Freight Tracks issue 21

After the positive reaction to the soft launch of World Freight Train Day 2022, we are beginning to plan World Freight Train Day 2023. We welcome any reader who wants to get in at the start of planning WFTD23. Just get in touch.

National Labs and Wabtec

Climate change is taking centre stage in the global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions is a focus for everyone important, it requires the development of new technologies

One of those emerging technologies is hydrogen. This technology will play a role in Wabtec’s vision of achieving a zero-emission global rail network. How ever, given the cost and maturity of the technology, it is not currently ready for commercial implemen tation in the freight rail industry. That is a monu mental task requiring a collaborative approach to bridge the gap between emerging technology and practical application.

To identify solutions for applying hydrogen in the rail industry, Wabtec entered into collaborative research and development agreements (CRADA) with the Oak Ridge and Argonne National Labs –two of the nation’s premiere centers of excellence specializing in energy-related solutions. Research ers from the multidisciplinary team kicked off the project and celebrated the installation of Wabtec’s single-cylinder dual-fuel locomotive engine in the National Transportation Research Center, a De partment of Energy Office of Science user facility located at Oak Ridge National Lab (ORNL).

This collaboration is part of Wabtec’s dual path technology approach on hydrogen power for rail. One approach is using fuel cells as an alternative power source for locomotives. Last year, Wabtec announced a collaboration on fuel cells with Gen eral Motors, an area in which the automaker has enormous expertise.

The parallel approach is enhancing Wabtec’s existing internal combustion locomotive engines to burn hydrogen. This approach is the focus of the CRADA with the two national labs.

The team is focused on taking hydrogen com bustion technology from simulation to realisation utilising the Wabtec engine. Hydrogen as fuel has many advantages, but locomotive engines must be modified to ensure safe, efficient, and clean opera tion. The team will develop hardware and control strategies for the engine, which will run on hydro gen and diesel fuel to demonstrate the viability of using alternative fuels.

Need to decarbonise

“We are excited to be a part of this collab oration because it addresses the need to decar bonise the rail industry by advancing hydrogen engine technology for both current and future locomotives,” said Josh Pihl, an ORNL distin guished researcher and group leader for applied

Wabtec hook up on hydrogen

bon fuels in new locomotives.

At the same time, Argonne will leverage more than a decade of experience in modelling hydrogen injection and combustion to create a modeling framework to study combustion and emission control technologies used in hydrogen combustion engines. Experts in fuel injection, kinetics and combustion modeling, design op timization, high-performance computing and machine learning will take the project from start to finish.

Conceptual rendering

catalysis and emissions research. “It is also a per fect example of how a DOE-funded collaboration between industry and national laboratories can accelerate the development and commercialisa tion of technologies to help reduce carbon emis sions from transportation.”

In the project’s first phase, the ORNL team will work on hardware changes for retrofit ting locomotives. Their goal is to reduce CO2 emissions from the roughly 25,000 locomotives already in use in North America. Locomotives have a service life of more than 30 years, so re placing the entire fleet would take decades.

During the second phase of the project, ORNL and Wabtec will continue to alter the engine hardware to increase the amount of hy drogen that can be used. The team aims to com pletely replace diesel with hydrogen or low-car

“Many railroads have aggressive goals when it comes to CO2 reductions that are in the 30% range over the next decade,” said Eric Gebhardt, Wabtec’s Chief Technology Officer. “The results from this CRADA with Argonne and Oak Ridge National Labs will contribute greatly to decar bonisation of the rail industry using hydrogen. It will help position the technology to be cost effective and practically implemented for rail operations.”

Wabtec projects that the economics on hydrogen will be viable leading to the eventu al commercial adoption of both a retrofit and a new unit option. This is based on the cost and performance of fuel cells dramatically improving over the decade and the cost of green hydrogen reducing and being more available over the same period.

The collaboration with the labs is another example of Wabtec investing to lead the rail in dustry in hydrogen, as it has with the Tier 4 and the battery-electric locomotives.

consciousness. It is a reality, and the reduction of everyone in the public and private sector. More technologies that address this global challenge.

El Paso CBP seize 215 lbs of Methamphetamine

US Customs and Border Protection Officers conduct ing inspections at the Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railroad crossing just west of the Paso Del Norte port of entry in El Paso intercepted 215 pounds (97.5 kg) of methamphetamine with an estimated street value of more than $420,000.

“CBP employs a layered enforcement approach in the rail environment to identify and stop drug loads like this one from passing into the US,” said CBP El Paso Port Director Ray Provencio. “All arriving trains are x-rayed. CBP officers also inspect and visually scan the train as it passes, and we use canine assets as well to check rail traffic.”

The seizure occurred on Nov.ember9 when CBP officers conducting non-intrusive (x-ray) railroad inspections on a train making entry into the US from Mexico identified an anomaly in one of the empty railcar hoppers.

A CBP canine assisted and conducted a search of the rail car hopper leading CBP officers to locate bundles within the support beam.

A thorough search by CBP officers resulted in the discovery of 189 bundles filled with methamphetamine with a combined weight of 215 pounds.

The narcotics were seized by CBP. No arrests were im mediately made. The case remains under investigation.

Porterbrook £2.5m sponsorship deal agreed with UK's National Railway Museum

The funding supports the new ‘Railway Futures Gal lery’ - a key component of the museum’s Vision 2025 masterplan. The gallery will be a multi-dimen sional and interactive experience which explores and imagines the role of the railways in the transport system of tomorrow.

Planned to open in 2025 to coincide with the museum’s 50th birthday, the Railway Futures Gallery will be a key fea ture of Central Hall – a new building and welcome space located between the museum’s Great Hall and Station Hall.

Central Hall will be a cornerstone of Vision 2025 - the museum’s journey to transform its offer to become the World’s Railway Museum and to attract up to 1.2m visitors each year.

