recent study by Prose and Rail Traction Company, Italy, revealed that it is possible for a 2200-tonne freight train to successfully navigate the Brenner Pass on the Italy-Austria border. Robbin Wetter, an engineer in Prose’s Running Dynamics team, details the project.

RAIL freight operator Serbia Cargo has awarded Siemens Austria a €32m contract to supply eight multi-system Vectron locomotives.

AUSTRALIAN mining company Fortescue Metals has given the go-ahead to a $A 1.69bn ($US 1.29bn) project to develop a new iron-ore mine at Eliwana and extend its existing 160km heavy-haul freight rail network to serve it.

AN agreement was signed in the Estonian capital Tallinn on May 29 by the railways of three Baltic states to launch a new intermodal freight service called Amber Train.

UNITED Wagon Company, Russia, has won orders to supply hopper freight wagons and tank cars to two customers.

ETIHAD Rail has awarded a project management consultancy contract to Egis, France, to assist with the expansion of the existing 264km line linking Ruwais and Habshan on the Persian Gulf with Shah.

GENESEE & Wyoming Canada has announced that its Huron Central Railway (HCRY) subsidiary will cease operating by the end of the year, citing a lack of funding from the province of Ontario to maintain services on its 283km line between Sault Sainte Marie and Sudbury.

THE European Commission (EC) has given the Czech government approval for a state-funded scheme to promote intermodal transport.