Author: Marco Raimondi

New Italy-Serbia service for the sake of intermodality

A new intermodal rail freight service connecting the Cervignano Intermodal Terminal, near Trieste, and the Pančevo Dry Port Terminal, near Belgrade, will start operations on 11 May. The service can be seen as the evolution of a block train service which was running between the terminal in Italy and the Indija terminal in Serbia. A…

Proof of Concept for paperless transport to be expected this fall

The deployment of electronic freight transport information (eFTI), is one of the pillars of the EU’s attempt to decarbonise the freight industry. The policy aims at digitalising freight transport documents, most of which are still currently circulating in a physical form. RailFreight.com had a chat with Eva Killar, Head of Mobility Development and Investments Department…

Another Ukraine-Lithuania rail freight connection is in the works

Ukrainian Railways (UZ) and the Lithuanian railway holding LTG Group agreed to develop a new freight service between Kyiv and Klaipėda. “The first test runs of the intermodal cargo transportation route are planned for this year”, LTG added. The initiative is still in its early stages, as a Memorandum of Understanding was recently signed by…

Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway to open for traffic in two weeks

Freight trains will start running along the newly renovated Baku-Tbilisi-Kars (BTK) railway on 20 May 2024. The plan is to turn the line into the main artery of the Middle Corridor and further boost Eurasian rail freight transport, according to Roshvan Rustamov, Chairman of Azerbaijan Railways (ADY). Rustamov mentioned that the works on the Georgian…

CargoBeamer wants to build a terminal near German-Czech border

CargoBeamer, a German company specialised in the rail transport of non-cranable semi-trailers recently signed a Letter of Intent to launch the construction of a new terminal in Saxony, the German region bordering with Czechia. It needs to be mentioned that this project is still in its early stages, but there are various reasons behind it,…

Hannibal to launch new Italy-Hungary-Romania connection

Hannibal, the multimodal subsidiary of Contship, will launch a new rail freight service connecting Milan to Budapest and Curtici. The company expects to commence operations by the end of this year. The service will connect the Rail Hub Melzo, east of Milan, with the BILK terminal in Budapest and the Arad terminal in Curtici. The…

Italian region near Slovenia shares environmental concerns on Divača-Koper project

The Italian region of Friuli Venezia Giulia (FVG), which borders Slovenia, asked for more details concerning the environmental impact of the doubling of the Divača-Koper line. “The Region considers that technical investigations into the documentation received from Slovenia are necessary”, the region claimed. FVG is asking for more detailed information to be included in the…

Raising awareness about digital sustainability in rail

The European Union aims to make the transport sector and supply chain more eco-friendly, typically focusing on vehicle emissions and infrastructure upgrades. Yet, a crucial aspect often overlooked is digital pollution. At the RailFreight Summit ’24, Willem Jan Groenewoud, CEO of Ab Ovo, shed light on this issue and proposed solutions. Groenewoud created a sense…

Germany, Austria and Switzerland ask for EU-wide DAC commitment

The governments of Germany, Austria and Switzerland said that their efforts in the context of deploying Digital Automatic Coupling (DAC) “are necessary, but not sufficient”. They are asking for the creation of an EU-wide funding mechanism, financial commitment from all Member States and strong foundations from the sector. Germany, Austria and Switzerland are thus asking…