Freight Tracks issue #6

FREIGHT Hot metal heavyweight TRACKS

RAIL 101: MAKING TRACKS

APRIL 25 2022

#6

More steel on the rails

Make it. Move it. Scrap it.

CONTENTS APRIL 25 2022

#6 NEWS

THE STEEL ISSUE

5 8 10 14 15 16 17 19 20 22 24 28 30 33

INTRODUCTION

36

Hot metal heavyweight haulers

headline news UK Rail for Ukraine launches Sangritana sees wood and trees Freight on film

Rail 101: Making tracks Not all rails are created equal A boom at DB Cargo Italia

46

News Review Wabtec gets Trimble’s Beena Vision UP best for women TX Logistik co-operates with Samskip

Weight loss wagons North Carolina Railroad invests Nextracker, JM Steel collaberate VTG goes modular More steel on the rails

REGULARS Scale Steel Rail Freight 53 Small Steel loads in model form of the Line: Big Boy lives! Monster 54 End steams back

Dedicated wagons for coil transport To scrap or not to scrap Recycling plant that helps to save money Steel statistics

Cover photo: The Steel Issue

Publisher & Editor: James Graham editor@freight-tracks.com

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the steel issue

Make it. Move it. Scrap it. www.freight-tracks.com April 25 2022 n 5

S

the steel issue teel is an alloy made up of iron with typically a few tenths of a percent of carbon to improve its strength and fracture resistance compared to other forms of iron. Many other elements may be present or added. It is one of the backbones of the global economy. It

has supplied employment for millions and al- carload. In 2020, railroads hauled nearly 500,000 lowed entire cities to flourish. However, the steel carloads of steel and other primary metal prodindustry could not have had such profound suc- ucts, 650,000 carloads of iron ore and 240,000 cess without the genesis of the railway. carloads of scrap metal for producing new steel.”

There is also a curiosity in that it is also the Here’s how the AAR says railways support the substance of the railsteel supply chain: way and one of its Transportation of main traffic flows. raw inputs, includRolling stock made of ing iron ore, fluxing steel running on steel stone or lime, benrails carries loads tonite, coke promade up of steel. duced from coal, and Indeed, the cheeriron and steel scrap 1.

Steel contains recycled steel leader for United to steel mills for iniStates railroading, the tial sorting and proand is endlessly recyclable.

Association of Americessing.

2.

Steel is strong. can Railroads (AAR), Steel mills pro3.

Steel is safe. spells out how imduce intermediate 4.

Steel is durable. portant steel traffic is steel and steel-reto American railways. lated commodities 5.

Steel is cost efficient.

It states “railroads such as pig iron, steel 6.

Steel is remanufacture-friendly. haul the iron ore, wire, steel ingots, 7.

Steel is reusable for rail tracks. steel scrap and coke billets and slabs, that are used to make construction shapes steel, which is used and steel sheets and to manufacture prodplates.

World Steel Association ucts like automobiles Steel mill prodand appliances. ucts are transport“Railroads haul ed to foundries and the iron ore, steel rolling mills for furscrap and coke that are used to make steel, which ther refinement, forming and shaping, producing is used to manufacture products like automo- steel castings or manufacturing materials. biles and appliances. Railroads also move steel The refined steel and steel-related comslabs, concrete reinforcing bar and various kinds modities are moved to metal forming or stampof pipe for use in construction projects. To meet ing plants where final consumer and industrial the growing needs of manufacturing and con- goods such as motor vehicles, machinery and struction industries, railroads engineered light- household appliances are manufactured. er weight flat cars that can carry more steel per Final goods, such as motor vehicles, machin-

Benefits of using steel in transport applications:

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the steel issue ery and household appliances are then transported to end users.

Loads of scrap

One of the key raw materials in the production of steel is salvaged scrap steel and iron. Network Rail, the authority for Britain’s railways, sells of its own scrap steel into the recycling and scrap industries.

Scrap consists of recyclable materials left over from product manufacturing and consumption, such as parts of vehicles, building supplies and surplus materials. Unlike waste, scrap has monetary value, especially recovered metals, and non-metallic materials are also recovered for recycling.

On its website, Network Rail says: “Scrap metal is generated from the steel track infrastructure we recover, which has been replaced by newer material.

The scrap we sell consists of various forms of ferrous metal and is no longer suitable for running trains on.

“We have an array of commodities from rail and sleepers, to smalls such as Pandrol clips, bolts and screws. We also have cast metal including fishplates, baseplates and sleeper chairs.

“Although some of our cast products are clean, some are often classed as contaminated with oil, diesel and general wastes having been removed from our busy infrastructure.

“Scrap rail in particular is sold in various lengths from <5ft to 5-15ft to >15ft. Flat-bottom rail is the most common rail available however, we do occasionally have bullhead and conductor rail too.

“The materials are recovered from the track and distributed to our material handling depots

for processing, the metals are grouped into categories.

“Every day, there are deliveries of track panels, rails, small steel components and switches and crossings units to our material handling depots. The materials are graded and sorted into what can be reused on the network and what can be sold.”

It adds that would-be customers should note that it does not sell individual items or lengths of rail.

Network Rail’s used/redundant rail is considered scrap metal that is no longer suitable for running trains on. It sells to an approved list of customers including national and international recycling centres, scrap metal exporters, steel and rail producers and waste management companies.

What happens to the sold scrap metal?

Most commonly, Network Rail’s sold scrap metal is either exported from the UK or recycled by customers to make new products, including rail and steel infrastructure through steel mills.

Whether it is made form scrap metal or virgin aggregates freshly dug from the ground, steel has had a major influence on our lives, the cars we drive, the buildings we work in, the homes in which we live and countless other facets in between. Steel is used in electricity-power-line towers, natural-gas pipelines, machine tools, military weapons-the list is endless.

Steel has also earned a place in homes in protecting families, making lives convenient, its benefits are undoubtedly clear.

Steel is by far the most important, multi-functional and most adaptable of materials. The development of mankind would have been impossible but for steel.

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the steel issue

Hot metal heavyweight haulers

Daniel Pyke

I

’m lucky enough to work both in the rail and the steel industry for British Steel and often it gives you an interesting perspective on many things. We do seem to get some of the biggest toys to play with in these industries.

This morning I dutifully stopped at one of the many road/rail crossings on our site at Scunthorpe to wait for a couple of our hot metal ‘torpedoes’ to trundle past. I see these on a daily basis ferrying molten ‘hot-metal’, (blast furnace iron) inside them from our

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blast furnaces to our steel making plant for further processing. I rarely give thought to the technology and challenges involved in this seemingly ordinary fetching and carrying task, but in the wait for them to pass I had enough time to realise the task is far from mundane. Transporting 300 tonnes of liquid iron from A to B has many interesting challenges.

First is the fact that some of the operating environments are hazardous, particularly loading and unloading and so the locos that pull the torpedoes are able to

the steel issue Emptied torpedo

be remotely driven to keep people out of harm’s way.

Seeing a train move off with the driver stood near it holding a remote control does take some getting used to.

Sheer scale

Second there is the sheer scale of the torpedo itself.

