Caisse des Dép