Shared vision

Porterbrook owns almost a quarter of the national passen ger rail fleet, and has an established reputation for delivering new technologies, such as battery, hybrid and hydrogen pow ered trains. These innovations support the UK’s Net Zero ambitions, improve air quality, reduce emissions, and enhance network resilience.

The partnership builds on a decade-long relationship and reflects a shared vision between the National Railway Museum and Porterbrook in areas such as sustainability and how

innovation and digital technologies can and will shape the rail way of the future.

In addition, both organisations are strongly committed to promoting the STEM agenda and helping empower future generations through science, technology, engineering and mathematics to grow a dynamic railway for the 21st century.

Mary Grant, CEO of Porterbrook said: “The National Railway Museum plays a hugely important role in curating rail’s history and heritage while articulating a vision and ambition for its future. Porterbrook is at the forefront of inno vations which are shaping the railway and we are delighted to support the museum’s Railway Futures Gallery to help inspire the railwaymen and railwaywomen of tomorrow.”

Judith McNicol, Director of the National Railway Museum said: “The new Railway Futures Gallery is a key part of the museum’s Vision 2025 masterplan and through a mix of fixed and changing displays, an immersive media-led experience and on-gallery programming, we will showcase the most exciting engineering projects and highlight the role of innovation on the railway. Thank you to Porterbrook for its generous sup port.”

The final gallery name will be confirmed at a later date once a process of audience testing has been complete. ‘Rail way Futures: The Porterbrook Gallery’ is the current full working title. The National Railway Museum is seeking additional funding to complete the Vision 2025 project.

3Squared named winner in UK's DfT 'First of a Kind’ (FOAK) competition

all. This year’s competition focused on new concepts that will transform rail travel for passengers and decarbonise the network.

PathPlanner is an innovative software solution designed to help freight operators run additional trains.

It does this by utilising over seven years’ worth of histor ical train records to help planners quickly identify available paths which can be bid to Network Rail through the Very Short-Term Planning (VSTP) process – therefore allowing them to take advantage of much needed spare, and poten tially wasted, capacity.

XRail software and solutions specialist 3Squared have secured funding from the Department for Transport (DfT) and Innovate UK’s ‘First of a Kind’ (FOAK) competition, to further develop its Path Planner tool to improve freight operations and unlock net work capacity, across the UK rail network.

The FOAK competition aims to support and enable new projects to help create a greener, more efficient railway for

Jason Durk, Principal Consultant at 3Squared, comment ed: “It is fantastic that 3Squared have secured prestigious FOAK funding to further develop and enhance PathPlanner, a system that we hope will transform the rail freight industry – especially at a time when the sector is undergoing signifi cant growth and it has never been more important to focus on reducing carbon emissions.

“At 3Squared, we have been working hard to create solu tions that support the drive towards modal shift, moving freight from road to rail and supporting the industry’s aim to be both greener and more responsive.

"Through innovative application of technology, we look forward to making this a reality with PathPlanner, bolstered by wider industry support."

Adif progresses in linking terminal and Escombreras

Adif continues to make progress in the adaptation works of the Escombreras freight terminal and the improvement of the capacity and reliability of the railway branch that connects it with the Escombreras dock (Cartagena).

In this regard, it will install automatic semi-barriers and light and acoustic signals at three level crossings located on the branch line (class 'C' interlocked protections), connected to the Escombreras terminal interlock, the device that con trols the entry and exit of trains to or from the port.

The objective of this action, in addition to reinforcing the safety conditions of road and rail traffic at same-level cross ings, is to improve the railway operation of the Escombreras terrminal and the connecting branch line and, with it, the eco nomic and quality of operations and maneuvers in access to

port facilities.

The contract has been awarded to Railway Engineering and Control for more than €595,000 and an execution peri od of eight months.

More actions for trains up to 750 m

Together with these works, Adif advances in the adaptation works of the Escombreras terminal, which will enable the formation, dispatch and reception of trains of up to 750 m; and in the improvement of the signaling of the terminal and the connection branch, the latter already executed by the Cartagena Port Authority charged to the Financial Fund for Port Terrestrial Accessibility (FFATP), with an investment of more than €26 million.

Automatic semi-barriers and light and acoustic signals will be installed at three level crossings on the branch that joins both facilities to speed up operations In addition, the adaptation works of the railway terminal for the formation, dispatch and reception of trains of up to 750m continue

The actions are co-financed by Adif and the Port Authority of Cartagena

linking freight Escombreras dock

The set of works carried out by Adif, is scheduled to be completed in 2023 and, in total, will have represented an in vestment of more than €3 million, to which Adif has contrib uted financing, through the Recovery and Resilience Mech anism (MRR) and the Port Authority of Cartagena, through the FFATP.

The Cartagena Port Authority is finalizing the steps with the State Railway Safety Agency for the initial entry into ser vice of a connection slogan between the dock and the Es combreras terminal.

Strategy to promote rail freight

These works are part of the agreement signed in 2018 by Adif and the Cartagena Port Authority for the improvement

of the Escombreras terminal.

The actions are part of the strategy to promote rail freight transport and increase its modal share and will con tribute to promoting maritime-land multimodality through an efficient rail network.

The actions foreseen in this contract contribute to the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 9, which has among its goals the development of reliable, sus tainable, resilient and quality infrastructures.

The drafting of the projects and execution of the works for the renovation and improvement of traffic accessibility at the Escombreras terminal, as well as the signaling instal lations for the terminal and the connection branch to the Escombreras port, will be financed by the European Union – NextGenerationEu.

First JNA-X Box Wagons

The first 25 brand new JNA-X Box Wagons have successfully arrived in the UK and are now officially on lease with GB Railfreight (GBRf).

The wagons were assembled in Romania and arrived at Wembley, London, this weekend before passing an acceptance and inspection process ahead of their handover to GBRf.

