The Spanish government rejected a proposal to advance the reopening of the Ruta de la Plata to 2040 instead of 2050. The railway, stretching along the Portuguese border up to the Atlantic Ocean, was an important rail freight corridor in the 20th century but a significant section has been closed since the mid-1990s. The proposal…
Category: Infrastructure
KTZ temporarily bans agricultural exports to China after border overload
Kazakh Railways (KTZ) has temporarily banned the export of agricultural goods via rail to China. KTZ explains the ban by referring to overloaded border crossings. At the Dostyk and Khorgos border crossings, 180 and 100 covered goods wagons respectively are waiting to be processed. According to KTZ, the Chinese railways do not unload the wagons…
Bridge in Russia collapses onto rail tracks: Traffic restored in a day
A road bridge in Russia has collapsed onto rail tracks. The debris of the bridge blocked the main rail line between Russia and Belarus. While the consequences for train traffic were initially unclear, traffic on the rail line resumed in about a day. The Paninsky bridge in the Russian town of Vyazma collapsed onto rail…
Poland to invest over a billion euros in Silesia rail infrastructure
The Polish rail Infrastructure Manager PKP PLK will invest over a billion euros in rail infrastructure. The operator signed contracts for rail upgrades in the country’s southern region of Silesia. With the investments, Poland hopes to reduce traffic congestion and improve connectivity on TEN-T corridors. PKP PLK signed two contracts with a value of over…
Spain introduces new scheme to keep an eye on track access charges
Despite being one of the countries with the lower track access charges for rail freight in Europe, Spain is implementing a new scheme to supervise the fees adopted by the country’s infrastructure manager Adif. The new plan was recently approved by the Spanish National Market and Competition Commission (CNMC). If for rail freight the track…