Freight news – Page 114
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NewsETCS onboard contracts signed
NORWAY: Infrastructure manager Bane NOR has finalised the contracts for Alstom to supply, install and maintain ETCS onboard equipment for use across the national rail network. Alstom had been selected as preferred bidder in mid-March. The NKr1·8 bn package consists of three contracts with Bane NOR and framework ...
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NewsNational plan backs 320 km/h target
SWEDEN: The government intends to develop future high speed lines for a top speed of 320 km/h, Infrastructure Minister Tomas Eneroth and Environment Minister Isabella Lövin confirmed on June 4. Presenting the government’s national development plan for 2018-29, they confirmed SKr148bn of rail spending, including three sections of new line. ...
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NewsStern & Hafferl expands its diesel fleet
AUSTRIA: Regional operator Stern & Hafferl Verkehr, which runs rail, bus and boat services in Oberösterreich, has put into service a 2·4 MW Vectron diesel locomotive following a naming ceremony at Eferding depot. Built by Siemens in 2015 as part of its internal fleet, the 160 km/h locomotive was ...
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NewsAgreement in principle to revive Hudson Bay Railway
CANADA: Agreement in principle has been reached for the transfer of ownership of the Hudson Bay Railway and the reinstatement services to Churchill in northern Manitoba by winter 2018, the federal government announced on May 30. Short line group OmniTRAX purchased the 1 300 km HBR from Canadian National in ...
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NewsWorld rail freight news round-up
Sinara Transport Machines’ Lyudinovo diesel locomotive plant has begun delivering TGM8KM diesel locomotives to the José Martí steel plant in Cuba. The steelworks currently uses TGM4 locos supplied from the same Russian plant more than 30 years ago. STM is also providing staff training. On May 31 the European Commission ...
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NewsRail freight information portal to be expanded
EUROPE: After a successful pilot phase, the European Commission has backed the further development of Railfreightlocations.eu, a web portal designed to provide shippers and operators with easy access to a single source of information about rail freight facilities. The partners in the project include HaCon, the International Rail Freight Business ...
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NewsLNG shunting locomotives ordered
RUSSIA: A agreement for Sinara Transport Machines to supply and maintain 24 liquefied natural gas-fuelled shunting locomotives was signed by the Gazpromtrans transport subsidiary of gas extraction company Gazprom during the St Petersburg International Economic Forum on May 25. The order covers 10 four-axle locomotives rated at 856 kW and ...
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NewsVolkswagen components switch to rail
GERMANY: The SmartRail Logistics joint venture of LIT Speditions and Captrain Deutschland began delivering automotive components to Volkswagen’s factory at Emden in Niedersachsen on June 1. The components come from suppliers in southern and central Germany, the Czech Republic and Poland. Shipments are consolidated at Dresden for delivery to ...
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NewsAmber Train agreement signed
EUROPE: An agreement for the regular operation of the Amber Train branded container service linking the Baltic States was signed by Lithuanian Railways, Latvia’s LDZ Logistika and Estonia’s EVR Cargo at a meeting in Tallinn on May 29. This follows the operation of a trial service on April 19, which ...
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NewsTransnet looks abroad
SOUTH AFRICA: State-owned transport group Transnet officially launched its international subsidiary Transnet International Holdings on May 30. Constituted as a separate legal entity, with its own Board of Directors, TIH is intended to leverage Transnet’s core skills in the operation of ports, railways and pipelines, as well as promoting intra-African ...
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NewsBombardier presents Traxx DC3 locomotive
ITALY: ‘The new Traxx DC3 represents a generational leap in the market, a state-of-the-art locomotive, able to maximise energy efficiency, ensuring greater load, traction capacity and lower energy consumption’ said Luigi Corradi, CEO & Managing Director of Bombardier Transportation Italy, when the first of the new freight locos was officially ...
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NewsMinisters urge that Rastatt lessons are learnt
EUROPE: Transport ministers have issued a Declaration calling for rapid implementation of measures to mitigate the effects of a major incident such as the seven-week closure last August of the Rhein Valley main line between Basel and Karlsruhe in Germany following a tunnel collapse beneath the alignment at Rastatt. The ...
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NewsFortescue plans rail link to fourth mine
AUSTRALIA: Around 143 km of new railway is to be built in the Pilbara region of Western Australia as part of a A$1·7bn development programme announced by Fortescue Metals Group Chief Executive Elizabeth Gaines on May 28. The extension from the Solomon Hub will connect the group’s planned Western Hub ...
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NewsWorld rail freight news round-up
From June 1, Russia's FESCO Transportation Group is to offer a transit time of 15 days between Busan and Moscow, an improvement on the 21-23 days currently offered. The acceleration has largely been achieved by reducing transhipment time at the port of Vladivostok and by faster transit times on the ...
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NewsEtihad Rail awards Stage 2/3 consultancy contract
UAE: Etihad Rail has selected Egis to provide project management consultancy services for the ongoing development of the country’s rail network and connections to neighbouring GCC states. Under the contract announced on May 23, Egis will assist Etihad Rail with the development of stages 2 and 3, which are now ...
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Rail Business UKUK railway news round-up
On May 23 the Department for Transport said that ‘tackling poor performance’ at the Northern franchise was its ‘top priority’. A combination of factors, stemming largely from delays to Network Rail electrification work in northwest England, has caused a surge in delays and cancellations as Northern struggled to train drivers ...
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NewsWollongong training centre inaugurated
AUSTRALIA: The Australian Research Council’s Industrial Transformation Training Centre for Advanced Technologies in Rail Track Infrastructure at the University of Wollongong was officially opened by federal Minister for Education & Training Simon Birmingham on May 23. Intended to develop the next generation of track and infrastructure engineers, ITTC Rail will ...
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NewsLehrte MegaHub construction launched
GERMANY: Work to build the automated MegaHub intermodal terminal at Lehrte, about 20 km east of Hannover, was formally launched on May 15. Speaking at a midday ceremony, Parliamentary Secretary of State in the Federal Ministry for Transport & Digital Infrastructure Enak Ferlemann said that the start of work for ...
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NewsLagos – Kano standard gauge contract signed
NIGERIA: China Civil Engineering Construction Corp is to complete the long-planned 1 435 mm gauge railway linking Lagos and Kano, under a U$6·68bn contract signed in Abuja on May 15. During the signing ceremony Transport Minister Rotimi Amaechi said the line should be completed in two to three years, ‘depending ...
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NewsWorld rail freight news round-up
Jan Kilström announced on May 15 that he would be stepping down as CEO of Green Cargo in the autumn, having ‘received an exciting offer that I could not refuse, the details of which I am unable to disclose at present’. Recruitment of a new CEO has started. ‘After so ...