World rail freight news round-up
Transnet Freight Rail recently hosted a security workshop with its customers and the Mineral Council of South Africa to discuss ways of preventing theft, vandalism and sabotage. Plans include eliminating avoidable train stops during operation, establishing safe zones where trains can stop in secured areas, closer collaboration with law enforcement agencies, improving wagon security and investment in technology.
The first direct intermodal service from the Greek port of Thessaloniki to the container terminal in Sofia ran on November 27. Services are scheduled to run weekly during a trial phase until January 2021, with the 350 km to be covered in 16 h.
Afghanistan has set up a joint technical committee including ministries and transport companies to review regulations for freight transfers between road and rail and the operation of heavy lorries.
3Squared has secured a three-year renewal of its contract to provide GB Railfreight with the RailSmart suite of operations, safety and compliance software. ‘GB Railfreight first engaged with 3Squared back in 2014 with the introduction of its Railsmart Employee Development System, and they have been instrumental in partnering with us to deliver our digital roadmap over the last six years’, said Alfredo Giangregorio, Head of IT at GB Railfreight. ‘Our latest collaboration, the award-winning Railsmart Remote Condition Monitoring provides us with real time locomotive telemetry and alerts, allowing our Control, Engineering and Operations teams greater asset and resource management.’
Deborah Butler has joined the board of short line group Patriot Rail & Ports. She has more than 35 years of experience in the rail industry, including at Norfolk Southern where she was Executive Vice-President Planning and CIO.
Canadian Pacific and Hapag-Lloyd have extended their long-term rail service agreement to the end of 2025, and added regular trains from the Port of Saint John, New Brunswick, which CP accesses via the recently acquired Central Maine & Quebec Railway. ‘Through the Port of Saint John, CP enjoys about a 300 km advantage over our competition into Montréal, Toronto and Chicago’, said CP President & CEO Keith Creel. ‘This East Coast advantage bodes well for businesses in Atlantic Canada, customers across our network, and for the broader supply chain.’
Green Cargo has signed an IT framework agreement with consultancy Dynamant covering project ownership, competence development and innovation services. ‘Our collaboration with Dynamant provides us with the right resources to manage and develop the mainframe computer’, said the Swedish freight operator’s CIO Ingo Paas. ‘Dynamant’s specialists help to improve the efficiency of operations, increase operational stability and provide the foundations for continued international growth.’
VTG now offers its FastTrack service at the port of Göteborg, where a block train of 20 80 ft container wagons is made available for ad-hoc online booking around the clock. VTG said this offered a climate friendly alternative for traffic which would otherwise normally by handled by road. SweMaint has set up dedicated in-port capacity for maintenance.