The delivery is part of the agreement for 50 new box wag ons announced in March this year between Porterbrook, GBRf and Greenbrier. The remaining 25 wagons are expected to arrive in the UK before the end of this year.

With each tonne of freight trans ported by rail producing 76% less carbon than road haulage, the new box wagons will support the Green Recovery and help to deliver a more sustainable railway.

The three companies have also partnered to produce 100 Greenbrier 60' intermodal twin wagons, the first of which are also due to arrive in the UK in the coming weeks.

David Golding, Asset Director at GB Railfreight said: “It’s great that we now are ready to roll out these high-strength and reliable JNA-X Box Wagon’s.

"These will be vital to us in deliv ering more sustainable freight, as we are able to transport heavier freight using fewer emissions than road haulage. This demonstrates our clear commitment to decarbonise the industry, in supporting the govern ment’s net zero strategy.”

Mark Wyborn, Head of Freight at Porterbrook said: “It is a very proud moment for all of us at Porterbrook to be able to hand the brand-new box-wagons over to GB Railfreight, ready-to-go out on the railway and support rail freight growth.

“This partnership demonstrates Porterbrook’s long-term commit ment to investing in rail freight. Together with Greenbrier, we have all had to overcome significant local and global challenges to keep the pro duction and delivery of these wagons on schedule. Seeing them now arrive in the UK is a true testament to the dedication and teamwork shown by everyone involved.”

John Brown, Head of Sales at Greenbrier said: “We are delighted to see the first box wagons delivered to the UK, demonstrating this excellent partnership with Porterbrook and Greenbrier which goes back over fifteen years.

“Our co-operation and team work to overcome many challenges together during this project is evi dence of our long-term commitment to supply these box wagons to our customers on time.”

The wagons, which are fitted with track friendly bogies, have been designed to optimise the tare weight, volume capacity, and payload with the shortest wagon length over buffers for the bulk material it will transport. The box structure is fabricated from high strength steel providing struc tural reliability and longevity over the life of the wagon.

Wagons arrive in the UK

R.J. Corman RR makes 19th railroad purchase

R. J. Corman Railroad Company, LLC has entered into a definitive agreement to purchase a 43-mile (70km) railroad branch and lease a 20-mile (30km) branch from Norfolk Southern Corporation (NYSE: NSC), adding its 19th railroad to its operational portfolio. The closing is subject to customary regulatory approvals.

The newly created Raleigh and Fayetteville Railroad, LLC (RFCC) will operate between Raleigh, NC and Fayetteville, NC, serving customers in Wake, Harnett, and Cumberland counties.

The commodities range from chemicals, metals, and construction materials to forest, consumer, and agricultural

products. The wholly owned subsidiary of R. J. Corman Rail road Company, LLC will interchange with Norfolk Southern in Raleigh and both CSX Transportation (CSXT) and the Aberdeen and Rockfish Railroad (AR) in Fayetteville. R. J. Corman Railroad Company, LLC is expected to take over operations in December 2022.

“With this acquisition, we will expand our footprint in the Carolinas, a market where the company has been highly successful. R. J. Corman is committed to top-of-the-line cus tomer service, and we are eager to replicate this experience for future business partners in the area,” said R. J. Corman Railroad Group President and CEO Ed Quinn.

CEO Ted Söderholm leaves Green Cargo

Green Cargo’s CEO, Ted Söderholm, (pictured) has decided to leave the company and the transport industry to take up a position as CEO of a com pany in another sector.

“We on the board, and the management, would have liked to have had Ted remain as CEO for quite a while lon ger. We would like to thank him for a very successful work to, together with the rest of the management, lift Green Cargo to a company in every way better and stronger during the almost four years that have passed,” says Andreas Regnell, Chairman of the Board, Green Cargo.

Söderholm took over as CEO of Green Cargo in 2019 and, together with the rest of the management, has led a successful change process.

“It was a tough decision to leave Green Cargo. The company is in the midst of an exciting transformation, and I am very proud and happy about what we have achieved so

far. The company stands on a much more stable foundation, both financially and structurally. Now I hand over a clear direction for a company that has an extremely important role to play for the Swedish industry in the transition to a greener society. I would like to say a big thank you and wish the company all the best and success,” says Söderholm.

Recruitment of a successor

In his capacity as CEO of Green Cargo, Söderholm has also been chairman of the industry and employer organisation Tågföretagen, a member of JBS, the Railway Industry Collab oration Forum and a member of the executive committee of CER, the Community of European Railway and Infrastruc ture Companies.

Söderholm will leave Green Cargo no later than April 2023. The recruitment of a successor has begun.

ALLIANCE

égalité, fret

REPRESENTATIVES of Alliance 4F (Fret Ferro viaire Français du Futur), bringing together players in the rail freight and combined rail-road transport sector, were received on Wednesday November by 16 Clément Beaune, the Minister Delegate for Trans port.

In this period of energy crisis, and within the framework of a first meeting since his appointment, they reminded the Minister of the advantages of rail freight and combined rail-road transport and the cap ital need for State sup port and of SNCF Ré seau with regard to the provision of efficient and viable infrastruc tures.

The doubling of the modal share by 2030, enshrined in the cli mate and resilience law since August 2021 as well as in the na tional rail freight de velopment strategy, requires long-term aid for rail freight. The sector is in reality only asking for the effective im plementation of the decisions taken by the previous government to face the economic, climatic and ener gy challenges of our country.

This meeting with Minister Clément Beaune was an opportunity for the 4F Alliance to recall the essen tial role of rail freight in the decarbonization of the economy and ecological planning. Strong signs of a real rebound, the modal share of rail freight has in creased from 9.6 to 10.7% between 2020 and 2021,

combined rail-road transport has experienced even stronger growth (+16% volume). But the pursuit of this development to achieve the objective of 18% modal share in 2030 can only be achieved if State aid is maintained and if the various players are involved to the extent of their commitments.

