Nurminen Logistics plans to launch a regular container train service from the port of Helsinki to China via Russia and Kazakhstan in the final quarter of this year. The company reports that demand for Finnish railway transport services grew considerably in H1 2018, boosted by container transport from Finland to China and the commencement of export deliveries within its project business.
Ahead of a final investment decision expected by the end of the year, Rio Tinto has approved A$146m of funding for detailed engineering work, the development of a rail construction camp and the first stage of the accommodation camp for the proposed Koodaideri iron ore project 110 km from Newman in the Pilbara region of Western Australia. If approved, construction is scheduled to begin in 2019 with first production expected in 2021.
Trans-Trading is handling Siemens Vectron locomotives which are being shipped to Finnish operator VR through the German port of Lübeck; 11 are to be delivered this year. Mobile cranes with Trans-Trading lifting gear are used to transfer the locomotives from rail onto heavy-duty roll trailers, which are then put onboard a Transfennica ship. 'Loading of these heavyweights is something very special' according to Uwe Wolter, Project Manager at Trans-Trading. 'The securing of the locomotives on the roll trailer is very demanding and ambitious, but due to many years of experience and know-how, all work can be carried out appropriately and according to the regulations.'
Federal Freight Co is carrying bulk construction materials on flat wagons on Russian Railways’ Severnaya Railway because of a shortage of open wagons.
Construction group Galliford Try commissioned S Jones Containers to design and supply three crane control cabins for the Knowsley Rail Transfer Loading Station in northwest England, where domestic waste is transferred from 90 lorries to sealed containers for onward transport on two trains per day to an incinerator at Wilton on Teesside. The specification required 2 h integrity of the external fire cladding, large glass windows with 30 min fire protection rating and 2 h rated internal fire shutters over the windows designed to shut automatically in the event of a fire alarm.