Luxembourg’s CFL has opened a 7 000 m2 locomotive and wagon maintenance workshop in Bettembourg, along with secure parking for lorries. This ‘marks a new stage in the implementation of the one-stop-shop concept that we have developed on the Bettembourg-Dudelange site’, said CEO Marc Wengler. ‘Our goal is to offer essential services for users of the Terminal and the Logistics Park, road hauliers, intermodal train operators and railway companies, and to give them good reasons to use the Bettembourg-Dudelange site to organise their European logistics activities.’
Freight One has bought FGK’s fleet of almost 5 000 covered vans for 11·7bn roubles, meaning it now manages a third of the vans in Russia. FGK will now focus on the provision of open and flat wagons.
UIC and UIRR have prepared a comparative analysis on combined transport usage and standards, which was presented through a webinar attended by more than 100 participants. The study forms part of work commissioned by the European Union Agency for Railways to facilitate intermodal activities and boost integration between rail and other modes. Key recommendations include the creation of a specific TSI on combined transport covering infrastructure, operations, traffic management and rolling stock, as well as subsystem aspects relating to the interoperability of Intermodal Loading Units when loaded on rail wagons.
Under the banner of ‘Parcels as Passengers’, the UK’s Rail Innovation Group has launched a pan-industry workstream to assess the potential for developing new types of freight and logistics traffic. An initial meeting in mid-October brought together representatives from the Department for Transport, Network Rail, Rail Operations Group, Rail Delivery Group, HS1 Ltd, plus Logistics UK, DPD, DHL and Royal Mail Group. A follow-up session is planned for January.
From January to September 2021, container traffic transported in both directions between China and Europe over infrastructure owned by Russian Railways increased by 47% compared to the same nine-month period last year, RZD reported on October 21. The 568 700 TEU handled in the nine months was more than in the whole of 2020, when 561 400 loaded and empty TEU were moved.
DB Cargo UK used the opening of a new £7m freight terminal at Cricklewood in north London on October 20 to launch its ‘Freight belongs on rail’ campaign, which is seeking to persuade the British government to set legally binding targets for modal shift from road. The Cricklewood terminal will primarily handle aggregates for the construction industry, supporting major projects including High Speed 2 and the redevelopment of the nearby Brent Cross area. ‘With the recent publication of the Williams-Schapps Plan for Rail and the well-documented challenges currently being faced by road hauliers, there has never been a better time for government to promote rail freight as the way forward’, said DB Cargo UK Chief Executive Andrea Rossi.