Principal contractor Trans4m has completed major construction on the Narrabri to North Star Phase 1 section of Australia’s Inland Rail project after 2½ years. This involved renewing 176 km of the existing rail corridor, including replacing seven bridges and 57 level crossings and adding earthworks to raise the formation to boost flood resilience.
Leasing company European Loc Pool has obtained approval for the operation of Stadler Euro9000 electro-diesel locomotives in Switzerland. Approvals for Germany and Austria have already been obtained, Belgium and the Netherlands are expected in the coming weeks, and Italy is to follow in 2024. ‘We believe that this locomotive will fundamentally change rail freight transport in Europe’, said ELP CEO Willem Goosen on November 2.
The European Rail Freight Association has published a position paper on proposals to revise the EU Weights & Dimensions Directive, calling for significant amendments as the text ‘currently favours more polluting and energy consuming road only traffic, threatens rail-road interoperability, will generate other negative externalities and a substantial reverse modal shift’.
Logistics company XPO has launched a daily road and rail route between Italy and Germany using P400 semi-trailers which travel 900 km by rail from Domodossola to Duisburg. It mainly transports retail goods, food and automotive components.
A study by the Volpe Institute found that 20 short line railways which completed an initial Safety Culture Assessment conducted by the Short Line Safety Institute as well as a follow-up Time 2 Assessment had shown measurable safety culture improvements across all 10 Core Elements of a Strong Safety Culture, as defined by the US Department of Transportation Safety Council.
Tobard Klemke has been appointed Head of Sales at Retrack Germany, joining from Lübecker Hafen-Gesellschaft, and Tobias Rost has been appointed Business Development Manager for Rail Transport, having previously been European Sales Director at CargoBeamer. Mario Lier has been appointed Sales & Product Design team leader.
Norfolk Southern has completed the removal of more than 150 000 tonnes of soil from the area of the February 2023 derailment in East Palestine, Ohio. The next phase of the environmental remediation programme will include backfilling excavated areas and continued assessment of soil and water courses.