This is why the sector reminded the minister of its demands:

In the very short term, benefit from a mechanism to absorb the energy shock in order, at the very least, to play on equal terms with the road sector.

Benefiting road freight without supporting rail freight would inevitably cause a modal shift to wards road transport, when 50,000 road drivers are currently missing. The risk is therefore that the industry no longer has a solution for transporting its production.

Take the necessary measures to improve the performance and reliabil ity of the network. The Alliance asked the Minister for a clear mandate from the State vis-à-vis SNCF Réseau. The state of the French rail network is in deed today one of the most limiting factors for the development of French rail freight and it prevents rail companies from meeting the growing demand from shippers.

The renewal of aid to operators beyond 2023 (170 million euros per year), the confirmation of co-financ ing concerning the recovery plan of one billion euros

4F: Liberté,

per year as well as the decision on an investment plan on the rail freight network of €3.5 billion between 2023 and 2030 (€500 million per year). The commit ments made must be included in an investment pro gramming law, which gives essential visibility and long-term resources to companies in the sector in order to contribute to ecological planning.

In addition, on the proposal of the representa tives of the Alliance 4F, Minister Clément Beaune has agreed to visit in the coming months a rail freight platform as close as possible to operators and cus-

tomers, to see the vitality of the sector, the strong potential of the market, and therefore the relevance of the legitimate expectations of all the actors who only ask to be able to contribute fully to economic recovery and ecological planning.

In the absence of specific commitments, and in view of the meetings that have been agreed with the Minister in the presence of the director of the DGITM and the President of SNCF Réseau, the members of 4F are still awaiting announcements concrete ways to support the sector.

Construction on reopening Rail Line for Freight Services

Chief Executive of Iarnród Éireann (IE), Jim Meade, was joined by Chief Exec utive of Shannon Foynes Port Company, Pat Keating at the port to witness the unloading of rail destined for the first phase of works to reopen the Foynes to Limerick Rail line.

Construction is set to commence in the coming weeks on phase one of the project, which is funded by the Irish Department of Transport.

The 42km (26 mile) stretch of rail way between Limerick and Foynes originally opened in 1858 but closed to passenger traffic in 1963. Freight services continued until 2001. When these services stopped the line was declared inactive, but the line re mained under the stewardship of Iarnród Éireann.

Phase one of this project involves the following works:

n Vegetation clearance and re moval of existing track.

n Replacement of track formation and installation of a new ballast bed to current Iarnród Éireann stan dards.

n Rehabilitation and / or renewal of bridges and culverts.

n Supply and installation of new rail and concrete sleepers along the entire route.

n Renewal of road infrastructure at public road level crossings.

n Renewal of accommodation crossings.

n Renewal of lineside fencing.

n Installation of infrastructure to accommodate the next phase of the project.

It is anticipated that these works will take in the region of two years to complete, while vegetation clearance is already underway.

Phase two of the project will in clude; provision of a signalling sys tem for the route, CCTV level cross ings, train communications system and track connections and upgrades at Limerick and in Foynes Yard.

Subject to funding allocation for phase 2 it is expected that this work will take 18 months to complete and it is anticipated that the route will open for freight services in 2025.

The current phase of work that is about to begin and the subsequent phases will facilitate rail freight ser vices, but will not preclude the pos sibility of passenger services being reintroduced on this line in the future, but this would require further infra structure upgrades and funding.

Irnród Éireann wishes to acknowl edge the co-operation and support of Shannon Foynes Port Company and Limerick City and County Council in

bringing the project to the construc tion stage.

The company looks forward to engaging with communities and all

reopening of Limerick to Foynes Services to begin

Rails delivered to Shannon Foynes port to commence civil works

opening of the Limerick to Foynes rail line for freight services also sat isfies several EU, national, regional, and local development objectives. The proposed project contributes to objectives of common interest with the EU as defined in Article 7 of the TEN-T guideline, with the following specific contributions:

n Interconnection of the modes of transport rail and ship services, promoting intermodal transport.

n Promotion of environmental protection by strengthening freight transport via rail and sea rather than road transport.

n Extension of interconnections.

Meade said: "Seeing the work commence on reopening of the Lim erick to Foynes rail line is a proud day for us at Iarnród Éireann.

"Our Rail Freight Strategy is all about creating connections and giving greater opportunity for busi nesses to switch from road freight to more sustainable rail freight.

stakeholders along the route during this phase of construction.

The project aligns with and sup ports Iarnród Éireann’s Rail Freight

2040 Strategy, and the recently launched strategic review of the Shannon Foynes Port Company Masterplan, Vision 2041. The re-

"I am certain that upon reopen ing of the line, working with our colleagues at the Shannon Foynes Port Company we will deliver a reli able, frequent and most importantly sustainable logistics option for many companies that currently and in the future will use the port of Foynes.”

IRISH RAIL UNLOADING

Chief Executive of Iarnród Éireann (IE), Jim Meade, was joined by Chief Executive of Shannon Foynes Port Company, Pat Keating at the port to witness the unloading of rail destined for the first phase of works to reopen the Foynes to Limerick Rail line.

CP 2021-2022 Elevator of

Canadian Pacific has announced its winners for El evator of the Year for the 2021-2022 crop year: Paterson Flagstaff (Outbound Grain – Canada), G3 Carmangay (Inbound Grain – Canada) and El bow Lake Co-op Grain (US). CP presents this award annually to grain elevators that achieve high volumes from a single loading point while consistently demonstrating efficient rail car loading and a strong commitment to safety. CP issued a special recognition to G3 Carmangay this year for handling significant amounts of inbound corn to feed livestock. CP also recognises Parrish & Heimbecker Weyburn (Canada)

and

“These elevators are leaders in their field and are help ing farmers in Canada and the U.S. supply the world

high-quality products,” said Joan Hardy, CP Vice-President Sales and Marketing Grain and Fertilisers. “CP is proud to recognise the people that operate these elevators for their dedication and perseverance during challenging conditions. They helped to find innovative solutions when the Western Canadian grain crop was the smallest in over a decade due to severe drought throughout the prairies.”

