{"id":161122,"date":"2024-12-24T18:46:23","date_gmt":"2024-12-24T08:46:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.railfreight.com\/?p=58707"},"modified":"2024-12-24T18:46:23","modified_gmt":"2024-12-24T08:46:23","slug":"uk-tarmac-gets-vtg-iwagon-advantage-too","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/?p=161122","title":{"rendered":"UK Tarmac gets VTG iWagon advantage too"},"content":{"rendered":"

They are one of Britain\u2019s keenest rail freight customers. Now, the construction materials specialist, Tarmac, has renewed its lease with VTG. What\u2019s more, the agent has agreed that their iWagon digital telematics package will be added to the deal. The new five-year lease begins in the new year.<\/strong>
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

From 1 January 2025, Tarmac will be taking delivery of 30 tank wagons, designated JGA-M pattern. They\u2019re coming fresh from the UK rail division worldwide leasing agent, VTG. The extended five-year agreement, commencing on 01 January 2025, will see these wagons retrofitted with VTG\u2019s innovative iWagon technology. Tarmac say it underscores their commitment to sustainability and efficiency in rail freight operations.<\/p>\n

Operational excellence<\/h2>\n

Tarmac and VTG have a long-standing relationship. It comes as no surprise that the client and the leasing agent should be collaborating over this digital development. Moving the Tarmac rolling stock fleet into the digital age is a major coup for VTG Rail UK. The news also comes just ten days after VTG announced a similar deal with Alvance British Aluminium<\/a> for the upgrading of its rake of alumina carrying wagons.<\/p>\n

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VTG’s new iWagon telematics is also to be fitted to Alvance British Aluminium wagon fleet. Image: \u00a9 VTG Rail UK<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cThe renewal of this lease demonstrates the value of the long-standing partnership between VTG Rail UK and Tarmac,\u201d said Marc Hurn, Interim Managing Director of VTG Rail UK. \u201cRetrofitting these wagons with iWagon technology reflects our shared commitment to innovation, sustainability, and operational excellence in rail freight.\u201d<\/p>\n

Support infrastructure operations<\/h2>\n

There\u2019s a good business case behind the move. Each wagon has a gross laden weight of 101.6 tonnes, contributing to Tarmac\u2019s operations across the UK\u2019s rail network. The JGA-M wagons are used in the transportation of powdered cement from Tarmac\u2019s Dunbar cement plant in Scotland and their Tunstead Quarry in Buxton, Derbyshire, England. With over 60 rail-connected sites, Tarmac is one of the country\u2019s largest rail freight users, transporting approximately nine million tonnes of construction materials annually to support regional and national infrastructure projects.<\/p>\n

\"portrait
Chris Swan of Tarmac, and also chair of the Rail Freight Group. Image: \u00a9 Tarmac<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Tarmac is well known as a progressive client of the rail freight industry. \u201cRail freight is central to our efforts to drive sustainability and reduce carbon emissions across our business,\u201d said Chris Swan, Tarmac\u2019s Head of Rail, who also serves as the chair of the representative body, the Rail Freight Group. However, he confined his comments to the business in hand, stating the benefits of the deal for Tarmac. \u201cThe renewal of this lease and the addition of iWagon technology will help us further enhance the safety, efficiency, and sustainability of our rail operations,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Trial turns into a deal<\/h2>\n

The retrofitting of VTG\u2019s iWagon technology represents a major step forward in the integration of smart systems into Tarmac\u2019s rail operations. Tarmac was a key partner in the successful iWagon trial initiated in 2023<\/a>. That four-month pilot involved the deployment of three modified VTG-leased JPA tank wagons, which underwent testing on Tarmac\u2019s daily service from Dunbar to their Seaham depot in County Durham, further down the East Coast Main Line.<\/p>\n

The new lease agreement represents the first time Tarmac has taken substantive ownership of rolling stock fitted with the iWagon package. The Dunbar trial clearly played a positive role in that decision-making. \u201cThe successful trial of the iWagon on our flow was a significant achievement,\u201d said Rory Higgins, Rail Contracts Manager at Tarmac. \u201cExtending the deployment of this technology to our tank wagon fleet is an exciting step forward as we continue to explore innovative ways to improve rail freight operations.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

They are one of Britain\u2019s keenest rail freight customers. Now, the construction materials specialist, Tarmac, has renewed its lease with VTG. What\u2019s more, the agent\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":58457,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[14866,11200,14867,11201,47,180,8793,85,12408],"tags":[12634],"class_list":["post-161122","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-chris-swan","category-iwagon","category-jga-m","category-marc-hurn","category-rail-news","category-rolling-stock","category-tarmac","category-uk","category-vtg-rail-uk","tag-railfreight"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/161122","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=161122"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/161122\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":162683,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/161122\/revisions\/162683"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=161122"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=161122"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=161122"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}