The Spanish Ministry of Transport (MITMA) recently assigned contracts for the implementation of the standard gauge (1435mm) in key rail freight locations. The projects concern the area of Valladolid in the north and the Bobadilla-Algeciras railway in the south. The Bobadilla-Algeciras line is a starting point for both the TEN-T Atlantic and Mediterranean corridors. Algeciras…
Author: Marco Raimondi
Switzerland asks ERA to update EU contract on the use of freight wagons
In the European Union, the use and maintenance of rail freight wagons is regulated by two directives, one from 2006 for their use and one from 2019 for their maintenance. The Swiss Federal Office of Transport (FOT) is asking the European Railway Agency (ERA) to make a clear statement for the revision of the oldest…
RCG launches new connections to Germany and Turkey via Romania
Austrian rail freight operator Rail Cargo Group recently launched two new connections from Munich, in southern Germany, and from Tekirdag, in northwestern Turkey. The centre of this initiative is Curtici, in western Romania, as the two new services are Munich-Curtici and Curtici-Tekirdag. In other words, Curtici becomes the RCG gateway to connect Turkey and Germany.…
Not only wagons: MSC plans to build bogies in Trieste as well
MSC is in talks to take over the industrial site formerly used by Finnish maritime equipment manufacturer Wärtsilä in the port of Trieste. The shipping giant claimed it wants to use the area to build 1,000 rail freight wagons every year. Moreover, it seems as if the company wants to launch the production of rail…
Railway to Bergen reopens, freight traffic restarts
As of last night, freight trains are running again along the railway connecting Oslo and Bergen, as Henning Aandal, the CEO of OnRail, told RailFreight.com. Rail access to Bergen was impeded after a derailment in Arna on Friday 22 March 2024. The derailment was a significant thorn in the side for operators active in the…
Last-minute call avoided tragedy in Norwegian train derailment
The dynamic of the recent train derailment in Norway is still unclear. What is currently known is that the train driver and an employee who helped to prepare the train are under investigation. Moreover, a last-minute emergency call saved the day, allowing a passenger train transiting in the same tunnel to stop and avoid a…
First indicative offers for DB Schenker are in
The sale of DB Schenker, the logistics arm of Deutsche Bahn (DB), seems to have entered a new phase. The deadline for submitting indicative, non-binding offers was Tuesday, 26 March, and at least seven interested parties bade. The amount of the offers has not been shared yet, but the value of the company is set…
Accident in Norway: ‘Some cargo will have to wait for the reopening of the line’
There currently is no rail freight traffic between Oslo and Bergen due to the recent derailment in Arna. “Some of the containers will just have to wait for the reopening of the line”, said a spokesperson from CargoNet, the rail freight operator most active on the route. The company usually runs six trains per direction…
DB and GDL strike deal for collective bargaining agreement
Deutsche Bahn (DB) and the German Locomotive Drivers’ Union (GDL) finally sealed the deal on a new collective bargaining agreement (CBA). The CBA will be retroactively implemented from 1 November 2023 and will last until 31 December 2025. One of the main bones of contention between GDL and DB is that the union wanted to…
UPS puts parcels on rail with CargoBeamer
Parcel giant UPS has been testing rail freight transport services between its hubs in Milan, in northern Italy, and Herne, in western Germany. The tests, in cooperation with CargoBeamer, started in October, with two UPS swap bodies loaded on the CargoBeamer trains every day per direction. This seems to be the first time UPS is…