Each one carries 300 tonnes of liquid hot metal inside it at nearly 1500°C meaning each torpedo weighs around 550 tonnes. These unique vehicles have six axles at each end to support the massive load, delivering axle loads of around 46 tonnes placing great demands on the rail and track, (In comparison normal freight vehicles in the UK have a 25 tonne maximum axle load).

As another aside this makes a great test track for evaluating our next generations of rail steels which is

close to my heart. The first place our HP335 was evaluated was in this demanding route.

Third, the torpedo is not just a tank on wheels, the whole vessel is able to rotate to allow the liquid hot metal to be poured out at its destination.

What goes in must come out!

Usually two torpedoes are moved in tandem, ‘topand-tailed’ by the remote controlled locomotives giving a 1300 tonne train weight for the four vehicles.

These heavyweight haulage operations continue 24 hours a day 7 days a week and 365 days a year to keep up with the nation’s thirst for steel.

Carrying around three million tonnes of hot-metal each year these load-lugging locos and the transporting torpedoes are one of the weird yet wonderful vehicles that keep both steel and rail production ontrack here in Scunthorpe.

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the steel issue

RAIL 101: MAKING TRACK

Dan

Many people in rail freight do not give rails a second th Few realise they are one of, if not the, most technically demanding hot-rolled steel products produced.

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KS

niel Pyke

hought. y

I

the steel issue

n order to make good quality rails you need high quality steel. Any chef will tell you that the quality of ingredients is crucial to creating a great meal.

Many high quality ingredients are needed to produce superior quality rails and I’ll try and explain a few of them. Steel can be made via a few different process routes and I’ll give a description of the most common.

The most popular way (in Europe at least) is to refine iron ore dug from the ground via a blast furnace to create liquid iron which is then further refined into steel via the BOS (Basic Oxygen Steelmaking) process.

An upside of the process is that you can achieve very pure and clean steels. The downside is that it is energy and raw material intensive as materials are dug from the ground. Electric arc steelmaking uses electricity to re-melt existing steel scrap which has previously been manufactured, often via the BOS process, using an electric arc furnace (EAF). The advantage of electric arc steelmaking is the lLower energy and raw material intensity as it doesn’t require digging materials from the ground as remelting existing steel. The downside is that the electric arc method is that it is dependent on scrap composition and so inevitable contamination with undesirable, tramp/residual elements.

Vital factors

Steel is a blend of mostly iron, with carbon and many other additions that tailor the metal’s properties to its intended use. There are in excess of 20 different common steel specifications for rail. The blend of alloy elements is carefully controlled to provide the optimum properties desired to very high levels (parts per million in some cases). This provides some interesting challenges in preparing each perhaps 300 tonne ladle of steel which has been refined from materials dug out of the ground together with recycled scrap steel.

Alloy additions are made to get the steel to the desired composition however, one of the key elements for rail steels, Hydrogen, as it is a gas requires a different approach to control its levels. If high levels of hydrogen are present in rail steels they may crack which is obviously unacceptable. Worse still this cracking can be delayed until after the manufacturing processes have been completed which is obviously unacceptable. To reduce the level of hydrogen a vacuum degassing unit is used to essentially suck the hydrogen gas out of the steel.

Cleanness

One of the most critical and most challenging requirements for rail steel is its cleanness. By cleanness, I mean how free from undesired impurities the finished rail is. This requirement is challenging yet vital for safe

durable rails. Tiny impurities, called inclusions, if present in the finished rail, can cause cracks to form within the rail under the repeated loading from traffic passing over it. If left unchecked, these cracks can grow and cause the rail to fracture.

Modern steelmaking and continuous casting practices, together with modern non-destructive testing techniques have transformed this aspect of rail manufacture, so that this type of rail defect is now extremely rare. The European rail standard specifies two direct types of assessment of rail cleanness. The first is an oxide cleanness measurement which looks at the steel under a microscope to assess the number and size of inclusions present. The second is a non-destructive ultrasonic test of the entire length of every finished rail.

The ultrasonic equipment must be capable of finding defects/inclusions of 2 mm or greater in size in the head, web or foot of the rail in specified areas.

Temperature and time

Steel for rails is continuously cast and one of the key things is timing. Steel needs to be ready at the right time and the right temperature as well as having the correct cleanness and composition to allow casting to take place efficiently. When you consider that a dozen ladles of steel may be cast consecutively, each arriving at the casting machine at exactly the right time and temperature to continue the casting process without ever stopping, you can see this task is complex. When you add in the fact that there may be several different casting machines operating at the same time, you can see that conducting this orchestra of processes and movements requires a mastery of logistics and timing.

We look at turning a 300 tonne bucket of refined molten steel into a product which can be rolled into a high-quality rail. In days gone by, molten steel was poured into moulds to solidify into blocks of steel – ingots - much like freezing ice cubes in a tray in your freezer at home. However this process has its issues controlling cleanness, segregation and shrinkage – and as a result, the rail industry moved to mandate the use of continuously cast steel to provide greatly improved product quality. There are steel products that still use ingot casting for a variety of reasons but rail is not one of them.

Continuous casting is the process of pouring molten steel into a mould and withdrawing the semi-solidified product from the base of the mould at the same time. In theory, this means molten steel can be continuously poured into the top and product removed from the bottom in an ‘endless’ cycle. This continuous process produces a “strand” of steel that is cooled and cut up into shorter lengths usually called ‘blooms’. These typically rectangular with dimensions of approxi-4

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the steel issue

RAIL 101: MAKING TRACKS mately 250-350 mm but other shapes are possible. Continuous casting is used in other shapes too, such as slabs and billets..

The length of blooms is dependent on the length of product to be rolled but could be in the region of eight metres and weigh seven tonnes. Typically, casting machines have multiple strands to maximise productivity. The casting machine for rail at Scunthorpe steelworks in England has six strands for example.

The steel is poured from the ladle to the strand via a large bath of steel called a tundish. This provides a reservoir (like a header tank) to allow more than one ladle to be cast without stopping the casting process. Using this method a caster can run for perhaps 18 hours continuously.

The steel blooms after casting are reheated in a furnace to over 1200°C (that’s over 2200°F), (or hotter than most lava flowing from a volcano!). High temperatures are needed in order to make the steel soft and ductile enough to roll into the desired rail profile. The reheating process of each bloom weighing, perhaps over seven tonnes for the top European producers, takes several hours to complete. Blooms are continuously ‘walked’ through a furnace to ensure the rolling process continues 24 hours a day, with cold ones being fed in at one end whilst hot ones are discharged at the other. Depending on the factory the furnaces are commonly fuelled either by waste process gases (on an integrated steel site) or via natural gas or even oil. As the steel is at a high temperature for an extended time, the surface oxidises and this ‘scale’ needs to be removed to avoid surface defects being created during the rolling process.

and somewhat of a mysterious black art in itself.

On each pass through a set of rolls the steel cross section is reduced and the rail gets longer - much longer. The most common European rail standard (EN13674) specifies a minimum reduction of the rail cross section being one ninth that of the original steel bloom, but much larger reductions are common.

