The Italian rail freight sector had to deal with various hiccups throughout 2023 which led to a general drop across the whole industry. RailFreight.com had a chat with Giuseppe Rizzi, managing director of Italy’s largest rail freight association FerMerci to better understand this trend and the causes behind it. “There seems to be a lack […]
Category: Business
PJSC TransContainer in U.S. sanctions list: “Business continues as usual,” says company
Russian intermodal container operator PJSC TransContainer is included in the latest sanction package published by the U.S. Department of the Treasury. The Russia-based company will no longer be able to conduct business with U.S. entities. PJSC TransContainer’s official statement on the matter underlines that “the company’s operating activities continue as usual,” while its subsidiaries based […]
Lineas sets up new route to facilitate COSCO’s disrupted sea services
Lineas has set up a new rail freight connection between Zeebrugge in Belgium and Graz in Austria. The service is launched in collaboration with CSP Zeebrugge, a COSCO Shipping Lines terminal. The purpose is to keep COSCO’s supply chain towards Austria running since traffic that used to be directed there via the Greek port of […]
LTG Cargo runs first cross-Baltic cargo train pilot
Lithuanian rail operator LTG Cargo has run its first continuous pilot train across all Baltic countries. It is the company’s first independently run cargo train traversing all three Baltic states. As Baltic rail operators have faced financial difficulties due to a loss of freight from and to Russia and Belarus, they seek to diversify their […]
DB Cargo restructuring: massive job cuts or not?
DB Cargo is attempting to improve its loss-making performance, and plans entail restructuring the company’s business. In doing so, Europe’s largest freight operator aims to outsource a large part of operations to other companies, some of them DB subsidiaries. This process will open the way for DB to focus closely on the remaining operations by […]
METRANS expands Southeast Europe business with Adria Rail’s acquisition
METRANS has just completed the full acquisition of AdriaRail Group. The company had taken over 51 per cent of Adria Rail’s stakes in March 2023, while now it has proceeded to acquire the remaining 49 per cent. “We have reached another important milestone in the expansion of our European network,” commented Peter Kiss, CEO of […]
Private investment reactivates French domestic rail freight service
Soprema, a French company specialising in waterproofing, roofing, soundproofing and thermal insulation, has invested 150,000 euros in re-activating a domestic rail freight service between Strasbourg and Rouen. Inaugurated last month and linking eastern and western France, the service will take 200-400 trucks off the road, reduce greenhouse gas emissions by more than 50 per cent […]
Estonian Operail announces full privatisation in order to save itself
Estonian national rail operator Operail has announced a new business strategy that involves full privatisation. The privatisation is a necessary step to find additional financial sources. According to the company, privatisation will also enable the expansion of operations into foreign markets. Operail has been struggling financially after the implementation of sanctions against Russia and Belarus. […]
Stadler to produce 130 electric freight locomotives for Spanish operators
Stadler will produce 130 electric freight locomotives for various Spanish operators. The company intends to supply the trains between 2024 and 2026. Currently, Spain operates between 400 and 500 freight locomotives. The company has signed contracts with nearly all of the country’s railway operators for the delivery of ‘Euro6000’ electric freight locomotives and aims to […]
Russia and China see record rail freight volumes in 2023
Russia and China have reached a new record rail freight volume between the two countries. The total freight volume going through Russia’s Far East border crossings grew by 26 per cent from 2022, amounting to nearly 44 million tonnes. This number includes traffic to and from Mongolia. The total freight volume among all transport modalities […]