Freight news – Page 147
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NewsHopperPopper helps unload wagons
FREIGHT: The HopperPopper from Pneumat Systems assists in the unloading of dried grains and meal products from wagons by combining compressed air blast technology with precise hydraulic controls. The wirelessly controlled HopperPopper allows operators to position a hydraulically- driven blast probe in the hopper compartment, blasting out bulk ...
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NewsGrindrod locos delivered to Douala
CAMEROON: Railway concessionaire Camrail, owned by Bolloré Africa Logistics, has taken delivery of two CC 3300 locomotives at the port of Douala. Representing an investment of FrCFA3bn each, the locomotives were supplied by South African manufacturer Grindrod as part of an initial batch of eight diesel heavy freight locos which ...
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NewsBahrain progresses rail plans
BAHRAIN: The government expects to call bids in June for detailed design of a rail link to Saudi Arabia, as part of the proposed GCC rail network. The 87 km line would be built in conjunction with a second causeway connecting the two countries, to be known as the ...
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NewsCuban freight wagon joint venture agreement
CUBA: The UVZ-Logistik subsidiary of Russia’s Uralvagonzavod is to establish a transport logistics joint venture in Cuba, in partnership with Cuban metallurgy and engineering firm GESIME and national operator Unión Ferrocarriles de Cuba. Under an agreement signed at the 13th Russian-Cuban Intergovernmental Commission on Trade in Kazan, the joint ...
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NewsEnlarged Rail Hub Milano opens
ITALY: An opening ceremony for the enlarged Rail Hub Milano was held in Melzo, to the east of Milano, on April 23. The rail yard has been enlarged from 160 000 m2 to 260 000 m2 and four new 750 m long tracks have increased the internal rail length ...
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NewsTennant Creek – Mount Isa railway study
AUSTRALIA: The Northern Territory government has committed A$1m to undertake a feasibility study for the construction of a 600 km line from Tennant Creek, NT, to Mount Isa in Queensland. The study is expected to take two years to complete. The east-west link connecting the Alice Springs – Darwin ...
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NewsRZD taking delivery of 68 locomotives
RUSSIA: Russian Railways is to take delivery of 68 Transmashholding 2TE25KM freight locomotives this year. Two prototypes completed in December and February and are currently undergoing trials at the Shcherbinka test circuit near Moscow. A development of the 2TE116U, the twin-section 2TE25KM has Kolomna 18-9DG engines rated at 2 650 ...
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NewsCP Carga and EMEF to be privatised
PORTUGAL: The cabinet approved plans to privatise the freight and rolling stock maintenance subsidiaries of national operator CP at a meeting on March 26. The government says that it is planning to sell up to 100% of the share capital of CP Carga and EMEF. In both cases, the aim ...
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NewsKVSZ to develop electric locomotive
UKRAINE: Rolling stock manufacturer Kriukov Car Building Works and national railway UZ are discussing plans to produce electric locomotives from 2017. KVSZ would build a prototype at its own expense, in the hope of winning an initial order to supply UZ with up to 40 units. KVSZ says its proposed ...
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NewsCN announces Western Canada feeder line investment
CANADA: CN announced a multi-year programme to invest C$500m in infrastructure improvements on feeder rail lines in Alberta, Manitoba and Saskatchewan on April 16. CN said freight volumes in Western Canada have increased by more than 50% over the past five years, and the lines are handling rising volumes of ...
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NewsInvestors back Mitsui Rail Capital expansion
NORTH AMERICA: A doubling of Mitsui Rail Capital’s wagon leasing business is envisaged under an agreement for Japanese companies JA Mitsui Leasing and Norinchukin Bank to take a 50% stake in the Mitsui subsidiary. The companies are to acquire the stake through a newly-established special purpose company, JAML ...
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NewsCustom-built crane wagon for Africa
WAGON: A wagon for carrying a heavy road crane to the sites of infrastructure works or derailments on a line in Africa has been designed by Belgian company DAXI and built by Electroputere VFU Pașcani of Romania. The 1 435 mm gauge wagon is 23·58 m long over the buffers, ...
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NewsEMD delivers Ferromex locomotives
MEXICO: Ferromex has taken delivery of the first 10 of a batch of 19 additional Electro-Motive Diesel SD70ACe locomotives ordered last year under a contract which includes an 11-year maintenance agreement. They are expected to enter service by June. ‘We are very pleased to receive the first 10 EMD locomotives ...
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NewsDB Schenker Rail UK deploys Zephir battery shunters
UK: This month DB Schenker Rail UK has begun using Zephir 1800e Crab battery machines instead of diesel shunting locomotives at its Toton and Crewe depots, where almost 14 000 loco movements are undertaken each year. The freight operator says the Zephir 1800e CRAB is capable of moving 400 ...
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NewsConsultation on Bulgarian railway recovery strategy
BULGARIA: A draft strategy for the development of the rail network in 2015-22 and the restructuring of state railway company Holding BDZ was published for consultation by the Minister of Transport, Information Technology & Communications on April 7. Minister Ivaylo Moskovski said ‘joint and targeted actions’ by National Railway Infrastructure ...
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NewsRussian Railways Logistics takes stake in Latvian rail freight forwarder
LATVIA: Russian Railways Logistics has acquired a 50% stake in Riga-based freight forwarding company Liepājas Naftas Tranzīts through its RZDL Multimodal business. Announcing the deal on April 9, RZDL said its aim was to expand the rail freight market and establish a ‘consolidated rail transport chain’ connecting with Latvia’s ...
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NewsSNCB Logistics privatised
BELGIUM: Pan-European private equity house Argos Soditic has taken a 66% stake in SNCB Logistics, the freight division of the national railway, as part of a financial restructuring of the operator. The agreement adds €70m to the capital of SNCB Logistics, of which €20m has been contributed by Argos Soditic ...
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NewsUnderstanding better bogies
RUSSIA: Following the inauguration of an initial facility in Chelyabinsk in 2013, wagon manufacturer United Wagon Company and Russian Railways have established five further bespoke training centres for advanced wheelset maintenance. Located on RZD’s Oktyabrskaya, Krasnoyarskaya and Zapadno-Sibirskaya railways, the jointly-managed facilities are intended to provide maintenance staff with detailed ...
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NewsRift Valley Railways getting back on track
AFRICA: Four years after the restructuring of the Kenya-Uganda Railway concession, Rift Valley Railways announced in March that it had achieved all three of the Key Performance Indicators agreed with the two governments when the current shareholders took over. The first two targets involved clearing the outstanding concession fees and ...
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NewsBLS Cargo orders Vectron locomotives
SWITZERLAND: BLS Cargo announced an order for Siemens to supply 15 Vectron multi-system electric locomotives on March 27. They are scheduled to be delivered in three batches, with the first to enter traffic in the second half of 2016 and the last in 2018. The locomotives are to ...