The rolling process itself may take less than 10 minutes, but in this time the bloom is transformed from perhaps 7.5 metres to over 125 metres in length. At the same time the profile dimension control is critical and the tolerances for railway rail are exceptionally stringent. Most rails rolled have a tolerance of just ±0.5mm on the rail height. If you compare this to a similar sized steel construction beam the tolerance would be five times larger! Yes it is true, the tallest skyscrapers and the longest bridges are built with much less accuracy than the railway requires!

There are various layouts of rail mill in terms of how the sets of rolls are laid out, each with their strengths and weaknesses but the one I am most familiar with is Scunthorpe in the UK which is quite unusual. They use a continuous seven stand finishing train. This means that the rail passes through seven sets of shaping rolls all at once. The rail coming out is travelling more than twice the speed of the hot steel going in. Quite a challenge!

Many other rail manufacturers tend to use cross-country style mills which present an often different set of challenges.

Cross-country means that the rail tends to go through one or two stands (sets of rolls) at a time and is then slid sideways to enter the next mill stands rather than them all being in one long line.

Descaling

Identification

Rolling

Inspection

4

Reheating

After exiting the reheating furnace, glowing yellow hot, it is pushed onto a set of rollers. Then the blooms commonly pass through a series of high pressure water jets. The high pressure water as it hits the hot surface instantly boils and the expanding steam blasts the scale away from the steel surface to leave it clean ready for rolling. The removal of scale reduces the possibility of surface defects on the finished rolled product leading to improved surface quality. Descaling may also carried out at several points along the rolling process to provide excellent levels of surface quality for demanding customers.

The hot steel is then squeezed between carefully designed sets of water -cooled steel rolls to alter its shape and extend its length. I’ll not go into detail about the design of how the shape is evolved through each set of rolls as it is particular to each mill

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There are two forms of identification for rails. The first is known as the brand. This brand is rolled into each rail regularly (every 4m or less) along its length and depending on the rail ordered, contains various information, such as the manufacturer, profile and steel grade.

The second form of identification is a unique number stamped into the web of each rail along its length. This number means that each rail is uniquely identified and can be traced back to the liquid steel from which is was made even many years after it was manufactured.

Now that we have turned our large block of steel into a perhaps 125m red hot rail, the process of inspection commences even before the product cools to enable rapid feedback to the rolling mill to make any changes or adjustments necessary.

the steel issue

High-tech profile gauges measure the profile of the still redhot rail along its length to verify and control the dimensions of the finished rails. Other visual inspection systems can also provide feedback on the surface quality of the rail and finally physical samples are also taken when required to perform mechanical tests to verify key physical and mechanical properties, such as tensile and hardness etc.

Cooling

We now must cool our 125m rail down so we can further process it. The cooling of the rails is not as simple as it sounds.

Firstly as the rail may be over 1200°C the length change on cooling must be accounted for. So as the finished rail is cut to length the length change of over one metre must be taken into account. Rails generally fall into two categories, • As rolled rails - which are naturally air cooled • Heat treated rails- which are accelerated cooled using a variety of methods Natural air cooling represents the majority of rails used currently. Two key challenges remain when cooling the rails. In the image above you may notice that the rail head and the rail foot do not cool at the same rate due to their shape. This differential cooling rate and also the profile non-symmetry leads to the rail changing shape as it is cooled. Different manufacturers have

different strategies for dealing with or coping with this during manufacture. The most elegant is to simply pre-curve the rail in the opposite direction before the cooling process starts when they are placed onto the walking cooling banks. As the rail cools it becomes straight again! And it is fairly obvious that a straight rail is going to be easier to straighten than one which is bent.

Straightening

Once cooled the rail is passed through roller straightening machines. These work by bending the rail back and forth between staggered rollers in both the vertical and horizontal planes to accurately straighten the rail. High levels of both straightness and particularly flatness are required for high speed traffic use, where for example limits in vertical flatness deviations of less than 0.3mm over 3m may be specified. Once we have a straight rail, then we can begin the finishing and inspection processes.

Daniel Pyke works to make safe and sustainable railways with Ricardo. For more than two decades Daniel has been interested in steelmaking and the production of rails.

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Dan iel Pyk e

Not all rails are created equal

N

ot all rails need to withstand the same loads and traffic and often the optimum life for a rail is a balancing act between different types of degradation competing to limit the rails useful life. I wrote a little bit recently about which rail is best which discusses this further.

There are literally thousands of types of steel out there filling different needs. Your steel rule has different properties from your can of soft drink for example.

Most rail standards around the world contain multiple options for rail steels to try to address the differing needs of traffic they are trying to support. The type of steel can have dramatic effects on the track performance and maintenance. For example some rail steels wear 10 times faster than others; so picking the right one(s) can make huge differences to networks’ bottom lines.

The European rail standard (EN) for rails is the one I’m most familiar with, (indeed I’ve had a little input into what is in it), so I’ll discuss the types in this first. There are of course many other standards around the globe and I’ll not be able to include them all in this article without boring all my readers to tears- so apologies in advance if I miss yours out. The European rail standard has two distinct groups of steels. Those which are heat treated, and those which are not. Heat treatment is used to alter the properties of the steel - essentially to make it harder and hopefully more wear resistant..

Their name reflects the minimum hardness that the surface of the rail should be (in Brinell) and is often used as a proxy for wear resistance. That isn’t quite true but that is an explanation for another day/article. All are prefixed by the letter “R” for some reason which I don’t know. If you know why then let me know in the comments.

R200 has a minimum hardness of 200 Brinell. Other asrolled grades are R220, R260, R260Mn, and R320Cr. The numbers indicating the minimum hardness and the suffix letters indicate alloy additions to alter the properties of the rail. In many countries, (but certainly not all) R260 is often the “standard” grade that is used for the majority of the mainline track.

At this point I will mention that progress in standards to reflect the real world happens at a seemingly glacial rate. The UK

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has used a harder as rolled grade (we call it HP335) since 2010.

Then there are the heat treated grades which all carry a suffix HT - R350HT / R350LHT / R370CrHT / R400HT

Different phases

All of the rails so far are pearlitic rails. Pearlitic refers to the structure within the steel. I don’t want to baffle many of my audience by trying to turn this into a metallurgy article, but steel exists in different phases as well as different compositions and heat treatments. Common steel phases are Ferrite, Pearlite, Bainite, and Martensite.

The vast majority of rails are pearlite, however British Steel has pioneered Bainitic rails which have some very interesting anti-fatigue properties to avoid the need for rail grinding. Indeed SNCF mandate its use in parts of their rail infrastructure and Eurotunnel used it for over one billion tonnes of traffic without grinding needed in the channel tunnel. If you want more in-depth articles on rail steel metallurgy then let me know in the comments.

Where the European standard (EN) names their rails by the minimum hardness, other specifications such as the UIC and Indian rail specification use the tensile strength of the steel instead. The UIC rail grades of 700, 900A or B, and 1100 require minimum strengths of 680, 880 and 1080MPa respectively.

There may be significant differences in the standards but the steel can be the same.

