Regular China – Kazakhstan – Turkmenistan – Iran container services are scheduled to be launched this month, after the railway authorities reached an agreement at the end of May. Trains are expected to cover the 10 300 km route in less than 14 days, compared to 40 days by sea.
Hupac Intermodal is to introduce a new timetable for its Zeebrugge – Novara route from June 11, with earlier pick up times in Novara on Wednesdays and Fridays. There are five departures per week in each direction.
Ukrainian Railways intends to call tenders in Q3 2017 for the supply of general purpose wagons. The US$150m procurement is to be financed using the proceeds of a loan from the European Bank for Reconstruction & Development.
On May 31 Genesee & Wyoming Inc announced that it had completed the acquisition of Heart of Georgia Railroad’s parent company Atlantic Western Transportation. Terms were not undisclosed. HOG was founded in 1999 and operates on 350 km of track leased from Georgia Department of Transportation.
OTIF’s Committee of Technical Experts will meet in Bern on June 13-14 to adopt Uniform Technical Prescriptions on Telematics Applications for Freight and to discuss the amendments which would be needed to align the APTU and ATMF appendices with the Fourth Railway Package. The CTE will also work on drafting a new Appendix H to COTIF concerning the safe operation of trains in international traffic, with the aim of extending technical interoperability beyond the EU.
In response to disruption caused by engineering works on the through rail route, TX Logistik is working with European Cargo Logistic to offer rail and ferry connections between Herne in the Ruhr area of Germany and Scandinavia via the port of Lübeck. There are current six services each way per week, and this is expected to increase.
CRRC has delivered a further batch of 20 diesel freight locomotives for the 1 676 mm gauge San Martín network in Argentina. The first two of the new fleet, rated at 3 000 hp and with a maximum speed of 80 km/h, had been delivered from China in December 2016.
