Much like the rail and road modalities are clashing in Europe, with the ensuing discussions about rail’s competitiveness, Russia is having similar issues. A recent conference on the topic prompted a sector appeal to the government. The Russian rail freight sector protests the order of priority on the Russian network, on which freight takes last…
Category: Rail freight
Estonian Operail to be auctioned off and privatised
Operail, the Estonian state-owned rail freight operator, is for sale. On 6 June, the government approved the imminent privatisation of the company. It has struggled to maintain profitability following sanctions against Russia and Belarus. Operail is now being auctioned off completely. The Estonian climate ministry had made a proposal to that end, which the government…
Passenger rail to be restored first amid German floods
Floods have engulfed southern Germany during the past week. Rail infrastructure has not been spared by the water. It has caused major disruptions to rail transportation in the region. DB InfraGO says that the priority is now on fixing passenger rail. As floods in southern Germany are causing major disruptions on the rail network, DB…
UK rail freight volumes slightly down for the quarter
Official statistics published today (6 June) by the Office of Rail and Road show that UK rail freight took a slight dip, year on year, in the last quarter (to March 2024). Nevertheless, containers and construction traffic are still, by far, the dominant sectors. The two sectors account for around two-thirds of all freight “net…
RCG’s new Serbian subsidiary to start operations in “the upcoming months”
ÖBB’s cargo subsidiary Rail Cargo Group (RCG) is creating a joint venture with Serbian logistics company Transfera. The enterprise will be headquartered in Belgrade and initially focus on intermodal transport. RCG and Transfera, a Serbian company that organises transportation across various modalities, have signed a partnership agreement for the establishment of a joint venture. Together,…
Russia assigns lowest priority to freight on rail network
Russia is getting a new set of rules determining priority on the rail network from September onwards. Freight is forced to yield to all other types of rail transportation. It remains at the bottom of the priority list, even as crucial trade infrastructure is already at maximum capacity. The new priority system in Russia does…
Kazakh minister beats back: tariff hikes justified
Kazakhstan is in the wake of a series of tariff hikes on the Kazakh rail network. Businesses and parliamentarians have protested the frequent price increases, and the government cancelled an earlier planned hike. Now, the Kazakh transport minister is beating back: the Kazakh network is cheap and the hikes are justified. “We need to point…
Ukrainian Railways grows early-year freight transportation by 30 per cent
Ukrainian Railways (UZ) has achieved year-on-year success by growing its freight transportation by 30 per cent. The growth concerns freight volumes in the period of January to May. At 57 per cent, export volumes grew even more. The total transported volume of freight in the first five months of 2024 amounted to 75,4 million tonnes.…
Ulysse Fret: Is France on the right track to drive rail freight growth?
Never before has France invested as much money in the development of rail freight as it is doing now. Senior executives at rail network manager SNCF Réseau point out a potentially game-changing, multi-year, multi-billion investment programme named Ulysse Fret. In an interview with Railfreight.com, Laurent Marseille, who heads the programme and Paul Mazataud, SNCF Réseau’s…
How July’s elections shape the future of UK’s rail
A UK General Election has been called for 4 July. Most observers were taken by surprise when a rain-soaked prime minister, Sunak, told the waiting press that he had asked The King to dissolve parliament. The campaigning began immediately. Politicians have been eager to make the railways a vote winner. However, the main parties have…