The American (AREMA) specification is the one I find hardest to explain. There are two main categories, Carbon Rail Steel and Low Alloy Rail Steel which vary by the composition of the steel. Then both of these categories are sub divided into Standard, Intermediate and High strength sub-categories. Lastly I’ll mention the BS11 standard. One of the first rail standards out there (first issued in 1905 last revised in 2015 - its 10th edition/ It has a long history but is now largely superseded by the Euro Norm (EN13674) rail standard. However BS11 remains current to identify the dimensions and tolerances of various rails produced which are still used around the globe, including bullhead rail.

the steel issue

A boom in steel transport at DB Cargo Italia Services F or the first time ever, the steel sales unit at DB Cargo Italia Services, a subsidiary of DB Cargo, moved over one million tonnes of steel for its Italian customers in 2021 The figure in 2020 was just 645,000 tonnes, itself down some 20% on the preceding years.

Latest statistics show that steel transports have not only recovered from their pandemic-induced slump; they have also seen a sharp increase over pre-Covid levels.

Two factors are driving this growth.

Existing customers are transporting more freight by rail, and DB Cargo has also won new customers with access to DB Cargo’s Europe-wide single wagon network.

International train transport

DB Cargo and DB Cargo Italia Services work together to dispatch international train transports. While DB Cargo handles the business of moving wagons within the rail network, DB Cargo Italia Services concentrates mainly on the first mile, which entails door-to-door transports for customers without a private siding.

This has a twofold impact. Companies

benefit from flexible transport capacity thanks to the single-wagon network, block trains can carry up to 2,000 tonnes of steel to their various destinations while also enjoying uncomplicated access to the rail system.

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Reliable despite the pandemic

There is another factor for rail’s success: It proved to be a reliable form of transport for the steel industry throughout the pandemic.

Massimiliano Caglio, sales manager at DB Cargo Italia Services, and his colleague Sarah Erian also believe there are other reasons.

“We have grown because lorries are in short supply and because the cost of moving freight by ship has gone up,” Caglio says. “These changes presented DB Cargo Italia Services with an opportunity. We seized it immediately by making the most of our own transport capacities and our dependable connections.”

According to Erian: “Environmental issues have also become important to Italian customers.

“Thanks to rail transport, they can drastically reduce their CO2 emissions.”

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Weight-loss wagons

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ix years ago, Croatia’s Duro Dakovic launched a new railway wagon for transporting cement. The Uacns model – made with SSAB’s Domex 460 MCE steel – is already said to be one of the lightest wagons of its kind on the market and one of the quickest and easiest to load and discharge.

The 74-cubic-metre Uacns tank wagon were tested at several cement manufacturers and users’ plants across Europe.

During the test phase, reduced operational costs for customers were proven. The first batch of Uacns wagons were delivered to a customer in France in October 2016. Several parts of the new wagon are made from SSAB’s Domex 460 MCE steel.

“We believe it is currently the best steel tank wagon for cement transport on the market because it is tailor-made and optimized,” said Josip Bucic, Sales and Project Management Manager for Duro Dakovic, a mechanical engineering graduate who had worked for the company since 1984.

“Because of the optimal ratio between the loading volume – 74 cubic metres – and wagon’s tare weight of 19 tonnes, there is a very short discharge time and minimum level of residual cement after emptying the wagon,” says Bucic. “This means lower operational costs during the loading and discharging of the wagon as well as lower maintenance costs.”

When you think of Croatia, the production of railway wagons might not be the first thing that springs to mind. Yet, with a history spanning almost 100 years (it produced its first railway wagon in the 1920s) Duro Dakovic has been scaling up its production and increasing its export business since 2006.

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Business really took off in 2003 when the company was asked to produce approximately 1,300 different types of wagons as part of the Croatian government’s strategy to modernise its railway fleet. Three years later, Duro Dakovic began exporting to other European countries, and today it exports 100% of its production. Since 2007, the company has also been producing and exporting armored battle vehicles which are the second main product in its product portfolio.

“When we are choosing materials and equipment for our wagons, we follow the ‘5L’ guidelines – low noise, lightweight, long running, logistics capable and low-cost country (LCC)-oriented. By using materials with increased strength and higher abrasion resistance we can make our wagons lighter and increase their lifespan,” he adds.

The relationship with SSAB dates back to 2002, around the same time that Duro Dakovic began to expand.

“SSAB could deliver everything we needed – a good balance between quality and price, meet our delivery time requirements and also provide us with important technical support when we are choosing optimal materials for new projects,” says Bucic.

SSAB supplies Duro Dakovic with a wide variety of steels for use in the production of its railway freight wagons and armoured battle vehicles.

For the current production of these products, DDSV uses Hardox 450, S355J2W, Optim 550W, Armox 440, Domex 460 MCE, Strenx 700.

the steel issue

North Carolina Railroad Company invests $750,000 in spur to new mini steel mill

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he North Carolina Railroad Company (NCRR) is one of several partners named in the recent announcement that Charlotte-based Nucor will construct a new mini steel mill in Davidson County to produce steel rebar. In total, Nucor will bring an investment of $350 million and 180 new high-paying jobs, increasing their economic presence in North Carolina.

Nucor is a Fortune 500 industrial steel manufacturer headquartered in Charlotte, NC. The company has many manufacturing locations in the US and abroad, including an existing steel mill in Cofield, NC Through the North Carolina Railroad Company’s economic development initiative NCRR Invests, NCRR is investing approximately $750,000 to assist with the construction of a new rail spur and onsite loading, unloading and storage tracks for Winston-Salem Southbound, a shortline railroad jointly owned by Norfolk Southern and CSX, to serve the new facility. The new rail modifications will increase activity by 2000 additional rail cars each year.

“Rail infrastructure is extremely important in attracting high quality manufacturers and distributors that bring high paying jobs to our communities,” says NCRR President and CEO, Carl Warren. “Occasionally those companies need room to expand their site footprint or operation. Through NCRR Invests, we are able contribute to an effort including Davidson County, the North Carolina Department of Commerce, the Economic Development Partnership of North Carolina, and many others who made this amazing opportunity a reality for the people of Davidson County.”

Additional project partners include the North Carolina

General Assembly, the North Carolina Community College System, the North Carolina Department of Transportation, the North Carolina Department of Revenue, the GoldenLEAF Foundation, the Davidson County Economic Development Commission, City of Thomasville, City of Lexington, and Davidson Water Inc. The North Carolina Railroad Company is a private corporation whose voting stock is owned by the State of North Carolina. The Company manages the use of 317 miles (510 km) of track and property stretching from Charlotte to the Port of Morehead City. The Company’s aim is to benefit the people of North Carolina by aggressively leveraging the unique strengths and capabilities of the North Carolina Railroad Company.

Further investments

Meanwhile, the NCRR is one of several partners for Vietnam-based VinFast, a private automotive manufacturer, will construct its first US-based electric vehicle (EV) assembly and battery manufacturing facility at the Triangle Innovation Point (TIP) site in Chatham County, NC. In total, VinFast will bring an investment over $4 billion and 7500 new jobs to the area.

