On February 19 CargoBeamer is to introduce a thrice-weekly service from Domodossola in northern Italy to Bari in the south. It will be available for craneable and non-craneable semi-trailers, containers, swap bodies, silo- and Frigo trailers as well as the transport of waste. Traction will be provided by Sangritana, and a partnership with Grimaldi Lines will offer a single through booking between Kaldenkirchen and Patras in Greece.
Empire Diversified Energy has established the Empire River Rail short line to support the development of the Port of West Virginia on the Ohio River in Follansbee as a full-service tri-modal facility.
The rail freight operations of Bouches-du-Rhône département transport authority RDT13 have been taken over by Marseille transport authority RTM’s newly-created railway department.
Czech operator Orlen Unipetrol Doprava has ordered four more Siemens Mobility Vectron MS locomotives to be delivered by the end of 2025 to augment its fleet of seven delivered in two batches in 2017-23.
Mercitalia Rail has begun taking delivery of 20 Class 494 Alstom Traxx DC3 electric locos ordered in September 2022 as an option on a 2017 contract for 40.
Canadian Pacific Kansas City is the third Class I railway to join the RailPulse Coalition of wagon owners who are working to accelerate the use of GPS and other telematics technologies to increase safety, efficiency and visibility across North America’s rail freight industry.
The Railway Supply Institute has submitted comments to the Federal Railroad Administration supporting a proposed rule that wagons operating in the USA and sensitive onboard technology cannot be manufactured in a ‘country of concern’.
The Afghanistan Railway Authority has told local media that import and export traffic on the railway from Iran to Rozanak in Herat province will begin during February. The line was officially inaugurated in December 2020, but commercial services had not begun by the time of the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan the following year.
LKW Walter and CFL Multimodal have launched an intermodal serve running three times week between Bettembourg-Dudelange and the port of Lübeck, with sea connections to Sweden and Finland. Traction will be managed by CFL Cargo.
Union Pacific has appointed Andrew Brady as Vice-President, External Relations following the retirement of Printz Bolin at the end of February. Prior to joining UP five years ago, Brady was AVP Government Affairs at the Association of American Railroads.
The Midwest Association of Rail Shippers elected officers for 2024 are: President Matt O’Kray, Transtar; First Vice-President Steve Blinn, Norfolk Southern; and Second Vice-President, Luke Jones, GATX. The Immediate Past President is Kathy Bathurst. Tony Kazakevicius, Director of Sales & Marketing at Chicago South Shore & South Bend Railroad, has joined the MARS Executive Committee.