Union Pacific is deploying OptRail’s Advanced Movement Planner as part of the CADX system it uses to manage train movements across 23 states. AMP provides real-time information on hundreds of trains, identifies potential delays or disruptions and in some cases can be used to automatically correct potential issues without involving the dispatcher. ‘AMP is not only a sophisticated, state-of-the-art software, it is also the fruit of over a decade of research on the mathematics that underlie the train routing and scheduling problem’, said OptRail co-founder and scientific adviser Prof Carlo Mannino. ‘While the body of literature in this field is vast, it is the first implementation on this scale of a train dispatching tool based on such cutting-edge approaches.’
Canadian Pacific Railway has announced a C$2·2bn debt offering in Canada and a US$6·7bn debt offering in the USA, with the proceeds to be used to fund the cash consideration in the acquisition of Kansas City Southern.
TransContainer, Pantos Logistics and Polish broad gauge operator PKP LHS have launched regular container services from Busan in South Korea to Sławków in Poland, using sea transport to Nakhodka in Russia’s Far East and then rail via the Trans-Siberian route and Ukraine to Poland. The first 60 containers carried electronics, car parts and consumer goods. ‘Our new service is performed along the longest wide-gauge route in the world: in total, a block train runs over more than 11 000 km’, said Vladimir Khlutkov, Asia-Pacific Business Development Director at TransContainer. ’Single gauge transportation saves time since there is no need for transhipment.’
FESCO says it is ready to increase volumes of fish transported from Russia’s Far East, having dispatched its first seven refrigerated containers loaded with pollock from Vladivostok to Moscow, supported by a state subsidy which provides the customer with a 30% discount on the railway tariff.
An £8·3m Department for Transport-funded work package has been completed to enhance capacity on the Bootle branch serving the Port of Liverpool, double-tracking a 400 m single track section to eliminate a bottleneck.
Anacostia Rail Holdings’ Louisville & Indiana Railroad Co has obtained Military Friendly Employer designation, which takes into account applications and employee retention, turnover and advancement.
TransContainer Freight Forwarding (Shanghai) Co has signed memoranda of understanding for co-operation with Orient Silk Road International Transport Service of Shanghai and Wuhan Trans Best Supply Chain Technology Co to develop freight traffic from Chinese ports to Russia and Europe via Russia’s Far East ports. ‘Through co-operation with the Shanghai rail platform we will dispatch up to three block trains loaded with Chinese cargo a month. If the trend remains positive the number of block trains can be increased up to 10-15 a month’, said Vladimir Khlutkov, Asia-Pacific Business Development Director.
FESCO and state organisation Security of Railway Transport of the Russian Federation have agreed to co-operate in the monitoring, tracking and protection of cargo, including security at the Tomsk, Novosibirsk and Khabarovsk terminals.