VinFast announced the location of its US headquarters in the Playa Vista area of Los Angeles, CA in 2021 and will now construct its first US manufacturing campus. Through NCRR’s economic development initiative NCRR Invests, NCRR is investing approximately $1 million to assist with the construction of a new auto ramp to benefit the company, increasing freight rail activity in the state by at least 5000 additional rail cars each year.

www.freight-tracks.com April 25 2022 n 17

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Rail freight has role as Nextracker collaborates with JM Steel to launch new steel manufacturing line in Texas

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asy access to three Class 1 railroads (UP, BNSF & KCS) was a factor in the selection by Nextracker and JM Steel, a division of JENNMAR USA, of a dedicated solar tracker production line on the campus of the new Steel Dynamics, Inc. (SDI) facility near Corpus Christi, Texas. Nextracker launched a new facility with JM Steel to manufacture low-carbon tracker components for solar power plants throughout the southern United States. ”Customers want protection from steel and logistics cost volatility, and logistics delays associated with shipping, containers, and ports,” said Dan Shugar, Founder and CEO of Nextracker. “We are migrating to domestic production to stabilize pricing and achieve superior on-time delivery for our customers. Moreover, US steel manufacturers like Steel Dynamics Incorporated (SDI) have a much cleaner, lower carbon production processes than most overseas manufacturers. With JM Steel, we are collocated next to SDI Sinton, the newest steel mill in America, further lowering cost and improving sustainability by integrating key manufacturing activities on a single campus.”

A dependable steel supply is central to utility-scale solar, which is now the lowest cost form of energy in many locations.

In response to global supply disruptions, Nextracker made the strategic decision to focus on manufacturing in the United States. IHS Markit Insight report recently found that, “Steel procurement and manufacturing location will be a key concern for tracker suppliers as they contend with growing local content requirements among global markets and volatile shipping freight costs.”

Partnering with JM Steel, Nextracker will have a dedicated supply of critical materials within one of the fastest growing and biggest solar markets: Texas and the Southern US. Last year, Texas overtook California as the top-ranked state for solar capacity additions adding 6.6 gigawatts (GW) of solar with an additional 23 GW expected by 2023.

“JM Steel’s proximity to SDI will provide Nextracker and their customers cost-effective products with quick response times to feed the growing solar market in Texas and the South”, said Tony Calandra, CEO of JM Steel and JENNMAR USA. “And all of the steel being used to make Nextracker’s products will be made with SDI’s newest Electric Arc Furnace (EAF) technology, which utilises recycled or scrap steel as a raw material for a lower carbon footprint which is a perfect fit for Nextracker’s solar products.”

www.freight-tracks.com April 25 2022 n 19

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VTG goes modular

Flexible underframes, flexible superstructures, flexible services VTG’s new wagon architecture makes rail freight more flexible than ever. The separation of superstructures from underframes and the use of the modifiable m² platform opens freight wagons up to a multitude of uses.

When the superstructure can be swapped for another one, a wagon is no longer limited to just a single transportation purpose. Depending on individual transport needs, there are all kinds of ways to mix and match the different “building blocks”.

This modular design makes logistics generally more flexible, as well increasing both the usability of rolling stock and the utilization of its capacity throughout its entire lifecycle.

Standard issue is a thing of the past: The aim is to give customers integrated and, above all, made-to-measure solutions that make the best use of VTG’s assets, logistical services and digital services. Modular solutions establish rail freight as an integral component of the supply chain.

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The modularisation of freight traffic

The new “Modular Solutions” transport concept gives VTG a business model that is sustainable, flexible and rigorously customer centric. VTG’s product and design engineers were asked to completely rethink the freight wagon, including all services and business models.

Most rail freight wagons are built and licensed for one specific purpose. But with the market growing ever more agile, that is not always what one needs. Thus, VTG no longer thinks in terms of wagons and products, but in terms of solutions.

Being able to individually combine modular superstructures with all commercially available intermodal wagons naturally maximizes the potential applications. But it also means that assets can be made available more quickly. For example, wagons that normally only have seasonal applications no longer have to spend the rest of the year standing idle in the depot.

Moreover, modular wagons also make repair processes more

the steel issue efficient: If a container is defective, it is no longer necessary to send the whole wagon to the workshop, as an intact container can simply be placed on the existing platform. The same principle applies if the wagon itself is defective: Here again, the container can be moved to another wagon and the customer’s transports can continue uninterrupted. Idle time as a whole can thus be reduced.

The m2 wagon concept developed jointly by VTG and DB Cargo goes even further: The m2 platform provides modular underframes, too, which allows the wagon to be adjusted to any length. The primary aim is to maximise flexibility.

And thanks to its modular design, the flat wagon can be adapted again and again to changing conditions and requirements: The length, bogie and braking configuration can all be selected and modified individually in line with specific needs.

Superstructure solutions ‘Steel’

These tailor-made modular solutions are already available to a wide range of industries.

Customers can choose the platforms and superstructures they prefer for all kinds of freight including steel products.

The ModuPallet Coils & Steel is VTG’s modular solution for the transport of coils and other steel products.

Designed for the transport of coils, this pallet can also transport slabs and blooms and is able to generate a maximum of flexibility.

Unloading can be done via forklift or crane.

Usage in combination with freight car (Sggrrs 2x40’) allows for a volume optimised loading thanks to the weight-optimised wagon design.

The ModuPallet Steel is VTG’s modular solution for the transport of steel products such as slabs, blooms, tubes and rails.

www.freight-tracks.com April 25 2022 n 21

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More steel on th

US Steel Košice transported almost a quarter of a m

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he rails

million tonnes of steel on German rails alone in 2020

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US Steel, DB Cargo continue a successful co-operation

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S Steel and DB Cargo have extended their existing framework agreement until July 2023. The North American steel group is thus ensuring its customers a long-term, ecologically sensible transport solution at competitive prices for its steelworks in Košice, Slovakia – for all transports in Germany and to Western Europe.

In addition, US Steel intends to further increase the transport volume in the future. This also relieves roads and motorways of truck transport and annoying traffic jams are reduced. “CO 2 reduction is a declared corporate goal. With the contract extension with DB Cargo, we are consistently taking this step further,” says Martina Kováčová, General Manager Procurement, Center of Excellence at US Steel based in Košice, Slovakia.

Good air for the High Tatras

In 2020, US Steel saved 12,600 tonnes of CO2 by transporting steel by rail compared to truck transport. For the current year, the steel group expects savings of 16,000 tonnes. In this way, the contractual partners meet society’s expectations of climate-friendly transport solutions. And that also benefits the landscape protection of the High Tatras, which are affected by the CO2-Reduction benefits. The fact that steel belongs on rails is also due to its much higher density. Compared to other goods, its weight is immense.

This is why the heavyweight is a particularly rail-related commodity. Because in relation to the loading area of ​​a truck, much more steel fits on a goods wagon. And every tonne of freight that reaches its recipient by train saves around 80% CO2 compared to truck transport.

Steel drives flexibly on steel

Steel producers or processors value planning security. “Contractors like US Steel can plan with us with certainty. Even if they have to get large volumes on the road at short notice,” says Mario Bahn, Account Manager at DB Cargo.

This is possible at any time with the extensive Railport network. And the logistics specialist for steel producers is expanding this network. US Steel Košice transported almost a quarter of a million tons of steel on German rails alone in 2020. This is the result of a good and co-operative partnership of the previous years.