Wheaton Dumont Co-op Elevator Tenney (U.S.) as the runners-up for Elevator of the Year 2021-2022.

with

of the Year Award winners

Paterson Flagstaff in Daysland, Alta., is a valued customer and first-time winner of the CP Elevator of the Year award. Paterson Flagstaff is a leading 8,500-foot High Efficiency Product (HEP) train-capable facility that has shown efficient and safe practices with each unit-train loaded at the site. The Flagstaff elevator moved an impressive amount of grain during the 2021-2022 crop year.

“We are very honoured to be recognised by CP with their Elevator of the Year award,” said Shane Paterson, Pat erson GlobalFoods Inc. Director of Trading and Transporta tion. “Paterson and CP have a relationship dating back over a century.

"Our collective success has been built on a foundation of strong communication and the shared objectives of growth and efficiency.

"This achievement would not have been possible without the strong service that CP provided throughout the crop year, our dedicated staff and the excellent producers in the region whom we would like to recognise and thank for their business.”

Cattle feed in Western Canada

G3 Carmangay in Carmangay, Alta., features an 8,500-foot HEP-train-capable loop track that opened in 2020 and in the last crop year was able to become an important source of

meeting surging demand for cattle feed in Western Canada.

“We are proud that our G3 Carmangay, Alta., grain elevator is the recipient of this year’s CP Elevator of the Year (Inbound Grain – Canada) award,” said Don Chapman, G3 CEO. “G3’s high-efficiency loop track facilities have set new standards for fast and safe train loading to keep grain moving to market. Together with our partner, CP, we also set a high bar this year for efficient unloading of grain shipped by rail into our facility. Livestock producers counted on us to supply animal feed during a difficult year, and we delivered.”

High levels of grain volumes

Elbow Lake Co-op Grain, located in Elbow Lake, Minn., also helped sustain Western Canadian cattle during the 20212022 drought by shipping almost 200,000 tonnes of corn to Canada as a portion of their strong shipping programme. El bow Lake Co-op Grain is a first-time winner of CP’s Elevator of the year award.

“A lot of things need to come together to achieve these high levels of grain volumes,” said Kevin Stein, Elbow Lake Co-Op Grain General Manager. “Our amazing staff puts all this grain through our elevators. We’re in an excellent corn and soybean production area with farmers who support our business very well and CP has done a good job moving rail cars to keep the grain moving.”

NORFOLK SOUTHERN ANNOUNCES CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER TRANSITION

NORFOLK Southern Corporation has announced that Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer Cindy Sanborn will step down at the end of 2022 af ter a groundbreaking 35-year career in the railroad in dustry. Paul Duncan, currently Senior Vice President Transportation & Network Operations, will succeed Sanborn effective January 1 2023,

"Cindy joined Norfolk Southern during the pandem ic and helped us navigate a global supply chain dis ruption. She strengthened our culture, served as an effective ambassador with our outside stakeholders, and was part of a team effort that has achieved sig nificant improvements in service," said Norfolk South ern President and CEO Alan H. Shaw. "Cindy's impact goes well beyond Norfolk Southern. As the first female chief operating officer of a Class 1 railroad in the Unit ed States, she has been a trailblazer and an inspira tion to many in the industry."

"I'm proud of the gains we've made in service, safe ty and culture over the last two and a half years," said Sanborn. "As Norfolk Southern prepares to take the next step with our growth strategy, it's the right time for our next generation of talented operations leaders to take the reins."

Duncan joined Norfolk Southern in March 2022 as Vice President Network Planning & Operations and was promoted in September 2022 to Senior Vice Pres ident Transportation & Network Operations. He led the implementation of Norfolk Southern's TOP|SPG oper ating plan and played a central role in the company's service recovery effort, earning praise for his ability to bring people together and collaborate effectively across teams to drive results.

"Paul is widely respected in the industry as one of the most talented leaders in the next generation of railroad operations executives. He combines a deep understanding of precision scheduled railroading with a strong customer-centric mindset, and appreciates the need to balance service, productivity, and growth," said Shaw. "Paul is also the right leader to continue our progress engaging our craft railroaders and field supervisors."

Prior to joining Norfolk Southern, Duncan served as Vice President of Service Design and Performance for BNSF Railway. He also served as Assistant Vice President for Capacity Planning, where he oversaw the company's physical infrastructure capital planning and led the network strategy team. Duncan has more than 20 years of experience in railroad operations.

Intermodal connection Cologne

Cologne and Istanbul SET TO expand

TX Logistik AG, part of Mercitalia Logistics (FS Ital iane Group), intends to further expand its intermodal rail freight transport services between Istanbul and Cologne. For this purpose, the company showed its European network at Logitrans Istanbul, Eurasia's largest transport and logistics trade fair, and present ed the current NiKRASA 3.0 handling system of TX Logistik, which makes it easy to load non-craneable trailers onto the train.

For TX Logistik, Turkey is a market with good growth prospects for intermodal transports. Which is why the rail logistics company launched a first connec tion in June between Istanbul and Cologne. In co-op eration with a traction partner that operates the route between the Halkali Terminal in Istanbul and Curtici in Romania three times a week, several units are cur rently being loaded each week. In Curtici, these units are then taken over and transferred to the company's own intermodal connection Cologne – Curtici, which TX Logistik currently operates with seven round trips per week.

