Iran and India have signed an agreement that will enable the purchase of cargo handling equipment for the port of Chabahar. The port, located in the south of Iran and a key node of the International North-South Transport Corridor (INSTC), is operated by India. The question of cargo handling equipment has stalled operations at the…
Category: Rail freight
Freightliner strengthens electric locomotive roster
UK operator Freightliner, part of the American Genesee and Wyoming corporation, has made a pair of locomotive purchases. They come from rival DB Cargo UK, part of the German Deutsche Bahn operation. The two biggest rail freight operators in the UK have agreed a deal that sees a pair of ‘class 90’ electric locomotives transfer…
China to build four rolling stock production sites in Hungary
CCRC Zhuzhou Locomotive, a subsidiary of Chinese state-owned rolling stock manufacturer CCRC, signed agreements with Hungarian equity fund Acemil to build four facilities in the Magyar country. The facilities will focus on rail vehicles production and maintenance as well as professional training and research and development. This new initiative may be part of a larger…
Timber yard planed for Scottish Highlands
The multinational timber processing company West Fraser would like a rail freight terminal at its Highland mill. The company has begun the planning application process. If it is successful it would see raw timber trains arriving at a production plant near Inverness. Finished product trains would depart, potentially heading for customers all over Europe. They…
Kazakhstan to introduce AI and build 5 border hubs by 2030
Kazakhstan intends to expand its logistics infrastructure by five more transport hubs. The hubs are supposed to expand the capacity of the Eurasian transport network. The Central Asian country also plans to introduce AI into its rail operations and expand its railway infrastructure. At a meeting of the Eurasian Economic Union, Kazakh president Kasym-Zhomart Tokayev…
Spain launches reopening feasibility study for trans-Pyrenees railway
The Spanish transport ministry is putting out a tender for a feasibility study for the reopening of the Pau-Canfranc rail line between France and Spain, as well as a direct connection of the line with the Mediterranean Corridor. The study is supposed to research the effect of the infrastructure plans on the circulation of goods…
NGOs express concerns over new Italy-China rail freight service
A new rail freight service for the import of agricultural product was recently established from Urumqi, the capital of the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region in northwestern China to the Italian city of Salerno, near Naples. However, various non-governmental organizations (NGOs) are saying that some of the cargo coming from the Chinese region may be the…
NGOs express concerns over new Italy-China rail freight service
A new rail freight service for the import of agricultural product was recently established from Urumqi, the capital of the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region in northwestern China to the Italian city of Salerno, near Naples. However, various non-governmental organizations (NGOs) are saying that some of the cargo coming from the Chinese region may be the…
Construction on CKU line to start in October 2024
Construction on the China-Kyrgyzstan-Uzbekistan (CKU) rail line will start in October 2024, according to Kyrgyz president Sadyr Zhaparov. Negotiations on the line have been long ongoing, and many uncertainties around financing remain. The CKU line is supposed to shorten travel times between China and Europe by 8 days and reduce the distance by 900 kilometres.…
SNCF chief to step down amid retirement deal controversy
Jean-Pierre Farandou, the current chief of the French railway holding SNCF, will step down on 13 May. However, he will maintain his position until a successor is named, which will be after the Paris Olympic Games coming this summer. Farandou has been under the spotlight over the past couple of days after France’s Finance and…