In the current year, the volume transported by rail is expected to increase by more than 25% to over 300,000 tonnes. “That is an incentive for us. We are delighted to be able to bring even more steel onto the rails together with DB Cargo,” says Bahn.

www.freight-tracks.com April 25 2022 n 23

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Dedicated wagons for coil traffic

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oil cars (also referred to as “steel coil cars” or “coil steel cars”) are a specialised type of rolling stock designed for the transport of coils or rolls of sheet metal, particularly steel. They are considered a subtype of the US gondola car, though they bear little resemblance to a typical gondola.

Prior to the invention of this type, coils of sheet steel were carried on end or in cradles in open or covered gondolas. Load shifting, damage and awkward loading and unloading were all problems, and since so much sheet steel is transported, a specialized car was designed for this use.

These cars started to appear in the 1960s. Early examples include the Pennsylvania Railroad G40 and G41 class cars, built in 1964-65.

Construction

The body of a coil car consists of a trough or series of troughs.

Most commonly these run lengthwise, but there are transverse variants as well; in either case they may be lined with

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wood or other material to cushion the load. The coils are set on their sides in the trough, and stops may be applied across the trough to keep the coils from shifting.

The cars are equipped with hoods to cover the load. Some cars use a single hood, but more commonly a pair of hoods is provided. Each hood has a lifting point at its center, and often has brackets on the top at the corners in order to allow the hoods to be stacked when not in use. The hoods are largely interchangeable and it is common to see a car with mismatched hoods.

According to Union Pacific, coil cars come in a variety of lengths, tonnage and capacities for specialised commodities.

For instance, some coil car troughs are designed to prevent coils from rolling, some feature side brackets so the load can be secured without using cables, and others are designed so special measures aren’t needed to secure the load.

While coil cars often carry commodities that can’t be damaged by the elements, many coil cars come equipped with “hoods” to offer this protection when needed. The hoods can be stacked when not in use.

the steel issue LONGITUDINAL COIL GONDOLA Longitudinal coil gondolas feature a single trough running longitudinally down the center of the car.

These cars are equipped with steel covers to protect the coils in the car from weather damage.

These cars are equipped to handle steel coils up to 84 inches in diameter.

Available from Mitsui Rail Capital.

Length: 51 feet, 10 1/2 inches Inside Length: 42 feet Gross Rail Load: 286,000 pounds Load Limit: 231,000 pounds

5-TROUGH TRANSVERSE COIL GONDOLA This transverse coil gondola features five individual troughs for loading various size steel coils.

These cars are equipped with steel covers to protect the coils from weather damage.

Available from Mitsui Rail Capital.

Length: 57 feet, 11 1/4 inches Gross Rail Load: 286,000 pounds Load Limit: 221,500

10-TROUGH TRANSVERSE COIL GONDOLA This transverse coil gondola is a specialty coil car featuring 10 individual troughs for loading various sizes of steel coils in the same car. These cars also can accommodate 84-foot coils on each end, in addition to smaller coils at the same time.

Available from Mitsui Rail Capital.

Length: 58 feet, 9 inches Gross Rail Load: 286,000 pounds Load Limit: 220,000 pounds

www.freight-tracks.com April 25 2022 n 25

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Greenbrier’s Shimmns equipped for conditioning monitoring and GPS tracking

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his covered freight wagon from Greenbrier Europe is used for the transportation of cold steel coils placed in special cradles. The coils are protected against environmental conditions by a tarpaulin, which can be rolled at both wagon ends. The tarpaulin provides that 2/3 of the wagon can be opened.

The wagon is accessible for loading/unloading from the top and from the sides by industrial cranes and lifts.

The wagon frame is made in accordance to the new, patented WS (EP 1 298 022) standard, which has a lighter, optimized construction, carrying loads up to 100 tonnes.

The wagon is equipped with patented mechanisms for operation of the arms (222981), which can be controlled from one side, without having to go to the other side of the wagon.

The wagon design meets the requirements of TSI, EN, UIC

standards and has TEN GE marking for traffic. The wagon is equipped with an advanced system for conditioning monitoring and GPS trackings. This system communicates back to the operators via an internet portal.

The energy required to operate the system is generated by an axle generator in combination with a battery. The system transfers the data of the current weight of each wheel and temperatures of axles and bearings. Seven lamps are mounted on the board signalling the current load information to the required people. The system includes sensors for acceleration and retardation for diagnostic purposes both while driving or at standstill, such as impacts during shunting.

A GPS Antenna permanently receives an accurate positional signal which is transferred via GSM to the wagon tracker portal. Each wagon can be monitored in real time.

Shimmns wagon produced by Croatia-based Duro Dakovic

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the steel issue

Metal recycling specialist opens rail-connected site in Barking

Palakkad Railway Division surpasses scrap disposal target

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erbyshire, UK-based metal recycling and waste management specialist Ward opened a new rail-connected, metal processing site in Barking, East London in September 2021.

It facilitates the movement of bulk material from the south of England to its other facilities across the country for processing and onward export.

The site in Barking is a long-term partnership with DB Cargo UK and marks the next stage in the expansion of the firm’s bulk metal processing and export capabilities. It follows the opening of a new deep sea port facility at Redcar Bulk Terminal earlier in 2021 and a deep sea dock at Immingham in North Lincolnshire in 2018 with Associated British Ports.

Bulk ferrous metal

Enabling Ward to move bulk ferrous metal by rail, the site eventually aims to transport a number of trains each month, each carrying over 1000 tonnes of material on every movement. It forms part of Ward’s broader sustainability plans to reduce road cargo and handle bulk material to rail wherever feasible to do so.

Donald Ward, Operations Director at Ward, said: “Following a pilot exercise in Pinns Wharf, where we were transporting scrap by barge up to

Immingham, we established the potential for buying metals from other London-based merchants and cost effectively transporting them via rail to our other sites, for recycling and export.

“We’ve worked with DB Cargo UK to upgrade the site, installing a new weighbridge, radiation detectors, site accommodation facilities, new walls, gates and on-site security. We’ve also invested in new equipment including Liebherr material handlers and a CAT wheel loader. At the moment it has created five new jobs, but we are expecting to grow the team further in the coming months.”

Roger Neary, Head of Sales at DB Cargo UK, said: “We’re really pleased to extend our ongoing partnership with Ward with the new facility at Barking.

This is a great example of how we work with our customers to achieve safe, sustainable and innovative rail logistics solutions linking their supply chains to domestic and European markets through our network, service and people excellence.”

Multi-award winning Ward is an independently owned fourth-generation family business. Investment in the new Barking site complements Ward’s existing metal processing and recycling facilities across the Midlands, Teeside and Lincolnshire, enabling the metals specialist to transport various grades of ferrous metal for onward recycling.

eports in The Hindu newspaper of India show that the Palakkad division of the Southern Railway of India has surpassed the scrap disposal target set for the current financial year.

The division disposed of 10,968.634 tonnes of scrap up to March 21 and earned ₹37.45 crore ($4.9 million) against the target of ₹30.8 crore ($4 milion) This is the third consecutive financial year the division outweigh the targets in scrap disposal, a release from the division said here recently.