In 2023, the number of shipments in Turkey is to be further increased.One advantage is the transit time between Cologne and Istanbul, which averages nine days and ideally only seven. According to TX Logistik,

there is a growing demand in the Turkish economic area for intermodal transports to Europe, especially among smaller and medium-sized forwarding compa nies. At Logitrans, which will take place from 16 to 18 November, discussions with this target group are to be deepened and possible plans for 2023 concretised – also by using the NiKRASA transshipment system.

Innofreight Aims for Safest Europe through Digital Innovation

INNOFREIGHT, the award-winning European rail lo gistics company and innovation leader, has select ed Nexxiot to complete the digitalisation of its entire railcar fleet. The company which has just moved into its new headquarters in Bruck an der Mur in Austria, works closely with its customers and the wider industry to develop containers, railcars and unloading systems to constantly optimise rail freight transports. Innof reight has a commitment to the highest professional standards, innovation, and modular solutions for maxi mum capacity across Europe, to drive ecological prog ress, and support of the shift from road to rail.

During the week of October 16 (week 12 of the 2022-2023 crop year), Canadian National (CN) moved over 806,000 tonnes of grain from Western Can ada, exceeding its previous record by over 50,000 tonnes.

This record also comes on the heels of CN’s second best September ever for grain movement from Western Canada, with over 2.64 million tonnes moved.

lenges. We are very proud to have set a new record for the amount of Western Canadian grain moved in a single week. We are confident that our railroaders will continue delivering results for Canadian farmers and all of our customers,” said Doug MacDonald, Chief Mar keting Officer, CN

Innofreight, which has already equipped Nexxiot’s Asset Intelligence technology on over 1000 of its rail cars, will now move forward with a further deployment so the entire fleet is digitalised. Innofreight CEO Isa bella Legat said: “The company operates in over 20 countries and handles over two million container un loading’s every year. With a railcar fleet of 2700 and 23,000 containers in use, the adoption of the newest digital strategies is invaluable to our clients and part ners, especially where safety is concerned. Here there can be no compromise.”

“This performance shows what can get done when partners col laborate to create supply chain solutions to supply chain chal

New railcars will be produced by TŽV Gredelj, Cro atia, part of the Tatravagónka family – a factory with more than 125 years of tradition and experience in the design, production, reconstruction, modernisa tion, and maintenance of all types of railway vehicles. These, together with the existing fleet will all be fitted

Safest Rail Freight Fleet in Innovation with Nexxiot

with Nexxiot’s industry leading Globehopper connec tivity gateway.

Innofreight runs 230 block trains every day through out Europe and seeks to develop logistics solutions that shift road traffic to rail to reduce CO2 and devel ops modular offerings to maximize capacity, efficiency, and flexibility.

Nexxiot CEO, Stefan Kalmund commented: “We endorse Innofreight’s stance on innovation and fully support the impressive vision for a more efficient and ecological transport network.”

Legat explained “The Innofreight culture is to push for constant improvement. The data we gather through Nexxiot’s technology creates transparency, increased efficiency, and productivity through the smart use of data.

"We always seek to find the best strategic and cul tural fit to maximise benefits to our clients. We first en tered the partnership with Nexxiot around this time last year. Since then, through our learnings we understood that we can create a new benchmark in safety, mainte nance efficiency and client services for our customers all over Europe. Nexxiot's solutions will be deployed to expand our business as well as our services in line with our quality and security standard as we continue to optimise rail freight transports.”

Founded in 2002, the rail logistics company is based in Bruck an der Mur, Austria and handles two million container shipments per year.

BNSF helps military veterans transition into Civvy street

BNSF is proud to have been awarded the 2023 Gold Status Military Friend ly Employer Award for the 18th year in a row. The honor comes from the Military Friendly organisation, which recognizes companies who make an impact in their employment practic

es, policies and support for veterans.

“People with military experience often have the characteristics a successful railroader needs: leadership, teamwork and a strong safety focus," said Matt Igoe, EVP and Chief Oper ations Officer.

“I'm proud to work for a company with a long legacy as a top employer of military veterans."

BNSF offers numerous opportuni ties for military members and veter ans to apply their talents towards a rewarding career.

What does

a century of canadian power

CP 1001, now in testing to become the world’s first hydrogen-powered line haul freight locomotive, recently pulled the steam locomotive ‘Em press’ as it was readied for service, Canadian Pacific's 'Empress' is a

1930-vintage locomotive at CP’s Cal gary mechanical shop.

A century ago, no. 2816 en tered service moving people and goods across Canada. Today, CP teams are prepping 2816 for a spe

cial cross-continental voyage from Calgary to Mexico City to celebrate completion of the proposed CP-KCS merger, pending regulatory approv al and the connecting of a continent through the creation of CPKC.

RSSB: More freight can go by rail

Aresearch project by the Rail Safety and Standards Board means freight train opera tors in Great Britain can safely haul more goods wagons per train than current practices allow, improving their environmental impact and fi nancial efficiency.

The research has enabled ex isting couplers, which connect freight wagons, to safely connect more load.

The evidence means a 34.5 tonne coupler rating can increase 16% to 40 tonne, and some 56 tonne rated couplers increasing 13% to a new 63 tonne rating. Cru cially the uprated values can be ret ro-fitted to wagons currently in use today across the network without the need to upgrade or undertake a detailed engineering assessment to work.

As a result of the research, more than 12,000 rail freight wag ons, over 50% of Britain’s fleet, will received an increase in traction rat ing (the amount of weight it is able to safely haul).

RSSB’s real-world case stud ies found that increasing coupler strength ratings will provide huge environmental and financial ben efits. On a typical Anglo-Scottish journey, over two tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions can be saved, as well as considerable amounts of nitrogen oxides and particulate emissions. Significant financial ef ficiencies are also delivered due to the train length increase.

