The Eastern Adriatic Sea Port Authority, which manages Italy’s largest port in Trieste, was awarded the status of rail infrastructure manager from the National Agency for Railway and Road Infrastructure Safety (ANSFISA). With the new certification, which is a first-of-its-kind for an Italian port, the Authority can now manage the infrastructure of the whole facility. […]
Author: Marco Raimondi
Who stands to benefit from the Weights and Dimensions Directive?
The Weights and Dimensions Directive (WDD) is one of the pillars of the Greening Freight Package (GFP), a bundle of measures proposed by the European Union to make all modes of transport more sustainable. However, finding a solution that satisfies all the parties involved seems to remain a Herculean task, as none of the various […]
Rail Cargo Group starts construction of new Wels terminal
The Austrian national rail freight company Rail Cargo Group (RCG) started the upgrade of the rail terminal in Wels, roughly 30 kilometres southwest of Linz. The four loading tracks will be extended from 580 to 700 metres to accommodate longer block trains. The total investment for the terminal upgrade, which will be shared by RCG […]
Frejus Railway reopening might be delayed even further
The works to repair the Frejus Railway, the main railway border crossing between France and Italy, may need more time than previously expected. Emmanuel Manier Director of the Southeast Engineering Zone for SNCF Réseau, recently said that it might be necessary to demolish and completely rebuild the Frejus rail tunnel. This process, he said, would […]
French region to fill the financial gap for Turin-Lyon access routes
The French region of Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, which includes Lyon, said it is willing to cover the 20 million euros missing for the studies for the French access routes to the future Turin-Lyon railway. The region President, Laurent Wauquiez, claimed that the money allocation is dependent on state investments in everyday mobility in the region. The French […]
CER urges for more pragmatism in rail capacity allocation
The Community of European Railway and Infrastructure Companies (CER) said Europe needs a more pragmatic approach to reach the goals set by the Green Deal. For rail freight, this means “more flexibility on short-term capacity allocation”, as CER mentioned. The need for more concrete solutions was brought up on Tuesday, 23 January, during a meeting […]
DB vs GDL: strike ends, negotiations to resume
The strike announced by the German Train Drivers (GDL) trade union between 23-29 January ended 24 hours earlier than planned. This means that for rail freight, trains started running again in the evening of Sunday, 28 January. GDL will now sit back at the negotiating table with Deutsche Bahn (DB) between 5 February and 3 […]
Faster wagon damage reporting: how can it be achieved?
Marcus Roth is a software developer based in Frankfurt, and Thomas Heydenreich is a rail freight consultant based in Hamburg. Together, they ‘digitally’ founded RailAppSolutions to improve the exchange of information concerning wagon damage reports. More recently, they launched TrainChecker, an app that allows quicker wagon inspections via a photograph, thus speeding up rail freight […]
Volkswagen Navarra slightly reduced rail freight volumes in 2023
The Volkswagen Navarra factory in Pamplona, near the Spanish border with France, has slightly reduced the volumes they move via rail. Between 2022 and 2023, there was a decrease from 54.1 per cent to 51.9 per cent in the number of units the company moved via freight trains. Despite the last drop, the company claimed […]
EU Commission wants to extend trade liberalisation agreements for Ukraine
The European Commission wants to extend the measures concerning the liberalisation of agricultural trade between the EU and Ukraine. David Clarinval, Deputy Prime Minister of Belgium, the country holding the EU presidency, said that Member States will soon receive information about the initiative. EU Trade Commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis added the Commission will present amendments to […]