During 2020-21, the division disposed of 13,584.34 tonnes of scrap. In 2019-20, the division disposed of 10,483.642 tonnes of scrap.

Major scrap items disposed of by the division during the period included rail, rail fittings, prestressed concrete sleepers and aged coaches.

The division also auctioned condemned railway quarters at Palakkad and Shoranur this year.

The division disposed of 86,657 tonnes of released rails during this financial year.

Disposed through e-auction

Disposal of scrap is a source of income to the railways and various scrap material like released track material including rails, sleepers, fittings, generated on the railways are collected at convenient locations and disposed of through e-auction.

www.freight-tracks.com April 25 2022 n 27

the steel issue

Railcar dilemma: to scrap or not to scrap!

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here’s an interesting phenomenon occurring in the railcar market. There’s a bunch of railcars in storage.

Most of those railcars are tank cars, covered hoppers for frac sand and coal cars (gondolas and hoppers) that will likely never find a home in the productive transportation world. There is also a subset of railcars that are still productive in niche markets but need a little marketing TLC to get placed. Along with this group are the subsets of pro-

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ductive cars in the covered hopper arena, flatcar and boxcar arena and mill gondola and 4000 cube converted coal to scrap gondola.

Obvious candidate

The obvious candidate railcars to scrap, for example out of compliance tank cars that cost more to convert than to re-

the steel issue steady stream of scrap material or the 70-ton box car in general service transporting a consumer product? These railcar types aren’t ideal and are often seen as dinosaurs in a high capacity 286,000 gross weight, high cube capacity railcar transportation world. The easiest decision is to scrap them while the scrap pricing is nearing double or sometimes close to triple of what it’s been in the last few years. A price that was $4,000 to $6,000 a few years ago is now $10,000 to $12,000 per railcar. Makes scrapping them seem a whole lot easier! It is except when you consider replacement costs.

Buy decision

place, old grain cars that are in the 4427/4650 cube range and are reaching their end-of-life status, coal cars that don’t fit alternative use category or conversion category to other car types are somewhat obvious from the outside looking in.

The dilemma is what do you do with the 4750 cubic foot covered hopper that’s hauling corn to the domestic feed and export market, or the 2244 cube mill gondola that’s rated at 263,000 hauling scrap to a US steel mill which requires a

New railcars are expensive and rightfully so as input costs (labour and materials) have skyrocketed along with everything else in the marketplace. A consideration would be to consider what a new railcar replacement would cost and if your company intends on leasing the railcar(s) or buying them. Do you make the buy decision and come up with enough cash to cover new railcar costs in the high tens of thousands of dollars to low hundred thousand dollars or do you bank or self-finance the railcars? Do you consider operating leases for the railcars?

How long does it take to get the cars in service? Order books are out to 2022 for most railcar builders regardless of the railcar type.

A method of analysing this is to calculate the difference between what the value a new railcar would bring to your situation (or not bring to your situation).

The gain side may include a higher cubic capacity railcar, higher gross weight on rail railcar and possibly less maintenance for the next five or ten years.

The negative side would be an expected higher lease rate that may not make up for the increased capacity, higher per railcar freight rates that may or may not be lower on a per ton basis, having to wait for railcars to be delivered and loss of shipment capacity by scrapping railcars before replacements can be obtained.

Depending on how the railcars are financed you could carry more debt on the balance sheet or have a higher operating cost for movement of your product. Conversely you could also take full advantage of a higher per railcar capacity while enjoying the movement of an additional seven to ten tons of product every trip.

There’s a capacity gap if you scrap your operational railcars today and when new railcars will be available. Something that must be completed before scrap prices fall subjecting you to lower prices for your used equipment while being locked into higher new railcar costs. Be sure you don’t find yourself short of railcars during that time frame. In the meantime, while you’re waiting for new cars, will the scrap pricing prevail such that the original thought process still applies?

It’s always a challenge to see into the future and decide on a course of action. Our recommendation is to do your analysis and define several “what-if” scenarios. The numbers should guide you.

www.freight-tracks.com April 25 2022 n 29

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RECYCLING PLANT THAT’S HELPING THE RAILWAY TO SAVE MONEY

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n old marshalling yard in the English Midlands has a new life as a recycling plant that’s helping the railway save money.

In the Second World War, Whitemoor was an important marshalling yard in the Cambridgeshire countryside, where freight trains would bring, or load up with, goods for distribution. It was so vital for the supply chain that a decoy site, March down yard, was set up locally in case German bombers tried to attack it.

Whitemoor continued as a marshalling yard until the 1980s. It then lay dormant until 2004, when a phased reintroduction of the site began. The marshalling yard reopened, and in 2011 so did a recycling plant, bringing with it a new approach to used railway materials.

It was Network Rail’s National Delivery Service (now Route Services) that took the decision to open this new facility. Previously, various contractors dealt with different recovered materials, but the National Delivery Service realised it could co-ordinate this nationally to get the best value for Network Rail, and Whitemoor was chosen as an ideal site for the facilities required.

Today, recycling plant and marshalling yard have a symbiotic relationship at Whitemoor. The marshalling yard is run by GB Railfreight and serves the Anglia route down to London. Railway work sites run by Network Rail’s Infrastructure Projects division place orders for materials, and wagons are

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loaded up in the marshalling yard ready to be taken to where they’re needed.

While Network Rail also has two other materials handling depots, at Crewe and Westbury, Whitemoor is the largest and has facilities that the others don’t. This includes expertise to refurbish switches and crossings.

Recovered materials

There are eight material recovery specialists across the rail network. They work with contractors and delivery units (local work teams) in their route to remove scrap materials from work sites nationwide to Whitemoor or one of the other materials handling depots.

Every day, there are deliveries of track panels, sleepers, rails, small steel components and switches and crossings units to Whitemoor. Typically 40 to 50 wagons loaded with materials arrive each week, but sometimes as much as 90 to 100.

The materials are graded and sorted into what can be reused on the network and what can be sold on to approved external dealers. The construction industry buys the aggregate, for example.

A dedicated team at Network Rail co-ordinates

the sale and reuse of any r High-tech tests are us it has arrived at Whitem testing and magnetic par eo above). Some of it will mainline track; other rails and areas where trains tra

Refurbish switches and

Switches and crossings (S& line and direction and are sive elements of the track The facility for fixing es and crossings is one Whitemoor. How much r determines whether S&C

redundant railway assets. sed to grade the rail once moor, including ultrasonic rticle testing (see the vidl be suitable for reuse on s can be reused for sidings avel at slow speeds..

d crossings?

&C) allow trains to change e among the most expenk to replace. and refurbishing switchof the key functions at refurbishment is needed C are dealt with in situ or

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brought to Whitemoor.

Ordering the build of a new switch can take a long time. Whitemoor has an array of un-used switches and crossings received from jobs across the country, which the team can use to offer quicker solutions. On occasions they’ve been able to utilise their effective stock levels to refurbish what they have and solve a problem on the network.

This takes less time to do than wait for a new one to be made and in effect can reduce the length of speed restrictions out on the network.

One of the bits of kit that’s only available at Whitemoor is a Nencki press, which is used to straighten switch blades and running rail using an integral hydraulic pump.

