Austrian operator Frachtbahn, which was founded in October 2019, has applied its own livery to a Siemens Vecton locomotive leased from ELL. The loco was named ’Sophie’ after the founder’s daughter in a ceremony at the operator’s first customer Borealis’s site in the Linz chemical park.
Alstom is to retrofit its Atlas ETCS Baseline 3 Release 2 equipment to an initial DB Cargo DE6400 freight locomotive in support of plans for cross-border freight trains to use ETCS in Belgium from December 2024 and the Netherlands from December 2026. Under the contract for the prototype installation, the existing Dutch ATB-EG and ATB-NG systems and the Belgian TBL1+ will be integrated with the ETCS. The project is co-financed by the EU’s Connecting Europe Facility and the Dutch Ministry of Infrastructure & Water Management.
CRRC Shandong has delivered 140 Laaers 560.3 car transporter wagons to Deutsche Bahn.
Mercitalia Rail has begun taking delivery of 100 Shimmns steel coil wagons ordered through Ermewa and built by Inveho. The 90 tonne, four-axle covered wagons have GPS tracking and provision for digital automatic couplers.
Anacostia Rail Holdings’ six short lines have become certified Partners of the US Environmental Protection Agency’s SmartWay framework to track and reduce emissions and fuel use. Pacific Harbor Line was the first short line to join SmartWay in 2014, and has now been joined by the Chicago South Shore & South Bend Railroad, Gulf Coast Switching Co, Louisville & Indiana Railroad, New York & Atlantic Railway and Northern Lines Railway.
US logistics company Savage is to use a customised yard and industrial shunting 3D simulation training package developed with PS Technology. ‘The vast majority of rail simulation technology in the marketplace is geared towards work on main line track which doesn’t address where most incidents occur’, said Armando Tirado, Savage Vice-President & Industrial Rail Unit Leader. ‘Working with PST, we’re able to bridge that gap and further extend our locomotive simulation training, improving safety and increasing the ROI on our technology investment.’
United Wagon Co’s TikhvinChemMash plant is to supply 109 methanol tank wagons to fertiliser company EuroChem by the end of August.
The Short Line Safety Institute has published an annual report aggregating the results of Safety Culture Assessments completed at US railways. ‘The 2020 analysis documents areas of continued strength across railroads, such as valuing safety above competing priorities, leadership’s commitment to safety and modelling safe behaviours, and employees feeling empowered to work safely and report safety concerns’, said Executive Director Tom Murta. ‘The study also highlighted areas where the SLSI can be helpful, and we will seek to develop solutions for short line railroads to meet identified needs.’
OmniTRAX has launched its Rail-Ready Sites programme on the Cleveland & Cuyahoga Railroad with support from northeast Ohio economic development partner Team NEO. OmniTRAX and Team NEO are marketing four sites, with connections to Norfolk Southern and the Wheeling & Lake Erie Railway.