MONTENEGRO’s privatisation council launched a tender on October 19 for the sale of a 51% stake in rail freight operator Montecargo.
EUROTUNNEL announced on October 18 that it has received an irrevocable offer from Swedish private equity group EQT Infrastructure II for the acquisition of Britain’s third-largest rail freight operator GB Railfreight (GBRf).
GERMAN Rail’s (DB) British rail freight subsidiary DB Cargo UK confirmed on October 17 that it is planning to reduce its workforce by 893 staff, including 391 drivers, blaming a “dramatic decline in core markets.”
POLISH broad-gauge railway PKP LHS has signed a declaration of access to the Trans-Caspian international transport route (TCITR), which links China with Europe via Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Georgia, and Ukraine.
DEDICATED Freight Corridor Corporation of India (DFCCIL) has awarded a consortium of Larson & Toubro (L&T) Construction, India and Sojitz Corporation, Japan, a Rs 38bn ($US 569m) to build the 128km northern section of the Western Dedicated Freight Corridor between Rewari in Haryana and Dadri in Uttar Pradesh.
ASTRA Rail Management and The Greenbrier Companies, United States, announced plans on October 13 to form a new company, Greenbrier-Astra Rail, creating a Europe-based freight wagon manufacturing, engineering, and repair business.
BRAZIL’s National Bank for Economic and Social Development (BNDES) has agreed to lend Reais 3.5bn ($US 1.1bn) to rail and port operator Rumo Logistics in order to fund part of its 2015-2018 investment programme.
TRANSPORT ministers from Germany’s federal states have backed plans to introduce 740m-long freight trains across the German rail network at a summit held in Stuttgart on October 6.
THE Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) released a combined statement of issues on October 6 on alternative proposals from Aurizon and Pacific National to acquire Glencore Coal’s Hunter Valley rail business.
AN agreement to develop mail coaches for operation between China, Russia and western Europe was signed by managing director of Tver Carriage Works (TVZ) Mr Taras Spivak, Deputy director general of Russian Post Logistics Mr Alexey Skatin, and head of Siemens Mobility Russia Mr Jörg Liebscher at last week’s Sochi International Investment Forum.
