SAUDI Railways Company (SAR), which operates the North-South Railway, achieved a 27% increase in phosphate and bauxite mineral traffic in the first half of 2017 which grew from 3.21 million tonnes in the first half of 2016 to 4.06 million tonnes this year.
PASSENGER numbers on Switzerland’s north-south Gotthard axis have surged since the opening of the Gotthard Base Tunnel, according to figures released this week by Swiss Federal Railways (SBB), which show ridership on the route has risen by 30% over the last eight months compared with the corresponding period in 2016.
GERMAN freight operator DB Cargo has signed a framework agreement with Siemens for the delivery of 100 Vectron locomotives.
US intermodal freight company RailRunner launched its first services in Europe on July 31 with the start of a daily flow between Bratislava and Braunschweig.
GLOBAL mining company Rio Tinto says automation of its Western Australia Pilbara iron ore heavy-haul rail network (Autohaul) is progressing well, with around 20% of all train kilometres now operating in autonomous mode, albeit with drivers still on-board managing the remaining safety and reliability systems.
SPANISH companies involved in the development and certification of the OGI automatic gauge-changing system have completed the first phase of dynamic testing. The OGI bogies are designed for use on freight routes crossing the Spanish-French border where the track gauge changes from 1668mm to 1435mm.
THE European Commission (EC) announced on July 11 that it has approved a Danish scheme to help rail freight operators fund the installation of ETCS equipment on their locomotives.
THE Brazilian government has confirmed that it will open bidding for a new sub-concession for the south-central section of the North-South Railway (FNS) in early 2018 with public hearings for possible bidders beginning at the end of June and set to run until August 11.
SWISS Port Railway (HBSAG), which operates two River Rhine ports in Basle, one of the most important junctions on the Rotterdam - Genoa TEN-T rail corridor, opened a new railway control centre in Kleinhünigen on July 3.
AUSTRIA’s railway network carried a total of 288.8 million passengers in 2016, an increase of 6.4 million from 2015, according to figures released by Austrian rail regulator Schienen-Control in its annual report.
