Freight news – Page 143
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NewsNorfolk Southern to stop accepting traffic ahead of PTC deadline
USA: Ahead of the now unachievable December 31 deadline for the introduction on PTC on routes carrying passenger trains and certain hazardous freight traffic, Norfolk Southern announced on October 20 that it would stop accepting shipments of poisonous-inhalation-hazard commodities with effect from December 1. NS has also written to Amtrak, ...
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NewsWagons arrive from China
ARGENTINA: Minister of the Interior & Transport Florencio Randazzo visited the Port of Buenos Aires on October 16 to inspect the first shipment of 150 wagons to arrive from China, financed by a US$2⋅47bn loan that is being used to fund 3 500 new wagons, 100 diesel locomotives and the ...
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NewsTrinity Industries and Element Financial extend wagon alliance
USA: On October 14 the TrinityRail Asset Management Co subsidiary of Trinity Industries announced an extension of its alliance agreement with Element Financial Corp, which expects to acquire additional wagons leased to third parties worth up to $1bn in 2016-19. As with purchases made under the existing alliance agreed in ...
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NewsAppalachian buys FreightCar America repair business
USA: Appalachian Railcar Services subsidiary ARS Nebraska bought FreightCar America’s wagon repair and maintenance business on September 30, paying $20·0m in cash and assuming certain liabilities. President & CEO Kurt Higginbotham said the deal was ‘a great moment’ in the history of ARS, which since 2000 has expanded into ...
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NewsBMZ obtains certification for higher-volume hopper wagon
RUSSIA: Transmashholding’s Bryansk Engineering Plant has obtained certification for its Type 19-3058 hopper, which has a higher volume capacity that its previous design of wagon for the transport of grain and bulky food products which need to be protected from the weather. BMZ plans to deliver at least 100 ...
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NewsEight bids for Oman Rail operating contract
OMAN: National railway project promoter Oman Rail has received proposals from eight companies or consortia interested in the contract to operate and maintain the first phase of the future network. Proposals were received from: Aurizon Operations;FS Italiane, Almavia, Al Madina Logistics, Cavarail and Menarail Transport Consultant;Freightliner Group, Oman Investment Corp ...
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NewsSaskatchewan short line operator bought
CANADA: Food processing company AGT Food & Ingredients Inc has signed a definitive share purchase agreement to acquire Mobil Capital Holdings, a Saskatchewan-based agricultural processor and exporter which operates the 136 km Last Mountain Railway and 402 km Big Sky Rail short line networks in Saskatchewan, as well as a ...
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NewsSaudi Railway Co orders 1 200 Greenbrier wagons
SAUDI ARABIA: The Greenbrier Companies announced its entry into the Middle East wagon market on October 7, with a contract to supply approximately 1 200 tank wagons of three types to Saudi Railway Co. The wagons will be used to carry molten sulphur and phosphoric acid on the North–South Railway ...
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NewsPueblo wagon repair plant announced
USA: Wagon repair company Freedom Railcar Solutions and International Engineering have announce plans to develop a full-service wagon repair and modification facility in Pueblo, Colorado, by January 2017. This would offer services for tank and other wagons including interior cleaning, repairs, modification, exterior painting, interior lining and fabrication. The ...
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NewsEMD unveils its first Tier 4 diesel locomotive
USA: The first of six pre-production Tier 4 compliant diesel locomotives being built by the Electro-Motive Diesel subsidiary of Progress Rail Services was unveiled at the Railway Interchange 2015 exhibition in Minneapolis on October 4. On show at the outdoor display in BNSF’s Northtown Yard, the SD70ACe-T4 locomotive is powered ...
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NewsCanadian Pacific acquires steel transloading business
CANADA: Canadian Pacific Railway has acquired Steelcare Inc, which operates Canada's largest steel transloading facility at CP's Aberdeen yard in Hamilton, Ontario. The transaction announced on September 29 includes TransCare Logistics Corp, Prometheus Six and East Port Warehousing & Distribution businesses. The Plant Six site in Hamilton has two ...
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NewsMarmon and Wells Fargo buy GE Capital rail businesses
USA: GE Capital announced the signing of three agreements to sell its wagon leasing and repair activities on September 30. The sales ‘to buyers that are long-term players in the industry committed to expanding the businesses’ form part of GE’s strategy to sell most GE Capital assets and focus on ...
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NewsHigh volume open wagon certified
RUSSIA: United Wagon Co has obtained federal certification for the Type 12-9869 open wagon designed by its VNICTT development centre and built at its Tikhvin plant. UWC has already received an order for the design, and plans to begin series production in the first quarter of 2016 with a ...
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NewsEtihad Rail to start commercial operations shortly
UAE: Regulatory approval for the start of full commercial freight operations on Phase 1 of the national rail network is expected ‘shortly’, developer Etihad Rail announced on September 28. The 1 200 km network is being built in three phases. Construction of the 264 km Phase 1 between Shah, ...
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NewsSBB Cargo and DB Schenker extend trans-Alpine contract
SWITZERLAND: An extension of SBB Cargo’s contract to haul Germany – Italy trans-Alpine transit freight trains on behalf of DB Schenker was signed by representatives of the two companies inside the Gotthard base tunnel on September 25. DB switched its Gotthard transit contract from BLS to SBB in December 2013. ...
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NewsNewag to build TSI-compliant multi-system freight loco
POLAND: The National Centre for Research & Development has awarded Newag a 10·9m złoty grant to support the development of what the company says would be Europe’s first TSI-compliant six-axle multi-system electric freight locomotive. This programme is expected to cost a total of 27·2m złoty. Announcing the grant on September ...
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NewsEFE unveils US$7∙5bn masterplan
CHILE: Grupo EFE President Jorge Inostroza unveiled a US$7⋅5bn investment masterplan on September 23, which aims to increase traffic on the state railway from 30 million to 100 million passenger-journeys a year by 2022. ‘No predecessor of mine has ever presented a plan like this’, said Inostroza, noting that EFE ...
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NewsRail Cargo Group buys German operator
EUROPE: Austrian Federal Railways’ Rail Cargo Group announced its acquisition of German freight haulage, shunting and locomotive hire services business EBM Cargo GmbH on September 23. Founded in February 2010 and based in Gummersbach east of Köln, privately-owned EBM Cargo has an annual turnover of €5m and ‘extensive knowledge ...
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NewsPKP Cargo orders 15 Siemens locomotives
POLAND: PKP Cargo announced an order for 15 Siemens Vectron multisystem electric locomotives at the Trako trade fair in Gdańsk on September 23. The €75m contract includes the provision of spare parts and maintenance for eight years, and there is a fixed-price €26m option for a further five locomotives to ...
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NewsTriple Crown Services to focus on automotive sector
USA: Norfolk Southern Corp has announced a restructuring of its Triple Crown Services subsidiary to focus on the transport of automotive parts, with other business to be transferred to its intermodal network. TCS said on September 18 it would continue to operate its RoadRailer trains between Detroit and ...