The city of Schwerin, in northeastern Germany, had been experimenting with an urban concept of rail freight by having parcels delivered by trams. After a little over a year, however, these special trams have stopped running due to a lack of demand and vandalism. The service was being carried out by local public transport company…
Author: Marco Raimondi
Derailment in Norway blocks rail access to Bergen indefinitely
A freight train derailed in Arna, near Bergen (Norway) on the evening of Friday 22 March 2024. No serious injuries were reported, but the railway section connecting Bergen to Vaksdal, part of the Bergen-Oslo line, will be closed with no forecast for a reopening date. The Norwegian Accident Investigation Board said that the derailment occurred…
‘Neighbouring infrastructure managers need to work together’
The RailFreight Summit 24 is only one month away. One of the sessions of the event will revolve around the state of the infrastructure to and from Poland. Imad Jenayeh, Senior Business Development Manager at CFL multimodal, will be one of the speakers, and we had a chat with him as a preview of the…
Rail freight across the Alps dropped, but not because of the Gotthard
Freight transport across the Alps in 2023 decreased both when it comes to road and rail, according to the Swiss Federal Office of Transport (FOT). Concerning rail freight, volumes dropped by 5.9 per cent compared to 2022. The FOT stated that the main cause is the general economic situation in Europe, and not the closure…
MSC plans to build 1,000 wagons in former Wärtsilä plant in Trieste
Shipping giant MSC is working on taking over the industrial area near the port of Trieste formerly occupied by Wärtsilä, a Finnish maritime equipment manufacturer. MSC is planning on reconverting the factory into a rail rolling stock production facility, intending to churn out 1,000 wagons per year. MSC recently held a meeting with various Italian…
Spain allocates 468 millions for the Algeciras-Zaragoza rolling highway
Spain is allocating 468 million euros to carry out necessary upgrades along the future rolling highway between Spain’s largest port in Algeciras and Zaragoza. In total, 43 tunnels and 131 overpasses will be expanded to accommodate combined transport traffic and the tracks will be extended in 13 stations to handle longer freight trains. The first…
Mercitalia Fast is not coming back
Mercitalia Fast, the high-speed rail freight service launched by the Italian national rail freight company will not be reinstated. The locomotives used by Mercitalia Rail for this service were returned to its passenger counterpart Trenitalia, all part of the Ferrovie dello Stato (FS) Group. The service was interrupted in late 2022, with FS saying it…
DB Cargo to be divided into six units?
The German state-owned rail freight operator is facing an uncertain future due to significant losses and proceedings from the European Commission (EC). In an attempt to become profitable, DB Cargo might be divided into six divisions dedicated to different types of transport. The initiative was shared by German media RedaktionsNetzwerk Deutschland (RND), which cites a…
D’Agostino SRL: ‘Investing in intermodality pays off’
The European rail freight sector is facing challenging times, with many companies struggling to remain viable. Despite this, some companies are thriving, like D’Agostino SRL, an Italian transport company that has seen significant growth in its rail modal share, thanks to its focus on intermodality. “Currently, over 70 percent of our sales come from intermodal…
Australia’s largest rail freight operator to phase out diesel locos
Aurizon, the largest rail freight operator in Australia, is planning to invest 18.8 million dollars (17.3 million euros) to phase out diesel fuel and embrace renewable energy sources. The project entails pairing “a big battery-pack on wheels” with modified locomotives to operate as a hybrid unit. Half of the investment is covered by a grant…