The freight subsidiary of Eurotunnel, Europorte, has been given permission to run on the Belgian rail network. The operator said that Belgium’s location “at the heart of the European crossroads”, presented a number of opportunities for Europorte, the third largest operator in France and the UK. The company is hoping to become a major European rail [...]

Earlier this week, the new North Rail project was officially launched at the port of Felixstowe. This will be the third rail terminal at the UK’s largest freight container port and the first able to handle 30-wagon freight trains, capable of carrying 90teu. The port currently moves around 750,000teu of freight a year and the new [...]

The Rail Freight Group has welcomed the Government decision to progress development of a high speed rail line to the Midlands and North, saying that it would provide useful new capacity for freight and free up rail paths on the existing network.  Others in the rail freight industry fear that the high speed line will [...]

Rail freight from Karachi ceased for six months due to a lack of locomotives starting last July.  Daily freight services will now recommence to clear a backlog of of coal, phosphate and railways material at the port. Container  freight services will restart within 10 days of this. The rail authorities hope to restore the suspended passenger [...]

in 2009 the French government announced plans to promote sustainable freight transport.  Contributing towards this goal are ‘train motorways’ which can take longer trains at higher speeds. This helps to achieve the goal of more freight miles for less carbon.  The first 850 metre long train travelled last week between Perpignan, near the Spanish border, and [...]

A new rail terminal at Felixstowe will be the first in the UK to be able to handle longer, 30-wagon freight trains which allow more containers to be moved on the same infrastructure, and provide greater carbon savings. Felixstowe is already benefitting from two new ship-to-shore gantry cranes and 10 rubber-tyred gantry cranes. The new ship-to-shore [...]

Next year France’s railway network will be modernised at around 1000 locations, as part of a plan to renovate the whole rail structure by 2016. Most of the modernisation work will take place at night, so the impact on rail freight is likely to far greater than on passenger services. The network management company indicated last month [...]

Last week the Government issued Policy Guidance on Strategic Rail Freight Interchanges. This is part of the Logistics Growth Review.  The Government supports the transfer of freight from road to rail, where it is practical and economic to do so. The Chairman of the Rail Freight Group said that the Guidance was a clear and welcome [...]

Councillors in Spalding have welcomed enquiries from developers outside the region to turn the area into a rail freight hub. They view this as a way of securing existing jobs, and creating new ones, in an area which struggles with high unemployment rates. Local residents have signed an 850 strong petition against the development, saying [...]

A dispute between major freight railroads in the USA and labour unions has been running for over a year; in a bid to avert strike action, the White House has appointed a presidential emergency board to try and resolve the talks. This is the first time since 1996 that an emergency board has been appointed [...]

The rail freight route from Detroit to Chicago will begin improvements next year, after being granted $196.5 million from the US Federal Railroad Administration.  Construction should begin in spring next year on new track, fibre optic lines and train control infrastructure.  There will also be improvements at more than 200 highway/rail crossings. The investment should [...]

Today the strike ballot called by the RMT union at Freightliner closes. Managers at Southampton’s main rail freight operator were  balloted for strike action, and action short of a strike, in a dispute over what the RMT calls ‘fair’ pay and working conditions.  According to the union, a strike would have a “massive” impact on services in [...]

In the first half of 2011 almost 50% more trains than in 2010 ran on the freight only railway Betuwe Route, which connects the Port of Rotterdam with the European hinterland. The railway operator attributes the growth partly to a shift from the conventional network and in addition, considerably more ore and coal were transported [...]

On 4 October the Rail Delivery Group published its plans to improve cost efficiency and increase the volume of freight carried by 30%. The scheme to improve UK rail efficienty by 2019 was warmly welcomed, by the Association of Train Operating Companies (ATOC) and the Rail Freight Group amongst others. The Plan priorities for the five year [...]

From September onwards,  the existing rail freight service between Rotterdam and Antwerp will also call at the Rail Service Center in Rotterdam. This creates direct access to the rail freight network in South and South-East Europe. This will help to meet the growing demand for intra-European (‘continental’) rail transport. The existing connection, with three departures [...]

There will be an open auction in Russia next month, to sell 75% of the freight subsidiary of Russian Railways.  There seem to be three main contenders to purchase the business, funds from which will help Russian Railways to finance its future investments.  The funds will be a key element in reforming the freight side [...]

The EU has agreed to co-finance a study to build a new railway yard on the outskirts of Rotterdam in Holland.  The study precedes the construction of the yard, which will give the port more capacity to handle rail freight. The study concerns the design and procurement procedures required to the yard’s capacity.  Rotterdam is [...]

Emerging markets will become more and more important in the global economy, as countries like India and China report growth rates of around 10%, in sharp contrast to the developed Western economies.  The CEO of Agility Europe wrote in the journal of the Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport that logistics providers need to re-examine [...]

Network Rail, the UK rail infrastructure operator, is appointing a Director of Freight to help develop the network to meet the projected increase in rail freight traffic. Responsible for developing the network for freight, he will work with Network Rail’s strategy team. He will also manage relationships with key customer freight operators. The MD of [...]

A spectacular increase in freight traffic has helped Eurotunnel to get back in the black during the first half of 2011.  Truck shuttles increased by 21% over last year, and freight traffic rose by 21%. Many industrial customers have returned to rail freight – according to Eurotunnel – as they have realised that it is [...]

The first of a new series of courses designed by the Rail Freight Group and the Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport has just been completed.  The one day course is for freight buyers who view the rail sector as too complex or costly but want to further investigate moving cargo by rail. The course [...]