ITC has announced plans to build and operate the A$400m Somerton Intermodal Terminal at the Austrak Business Park north of Melbourne by 2025. It said the 45 ha facility able to handle 1·8 km double-stack trains would ‘provide a Melbourne book-end for Inland Rail’ from 2027-28, and be the first in its planned national network of independently-owned and operated terminals. Coleman Rail has been appointed as main contractor.
Class III short line Iowa Northern Railway is to use Comply365’s mobile platform to digitise its rulebooks, bulletins, special instructions and other mission-critical documents. Crews will be able to quickly find the operational content they need by searching and filtering to only relevant information, while adding personal annotations, bookmarks and highlights to their documents, which will be retained across revisions.
ÖBB Rail Cargo Group ran its first test block timber train from Germany to Bosnia during December, travelling 1 435 km from Giessen to Natron-Hayat’s paper mill in Maglaj. RGC handled transport through Austria and Croatia, and its partners in the other countries. Further trains are planned.
An express wagon leasing programme has been launched by Russian manufacturer United Wagon Co and Baltic Leasing, which will provide 0% financing for up to 60 months with a preliminary decision available within one business day. Contract durations can be agreed to avoid the need for major maintenance, reducing the financial burden on the lessee.
Port Boulogne Calais reports that more than 42 000 units used VIIA’s rolling motorway trains to or from the port of Calais in 2022, a 60% increase on 2021, which was itself a record year.
DP World is investing £12m in two rail mounted gantry cranes at London Gateway, increasing rail capacity by 50% to meet ‘fast growing’ demand for connections from the port which will increase its capacity by a third when a fourth berth opens next year.
The Midwest Association of Rail Shippers’ 2023 officers are President Kathy Bathurst (CSX); First Vice-President Matt O’Kray (Transtar); and Second Vice-President Steve Blinn (Norfolk Southern). The Immediate Past President is Carrie Evans (Iowa Interstate Railroad). New members of the executive committee are Peggy Emeis (Watco); Doug Grewe (Packaging Corp of America); Brian Jonaitis (The Indiana Railroad Co); and Grant Keyser (TrinityRail). Executive Director Tracy Stein replaces William Schauer who has retired after 15 years.