Case studies

n A 50-mile journey (each way) with 24 wagons. This increased to

27 wagons and provided environ mental savings of 0.25 tonne CO2 (Carbon Dioxide). The project ed annual financial savings were £291,000.

n A 235-mile journey (each way) with 14 wagons. This increased to 16 wagons and provided environ mental savings of 1.4 tonne CO2. The projected annual financial sav ings were £245,000.

n A 235-mile journey (each way) with 19 wagons. This increased to 23 wagons and provided environ mental savings of 2.1 tonne CO2. The projected annual financial sav ings were £364,000.

The rail industry is now imple menting the improved freight cou pler load ratings and identifying routes suitable for longer freight services.

Wabtec acquires Super Metal

WABTEC Corporation, a leading global supplier for freight and tran sit rail, has agreed to acquire Su per Metal, a supplier of automated vehicles and equipment solutions that support rail operations. Super Metal is one of the leading Brazil ian companies in the maintenance of way segment in the rail industry.

This acquisition complements our Nordco acquisition and accel erates our strategy to expand into international markets. The financial terms of the acquisition were not disclosed.

“Super Metal's solutions and equipment for railway mainte nance of way have synergy with

Wabtec’s Services portfolio,” said Danilo Miyasato, President & Re gional General Manager of Wabtec in Latin America. “The combination of these solutions will enhance our maintenance portfolio and offer our customers increased safety, pro ductivity and reduced operating costs.”

Bernardo Zeferino, President of Super Metal added, “This deal highlights a lifetime of work from an entire family and boosts the Super Metal's capacity to deliver innova tive solutions to the market. We are excited with this new chapter as a Wabtec business.”

Super Metal has nearly 30 years

of experience supplying diverse au tomated vehicles and maintenance equipment that include vehicles for rail and tie maintenance, as well as railcar movers.

The company also specialises in machining, services, develop ment, and project execution for day-to-day operations of railroads throughout Brazil.

With Super Metal located in Governador Valadares city in Minas Gerais, Brazil, this acquisition provides Wabtec a robust rail mainte nance portfolio in South America. It also complements Wabtec’s exist ing freight rail manufacturing pres ence in Contagem, Brazil.

GATX railcar handover at Miniatur Wunderland

RAILWAY enthusiasts of all ages come to Miniatur Wunderland Ham burg, the largest model railway in the world, to witness the displays of intricately built cities and scenery first-hand. According to Tripadvisor, Miniatur Wunderland is the most popular attraction to visit in Ham burg in 2022.

Hamburg, home to one of the main GATX Rail Europe offices, was the perfect location for a special handover of GATX’s latest freight railcar miniature models to Miniatur Wunderland, which added HO scale PIKO models of GATX’s railcars to their fleet. As the crowds immersed themselves in the life-like scenes, Teh GATX team was proud to “handover” their latest miniature railcar model additions.

Interestingly, the detailed bird’s eye view of GATX's work reaffirms its inspiration to continue forward

of sustainable transport products and services.

A“new” locomotive on display at the C&O Railway Heritage Center in Clifton Forge, Va., is officially designated C&O SD40 no. 7534. But this particu lar locomotive is much more than a number.

SD40 no. 7534 represents an important era in CSX his tory as well as the ongoing pride of workmanship that has carried across generations of employees at the CSX Hun tington Locomotive Shop. CSX donated SD40 no. 7534 to the Chesapeake & Ohio Historical Society after workers at the Huntington, W.Va., shop meticulously restored its inte rior and exterior to the condition and colors borne by the locomotive when it arrived on the C&O Railway in 1971.

The locomotive passed through the shop many times during its 40 years of active service, making the restoration at Huntington “poetically appropriate,” according to the historical society that preserves and celebrates the heri tage of the iconic C&O Railway that has become part of the CSX system.

“I am beyond pleased to see this journey come to this positive conclusion,” said Mark Totten, President of Ches apeake and Ohio Historical Society “We are tremendously

LOCO THAT IS MUCH MORE THAN A NUMBER

Chesapeake and Ohio Railway

The Chesapeake and Ohio Railway (C&O) was a Class I railroad formed in 1869 in Virginia from several smaller Virginia railroads begun in the 19th century. Led by industrialist Collis P. Huntington, it reached from Vir ginia's capital city of Richmond to the Ohio River by 1873, where the railroad town (and later city) of Huntington, West Virginia, was named for him.

Tapping the coal reserves of West Virginia, coal reve nues also led the forging of a rail link to the Midwest, eventually reaching Columbus, Cincinnati and Toledo in Ohio and Chicago, Illinois.

grateful to CSX, and we hope we can find all appropriate ways to express our thanks surrounding this historic showpiece.”

The C&O museum’s newest addition represents a bridge in the history of diesel locomotives. The first diesels on the C&O, purchased in the 1950s, were primarily General Motors Electro-motive Division (EMD) GP7 and GP9 models. But when the C&O needed higher-horsepower diesels for its coal trains and fast-freight service, it purchased 56 3,000-horsepower SD40 units from EMD between 1966 and 1971.

SD40 no. 7534 was one of the last of its type to arrive on the C&O in the colour scheme of the era — an “enchantment blue” body with “federal yellow” lettering and trim.

Eventually, it was repainted with the CSX colours.

From the standpoint of power, the SD40s were ultimately eclipsed by even high er horsepower units but they are credited with providing an important transition.

“As a teaching tool, this generation of locomotive power is a bridge from the lower-powered first-generation diesels of the 1950s to the high-horsepower units that arrived in the 1990s,” Totten noted.

“Having such a wonderful example of this link helps tell the railway’s important story to the visiting public.”

The C&O Railway Heritage Center is currently closed to the public because of coronavirus restrictions but it hopes to open as soon as possible with the latest addition to its exhibits.

By the early 1960s the C&O was headquartered in Cleveland, Ohio.

