Freight news – Page 109
-
NewsIronhorse Resources acquires Arizona short line
USA: Ironhorse Resources has acquired the San Pedro & Southwestern Railroad from ARG Transportation Services, and renamed it as the San Pedro Valley Railroad. The transaction announced on October 17 was handled by specialist company RR Mergers & Acquisitions. The Class III short line serves regional businesses in Cochise County, ...
-
NewsShift2Rail announces 2018 grants
EUROPE: Shift2Rail is to provide up to €77·3m of co-funding for 19 research and innovation projects with a total value of €152·6m, the joint undertaking announced on October 17. The funding to be awarded under the 2018 Call for Proposals brings the cumulative spending on railway research to €490m, which ...
-
NewsThree strategic decisions at OTIF General Assembly
INTERNATIONAL: Three strategic decisions were taken at the 13th General Assembly of the Intergovernmental Organisation for International Carriage by Rail which was held at the end of September. These covered: the creation of a new appendix on the safe operation of trains, intended to open the way to the ...
-
Rail Business UKWorld rail freight news round-up
Marking 10 years of direct intermodal trains between China and Germany, Deutsche Bahn has established DB Cargo Eurasia as a dedicated business unit to develop Eurasian transit freight. DB and partners including Russian Railways launched a single train between Xiangtang and Hamburg in 2008; it now runs 3 600 per ...
-
NewsAurizon agrees revised terms for intermodal sale
AUSTRALIA: Aurizon Holdings Ltd has reached a revised agreement to sell its Queensland intermodal freight business to the Linfox logistics group for A$7·3m, the freight railway operator reported to the Australian stock exchange on October 12 Aurizon had announced its intention in August 2017 to withdraw from the intermodal market, ...
-
NewsWagon maintenance deal
RUSSIA: United Wagon Co and Uralchem-Trans have signed an agreement to develop a service centre at Murashi on RZD’s Gorky Railway which would repair and maintain modern wagons produced at UWC’s Tikhvin plant. The Murashi depot has been servicing Tikhvin wagons managed by Uralchem Holding’s transport subsidiary since 2016. Uralchem-Trans ...
-
NewsWellington infrastructure spending funded
NEW ZEALAND: A NZ$196m package of improvements to the Wellington regional rail network was announced by Transport Minister Phil Twyford on October 9. NZ Transport Agency funding of NZ$193m is being provided through the National Land Transport Fund to support infrastructure renewals and capacity enhancement under two business cases put ...
-
NewsUnion Pacific launches Unified Plan 2020 to improve performance
USA: On October 1 Union Pacific began the phased roll-out of its Unified Plan 2020, an operating plan designed to implement ‘precision scheduled railroading’ principles with the aim of achieving an operating ratio of 60 by 2020 and 55 in the longer term. UP said the implementation of precision scheduled ...
-
NewsVTG completes Nacco acquisition
EUROPE: Hamburg-based wagon leasing group VTG increased its total fleet to more than 94 000 vehicles on October 5, with its acquisition of CIT Rail Holdings (Europe) SAS and the associated Nacco Group. The takeover announced on July 1 2017 had been approved by the relevant competition regulators in ...
-
NewsWorld rail freight news round-up
Matthew Rose is to step down as Executive Chairman of BNSF Railway in April 2019, having held the role for six years. He previously served as Chief Executive Officer from 2000-13. ČD Cargo has cancelled a tender for the supply of five high-power main line diesel locomotives for cross-border operation ...
-
NewsInland Rail PPP concession launched
AUSTRALIA: The public-private partnership to build and maintain a key section of the Inland Rail corridor through southern Queensland was launched on October 4, at an event in Toowoomba attended by federal Infrastructure Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Michael McCormack. Australian Rail Track Corp has invited registrations ...
-
NewsFirst section of Moscow – Kazan high speed line to open in 2024
RUSSIA: A construction agreement covering the first section of the Moscow – Kazan high speed line was announced by RZD First Deputy Director Alexander Misharin at the ProMotion 1520 conference in Sochi on October 2. The agreement calls for work to start next year on a 301 km alignment between ...
-
NewsIowa Interstate Railroad orders locomotives
USA: Railroad Development Corp’s Iowa Interstate Railroad has ordered three GE Transportation Evolution Series diesel locomotives, which are to be supplied in early 2020 and will be used to haul grain, ethanol, metals and other freight between Chicago and Omaha. The locomotives will be equipped with GE Transportation’s GoLINC networking ...
-
NewsOpen access operator's competition complaint upheld
FINLAND: Transport regulator Trafi has instructued state operator VR to make its charges for handling cross-border freight more transparent, following a complaint from the country’s only private operator. Fenniarail has been hauling trains between the Russia-Finland border and UPM’s paper mills since January. Its complaint related to VR’s pricing of ...
-
NewsNurminen Logistics plans to sell wagon fleet
RUSSIA: Nurminen Logistics announced on October 2 that it was considering selling the wagons owned by its Russian subsidiary OOO Nurminen Logistics, saying this would free up capital to support a strategy of focusing on its rail operations and freight forwarding activities in the Russian rail market. The Russian wagon ...
-
NewsWascosa and Aves One acquire 4 400 wagons
EUROPE: A consortium of wagon leasing company Wascosa and Hamburg-based logistics assets investor Aves One completed the acquisition of 4 400 wagons from the Nacco subsidiary of CIT Group on October 1. Wascosa has also taken over Nacco’s operations in Hamburg. VTG announced plans for the acquisition of Nacco in ...
-
NewsWorld rail freight news round-up
Belgian rail freight operator Lineas has opened an operations centre in Mainz to monitor the approximately 200 trains per week that it operates in Germany. According to Business Development Director Jan Elfenhorst, this will support the expansion of the Green Xpress enhanced wagonload network. The company is also planning to ...
-
Rail Business UKGrayling demands 'root and branch' review of UK railway
UK: A comprehensive review of the rail sector was announced by Secretary of State for Transport Chris Grayling on September 20. Responding to concerns over the passenger franchising model following the collapse of the Inter-City East Coast franchise, delays and cost over-runs with Network Rail’s investment programme, and operational problems ...
-
NewsDB Cargo awards telematics contract
GERMANY: DB Cargo has awarded Siemens Mobility a contract to equip 30 000 wagons with CTmobile sensors which can continuously determine the vehicle location and provide information about load conditions including temperature and humidity. Roll-out will take three years, and Siemens Mobility will operate the system for six years. The ...
-
Rail Business UKWorld rail freight news round-up
Germany's Kreisbahn Siegen-Wittgenstein opened the Südwestfalen container terminal in Kreuztal in Nordrhein-Westfalen on September 14. The 18 500 m² facility has two 225 m tracks and a 191 m long siding. The UK Rail Freight Group has called on the government to ensure that freight growth is at the heart ...