Digitalising railways in Africa 
From 25 to 27 February 2019 South Africa will host the first summit meeting on the digitalisation of railway networks on the African continent. The event will be organised in Cape Town by the International Union of Railways (UIC), the NEPAD planning and coordination agency... more
Improving rail traffic for Vancouver’s port
The Government of Canada, the Vancouver Fraser Port Authority and Canadian National Railways (CN) have signed an agreement to upgrade key infrastructure in the Greater Vancouver area. The project is part of a long-term strategy to increase capacity and grade-separate the... more
Czech locomotives ordered Emilia Romana region
CZ Loko has won a tender to supply two EffiShunter 1000 locomotives to the Italy-based TPER joint stock company. The latter also has an option for another four units. The shunters will be used by TPER's subsidiary Dinazzano PO, a long-term customer of CZ Loko, already operates... more
Estonian carrier shifts goods from road to rail
Estonia’s state-owned transport and logistics company, Operail, operated its first train service on the domestic Tartu-Sillamäe-Tartu container line last week. The company says that the container line from Tartu to the port of Muuga, which went into operation last year, has... more
More contracts collared, but turnover shrinks
Green Cargo, a state-owned railfreight enterprise in Sweden, has posted its 2018 annual results. They were impacted by decreasing transport volumes, rising fixed costs and extreme weather conditions. The 2018 turnover sank by 4% to SEK 4.21 billion (EUR 402 million). The... more
Roll-out of direct Belgium to Italy rail link
H.Essers and the private railway company Lineas Intermodal have launched a direct freight train service between Genk (Belgium) to Trieste (Italy). Currently running twice per week, the offer will be stepped up to thrice weekly at a later date. Thanks to this new link,... more
Swiss watchdogs check out Gateway Basel Nord
Switzerland’s competition commission (Weko) is to examine the proposed merger of SBB, Hupac and Rethmann. The three companies want to jointly build Gateway Basel Nord (GBN), a hub for import/export traffic, transalpine transit traffic, and road/rail/barge transhipment services.... more
More trucks for asphalt haulage
Liquid foodstuffs, dry and liquid bulk, chemicals and asphalt: there are many uses for tank and silo trailers – and their deployment often generates more attractive margins compared to palletised freight. Hauliers who want to operate risk-free in the tank and silo business... more
Anniversary run of express container train
Uzbekistan Railway first organised an express container rail service in October 2018, with the aim of supporting domestic producers, representatives of small and medium-sized businesses, and private entrepreneurship. The express box train, which recently ran for the... more
BNSF to expand rail network in NE USA
The US class I railway BNSF is to invest USD 3.57 billion in 2019. The focus will be on maintaining and expanding the rail network for about USD 2.47 billion. The maintenance projects include 19,300 km of track surfacing and/or undercutting work, and the replacement of 860... more