In 1972, under the lead ership of Cyrus Eaton, it became part of the Chessie System, along with the Baltimore and Ohio and West ern Maryland Railway. The Chessie System was later combined with the Sea board Coast Line and Louisville and Nashville, both the primary components of the Family Lines System, to be come a key portion of CSX Transportation in the 1980s.

Theferry

ofthelight fromthe dawntothe darkisdone fortheday, theevening starisup.

A STAR ROLE AT THE END OF BRITISH STEAM

Incredibly, the last mainline steam locomotive to be built in Britain was com pleted just nine years before man walked on the moon and the BBC began to broadcast in colour. British Railways Standard Class 9F (Freight) number 92220 Evening Star was completed in 1960. It was the 999th locomotive of the whole British Railways Standard range.

Evening Star was built at Swindon Works in the UK's West Country in 1960. It was equipped with a BR1G-type tender and given BR Locomotive Green livery, normally reserved for passenger locomotives, and was completed with a copper-capped double chimney. All other members of the class of heavy freight locomotives were painted unlined black.

The Class 9F 2-10-0 was a class of steam locomotive designed by Robert Riddles. The Class 9F was the last in a series of standardised locomotive classes designed for British Railways during the 1950s, and was intended for use on fast, heavy freight trains over long distances. It was one of the most powerful steam locomotive types ever built for British Railways, and successfully performed its intended duties. The class was given the nickname of 'Spaceships', due to its size and shape.

The 9F turned out to be the best of the Standard classes, and one of the finest steam locomotives ever designed in Britain in terms of its capacity to haul heavy loads over long distances. It was highly effective at its designed purpose, hauling heavy, fast freight trains, and was used all over the British railway network. This was exemplified when in September 1982, sister locomotive preserved engine 92203 Black Prince set the record for the heaviest train ever hauled by a steam locomotive in Britain, when it started a 2,178-ton train at a Foster Yeoman

quarry in Somerset, UK

The class suffered only two accidents while in BR use: on November 19 1958, locomotive No. 92187 was hauling a freight train which overran signals and was in a rear-end collision with another at Hitchin, Hertfordshire. A third freight train ran into the wreckage; on April 7 1964, locomotive No. 92161 was hauling a freight train that was derailed at Howe & Co's Signalbox, Cumberland due to a combination of defects on a wagon, excessive speed and minor track defects.

They were generally thought of as very successful loco motives, Railway writer O. S. Nock stated: "The '9F' was un questionably the most distinctive and original of all the British standard steam locomotives, and with little doubt the most successful. They were remarkable in their astonishing capacity for speed as well as their work in heavy freight haulage."

Naming

92220 was the only Class 9F to be named when running with BR, although other 9Fs have subsequently been named in preservation. The name Evening Star was chosen following a competition run in 1959-60 by the BR Western Region Staff Magazine. There were three competition winners, Driver T.M. Phillips (Aberystwyth), Boilermaker J.S. Sathi (Old Oak

Railway Reading

Design features

The 9F was designed at both Derby and Brighton Works in 1951 to operate freight trains of up to 900 tons (914 tonnes) at 35 mph (56 km/h) with maximum fuel efficiency. The original proposal was for a boiler from the BR Standard Class 7 Britannia 4-6-2, adapting it to a 2-8-2 wheel arrangement but Riddles eventually settled upon a 2-10-0 type because it had been used successfully on some of his previous Auster ity locomotives. Distributing the adhesive weight over five axles gave a maximum axle load of only 15 tons, 10 cwt.[5] The driving wheels were 5 feet 0 inches (1.52 m) in diameter. However, in order to clear the rear coupled wheels, the grate had to be set higher, thus reducing firebox volume. There were many problems associated with locomotives of such a long wheelbase, but these were solved by the design team through a series of compromises.

The centre driving wheels had no flanges, and those on the second and fourth coupled wheels were reduced in depth. This enabled the locomotive to round curves of only 400 feet (120 m) radius.

Common) and F.L. Pugh (Paddington), who had all suggested Evening Star.

92220 Evening Star at Oxford MPD in 1964.

KEEP THE DATE: Railway industry calendar of events

25 November London, UK Golden Spanner Awards

29 Nov - 01 Dec Malaga, Spain Rail Live 2022

06 December London, UK Rail Industry Forum 2022

07-08 December Duisberg, Germany European Silk Road Summit

08 December Paris, France 101st UIC General Assembly

2023

07 February London, UK Rolling Stock Forum 2023

09 February Birmingham, UK TransCityRail Midlands

21-23 February Rome, Italy International Railway Summit

23 February London, UK Rail Business Awards

28 Feb-2 March São Paulo, Brazil NT Expo São Paulo

03 March London, UK Golden Whistle Awards

08 March Glasgow, UK Rail in Scotland

28-30 March Lille France SIFER13th International Exhibition of Railway Technology

09-11 May Birmingham, UK Railtex

09-11 May London, UK Railtex

23 May London, UK Railway Innovation Awards

31 May-1 June Asia Pacific Rail Bangkok, Thailand

03-05 October Milan, Italy Expo Ferroviaria

If you would like your event listed here free of charge, just send details to freighttracks@gmail.com

Bye-bye 2022, Hello 2023

This year represents the third year since the Covid pandemic hit the world's population. It was also the year that Freight Tracks was launched. Drawing on the talents of some of the finest railway journalists writing today,we set out to bring rail freight to the fore.

In our last issue of 2022, due out on Monday December 19, we will look back at the year just completed and what might lie ahead in the year to come.

We will be inviting industry leaders to comment on 2022 and what they might expect in 2023.

At the same time, we will be provid ing the opportunity for firms in the rail freight industry supply chain to invest in advertising to thank those customers that kept loyal during the year while reaching potential advertises in 2023.

We welcome contributions from our readers in this issue.

Just get in touch with the email be low.