FREIGHT
03 Jul 2008 | Court rules against TCI
USA: A district court judge in New York has ruled that two hedge funds seeking greater influence over CSX policy 'deliberately violated' US securities law. The court denied the railroad's request for an injunction to prevent the funds from voting their shares at the CSX annual meeting on June 25, al More...
03 Jul 2008 | GE wins US$60m signalling contract
BRAZIL: Mining company Vale has awarded GE Transportation a US$60m contract to overhaul signalling and communication systems on the EFVM network. To be completed by 2010, the project covers the port of Tubarão and 600 km of metre-gauge double track between Vitória and iron ore mines in the state o More...
02 Jul 2008 | KiwiRail launch marks end of 'failed' privatisation
NEW ZEALAND: Prime Minister Helen Clark unveiled KiwiRail as the name for the rail and ferry operations which were transferred from Toll New Zealand into government ownership on July 1. Services will initially be unchanged, with KiwiRail controlled by an establishment board chaired by former Prime More...
27 Jun 2008 | DB Schenker increases BLS Cargo stake
EUROPE: Swiss railway group BLS has sold a 25% stake in BLS Cargo to DB Schenker, which now holds 45% of the freight operator. The deal was an option on the 2002 agreement between DB and BLS to co-operate on north-south trans-Alpine freight traffic. The contracts were concluded on June 25, subject More...
27 Jun 2008 | Sympathetic operator wanted
AUSTRALIA: Tasmania's Premier David Bartlett said on June 17 that the state government is keen to find a new train operator to secure the future of the island's rail network. The previous week, Infrastructure Minister Graeme Sturgess confirmed that Pacific National was looking to sell its local ra More...
26 Jun 2008 | Dedicated Freight Corridors are close to launch
INDIA: Following the approval of a funding agreement with Japanese banks, the first contracts for construction of the country’s two high-capacity dedicated freight corridors are due to be awarded by October, reports Raghu Dayal More...
25 Jun 2008 | Czechs and Slovaks plan freight merger
EUROPE: Czech Minister of Transport Aleš Rebícek and his Slovak counterpart Ľubomír Vážny reached an agreement to plan the merger of national freight operators CD Cargo and ZSSK Cargo on June 23. The ministers agreed to draw up detailed plans and a timetable for the merger, setting out the steps n More...
20 Jun 2008 | UIC proposes intermodal growth agenda
EUROPE: The International Union of Railways has published Agenda 2015 for Combined Transport in Europe, the concluding report of the Diomis study launched in January 2006 to investigate ways of growing intermodal services. Drawn up by Kombiconsult and K+P Transport Consultants with guidance from the More...
19 Jun 2008 | Rio Tinto to go driverless
AUSTRALIA: Driverless trains will be operating on Rio Tinto's Pilbara heavy haul iron ore railway in Western Australia within five years, the mining company announced on June 16. The first automation trials began in early 2007, initially using segregated tracks at 7 Mile Yard. Following the success More...
13 Jun 2008 | Bahrain investor buys Freightliner
UK: Freightliner Group announced on June 13 that it had been bought for an undisclosed sum by Arcapita, a Bahrain-based investment bank specialising in corporate, real estate and asset-based investments and venture capital. Subject to clearance from the European Commission, Arcapita will acquire F More...
