Ermewa has delivered 102 Tatravagonka Sgmmnss 40 ft four-axle intermodal wagons to Mercitalia Logistics under a long-term lease.
At the 10th International Exhibition of Rail Transportation & Related Industries Equipment in Tehran, Wagon Pars signed contracts to supply 100 grain hopper wagons to Parsian Rail Shargh Co, 50 ballast wagons to Tejarat Kushesh Sepahan, 30 passenger coaches to Bonrail and 100 gas tank wagons to Parsian Railway Transport Development Co. It also signed a deal to buy 1 500 sets of wagon wheels from Kafriz Co.
VTG now offers PJM’s automatic wagon brake testing system as an option. The leasing company said ’the efficiency gain is enormous: for a 500 m long train, manually checking the brakes requires around 40 min and two employees. In contrast, the automatic brake test is carried out by just one person typically in less than 5 min.’
MAPNA Locomotive Engineering & Manufacturing has won a contract to supply 10 MAP30 freight locomotives to Sepahran Rail Rasa Co.
GB Railfreight has opened sidings on the north side of its Peterborough yard to connect its newly opened £5·75m Maintenance Hub to the national rail network. This follows three years of work with Network Rail and contractor KGJ Price, with turnouts installed, existing track slewed to create five intermodal length sidings accessible from both ends, and additional capacity for spare wagons created.
Indian Railways has started test running on a further 112 km section of the Western Dedicated Freight Corridor between Makarpura in Gujurat and Gothangam north of Surat. Welcoming the first train, Minister of Railways Ashwini Vaishnaw commented on October 23 that the completed line would provide an ‘expressway for cargo trains’.
Swedish transport agency Trafikverket has awarded Railcare a SKr403m five-year contract to provide standby locomotives in Borlänge, Gävle, Hallsberg, Ånge, Nässjö and Älmhult from 2025, with two one-year options which would add SKr161m.
‘Our “Make the Plan, Run the Plan, Sell the Plan” approach continued to perform well, delivering strong customer service despite weak consumer demand as well as external challenges’, said CN President & CEO Tracy Robinson when the Class I railroad announced Q3 results on October 24. ‘As volumes continue to improve, we are well positioned to deliver incremental operating leverage. We remain confident in our ability to accelerate sustainable, profitable growth in 2024 through 2026.’ Revenues were down 12% from Q3 last year at C$4·0bn, operating income down 21% at C$1·5bn and diluted earnings per share down 21% at C$1·69.
Volker Pohlmann has been appointed as Managing Director of the Ziel Terminal joint venture formed by Samskip, Duisburger Hafen and TX Logistik to operate the combined transport terminal at Logport III in Duisburg-Hohenbudberg. The 14 ha facility has seven 720 m long transshipment tracks, two shunting tracks and two gantry cranes with an annual handling capacity of up to 250 000 units.
On October 26 Canadian Pacific Kansas City announced Q3 results including revenues of C$3·3bn and diluted earnings per share of C$0·84. ‘We are now more than six months into the CPKC story, and I am pleased with the progress we continue to make in unlocking the value of this unrivalled truly North American network’, said President & CEO Keith Creel. ‘While we encountered challenges this quarter due to a softer macroeconomic environment and external labour disruptions, we remain focused on safely delivering for our customers across this powerful franchise.’