Pesa demonstrated its SM42-6Dn hydrogen shunting locomotive at various freight sites in Sweden during May, in co-operation with Hankavik and Väte Rail. ‘Swedish railways quickly adapt to the latest trends’, said Jan Bończyk, the supplier’s Director of Sales for Foreign Railway Markets. ‘This is a promising market for us.’ Väte plans to introduce hydrogen shunting locomotives by 2028, and Pesa is working on projects for another hydrogen locomotive design and a hydrogen-electric passenger vehicle.’
Kazakhstan’s KTZ has received certification for the first of 62 CKD6S shunting locos being supplied by CRRC Ziyang this year. Another 38 are planned to be delivered in the first half of 2026. They will be based at Karaganda and Pavlodar where services centres are to be developed with the manufacturer, as well as at Astana.
The International Union for Road-Rail Combined Transport has issued a position paper calling for the full implementation of the ‘Rotterdam Clause’ in the European Commission’s proposal for the TSI Telematics Application for Freight. UIRR says the selective sharing of data to plan, forecast, track and trace the movement of goods must be possible without administrative, legal, contractual and prohibitive investment barriers. However, making all data publicly accessible is unnecessary and is contrary to business confidentiality, competition rules and the interests of the intermodal freight sector and its clients, it adds.
KiwiRail has announced that its Cook Strait train ferry Aratere will be withdrawn no later than August 30. New ferries are due to arrive in 2029. ‘We have talked to our customers and others and confirmed a new two-ship timetable and the co-ordinating rail timetable’, said Interislander Executive General Manager Duncan Roy on May 19. ‘ We have also been developing our plan for successful “road bridging” during the transition period to the new rail-enabled ships and this work, including new equipment purchase and additional staffing, is on-track.’
A Laaers wagon delivered in early May is the 50 000th wagon in leasing company Ermewa’s fleet. It has a portfolio of 120 wagon types, and over the past five years the average age of the wagons has been reduced by five to seven years, depending on the type. ‘The future of freight transport lies in efficient wagon solutions that meet the specific requirements of our customers and the changing freight structures’, said Managing Director Peter Reinshagen.
Maritime Transport has launched two intermodal rail services operated by GB Railfreight which connect DP World London Gateway with its inland terminals at Hams Hall and iPort Doncaster. ‘London Gateway is seeing strong growth in container volumes, supported by its role in the Gemini Cooperation’s Asia – Europe network and a major expansion project that will further strengthen its position as one of the UK’s leading deep-sea ports’, said John Bailey, Managing Director Intermodal at Maritime Transport. ’These new rail services provide the additional capacity needed to support that growth, enhance our national network, and enable a more meaningful shift from road to rail as part of a lower-carbon, more efficient UK supply chain.’ Routes currently in development include Felixstowe to Manchester, London Gateway to the East Midlands and Southampton to the SEGRO Logistics Park near Northampton.
In order to boost the its rail freight advocacy capacity, the Australasian Railway Association has appointed Roz Chivers as Rail Freight Policy Manager to support Georgia Nichols, GM of Rail Freight & Heavy Haul. Chivers was CEO of the Bus Industry Confederation and is a former Deputy CEO of the Australian Local Government Association.
Pinsly Railroad Co has appointed Arthur Chandler as Vice-President of Engineering, responsible for overseeing its annual capital spending program and leading initiatives across the Pinsly Engineering team. Chandler has 20 years of railroad industry experience, having spent half of his career with CSX and the other half with Genesee & Wyoming.