This can manipulate rail horizontally and fits a wide range of rail profiles. It has also been de-

ployed from Whitemoor to other areas of the country when needed.

“S&Cs come in a range of standard sizes and designs. However, how they are installed in track and the geometry of S&C layouts is what makes reusing them challenging.

“When S&Cs come to be replaced, they can be sent to us and we assess their suitability for refurbishment.

Very often they can still have a productive life on lower track categories – effectively slower parts of the network. When maintenance teams need to replace S&Cs in the case of sudden failures and potential for train delays, we want to be their first port of call and can often provide solutions far more quickly,” says Patrick Nightingale, Whitemoor Depot Technician, Network Rail

www.freight-tracks.com April 25 2022 n 31

the steel issue

British Steel to promote premium railway offering at Railtex/Infrarail 2022 n HP335 for improved wear and roll-

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ritish Steel will be exhibiting at Railtex/Infrarail 2022 from May 10-12 at Olympia London. British Steel plans to promote its premium railway offering.

Co-located event The co-located event reflects the dynamic developments in the sector and the vision of the rail network of the future.

This makes it the ideal platform for exchanging knowledge and views on

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the latest developments at the heart of the industry.

British Steel be located on Stand G50, where it will be promoting its wide range of high-performance steel products and associated services, each designed to help the rail industry achieve longer infrastructure life with fewer maintenance requirements.

The company delighted to once again be the official ‘On-Track’ sponsor, supplying 18m of rail track, and demonstrating some of its award-winning smart steel for sustainable systems:

April 25 2022 @freighttracks

ing contact fatigue resistance n Zinoco coated rail for extending life in corrosive environments n Weathering steel structural sections for exposed bridges, buildings and catenary gantries n Rail technical services to help improve operational efficiency and network integrity As a founder member, British Steel will also be representing the UK Rail Research and Innovation Network (UKRRIN), highlighting the Centre of Excellence in Infrastructure research projects that are aimed at improving the life cycle of our rail products and hence reducing their embedded carbon content.

the steel issue

March 2022 crude steel production W orld crude steel production for the 64 countries reporting to the World Steel Association (worldsteel) was 161 million tonnes (Mt) in March 2022, a 5.8% decrease compared to March 2021.

Crude steel production by region Global crude steel production was 456.6 Mt in the first three months of 2022, down by 6.8% compared to the same period in 2021. Asia and Oceania produced 331.3 Mt of crude steel in the first quarter of 2022, a decrease of 7.8% on the first quarter of 2021. The EU (27) produced 36.8 Mt of crude steel in the first quarter of 2022, down by 3.8% compared to the same quarter of 2021. North America’s crude steel production in the first three months of 2022 was 28.1 Mt, a decrease of 0.9% compared to the first quarter of 2021. Russia & other CIS + Ukraine produced 24.0 Mt of crude steel in the first quarter of 2022, a decrease of 8.5% on the first quarter of 2021.

Top 10 steel-producing countries China produced 88.3 Mt in March 2022, down 6.4% on March 2021. India produced 10.9 Mt, up 4.4%. Japan produced 8.0 Mt, down 4.3%. The United States produced 7.0 Mt, down 1.7%. Russia is estimated to have produced 6.6 Mt, down 1.8%. South Korea produced 5.7 Mt, down 6.1%.

Germany is estimated to have produced 3.3 Mt, down 11.8%. Turkey produced 3.3 Mt, down 2.9%. Brazil is estimated to have produced 3.0 Mt, up 5.4%. Iran is estimated to have produced 2.3 Mt, down 6.1%.

The World Steel Association (worldsteel) is one of the largest and most dynamic industry associations in the world, with members in every major steel-producing country. worldsteel represents steel producers, national and regional steel industry associations.

Top 20 steel-producing companies 2020 (Million tonnes, crude steel production)

RANK COMPANY TONNAGE 1 China Baowu Group 115.29 2 ArcelorMittal 78.46 3 HBIS Group 43.76 4 Shagang Group 41.59 5 Nippon Steel Corporation 41.58 6 POSCO 40.58 7 Ansteel Group 38.19 8 Jianlong Group 36.47 9 Shougang Group 34.00 10 Shandong Steel Group 31.11 11 Delong Steel Group 28.26 12 Tata Steel Group 28.07 13 Valin Group 26.78 14 JFE Steel 24.36 15 Nucor Corporation 22.69 16 Hyundai Steel 19.81 17 Fangda Steel 19.60 18 IMIDRO 18.90 19 Benxi Steel 17.36 20 Liuzhou Steel 16.91

€170 billion Value for the EU economy in Gross Value Added annually 160 million tonnes Annual production of finished steel 500 Production sites in the EU 330,000 people directly employed with up to 2.27m million indirect jobs.

(The European Steel Association)

www.freight-tracks.com April 25 2022 n 33

headline news

‘UK Rail for Ukraine’ launches

UNITED KINGDOM The UK rail industry has joined together to facilitate sending more than a million items of aid to Ukraine in response to the humanitarian crisis in the region.

UK Rail for Ukraine, a cross-industry initiative set up by volunteers in early February, has brought together the large quantities of humanitarian aid from across the country. A first aid train has left the UK on a special DB Cargo service bound for Ukraine, where it will be received by organisations working on the ground.

The service is carrying more than 1500 tonnes consisting of a range of aid, including non-perishable food, hygiene and medical products, basic living equipment, and other much-needed supplies that have been donated from a wide range of businesses and organisations following requests for aid from the Ukrainian authorities. Organisers have express gratitude for local advice and information provided by both the Ukrainian Logistics Alliance and Department for International Trade in Warsaw.

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Transported in 24 shipping containers over a 500-metre train, the aid transported by UK Rail for Ukraine were labelled in all three languages to assist with distribution when it arrived at its destination.

Ambassador Vadym Prystaiko, Ukraine’s Ambassador to the United Kingdom said: “I am expressing my gratitude to the UK Railway industry and everyone who contributed to the UK Rail for Ukraine initiative. We greatly appreciate your support during such challenging times.

“Despite the complexity of the logistic routes, the industry managed to organize a delivery directly to the places of greatest need in Ukraine.

“In addition to the humanitarian aid gathered by volunteers from different businesses

and organizations, UK Rai ery of 21 powerful indust by the Ukrainian Embassy Ukraine’s energy sector.”

Rt Hon Grant Shapps M

headline news Transport of the United Kingdom said: “The UK Rail for Ukraine initiative is playing a great role in delivering humanitarian aid from across the country.

“Our exceptional railway network has come together and is working hard to deliver vital supplies to support the inspirational Ukrainian people.”

“The UK continues to stand with all those fleeing Putin’s barbaric invasion.”

Delivering humanitarian aid

Sir Peter Hendy CBE, chair of Network Rail, said: “We have all seen the vital role the railway has played in Ukraine, delivering people to safety, and vital supplies to the front line. Britain’s railway is now playing its small part in supporting the inspirational people of Ukraine.”

Andrea Rossi, Chief Executive Officer of DB Cargo UK said: “Across Europe, DB Cargo is already leading the way in delivering humanitarian aid by rail to the Ukraine, having recently developed the first rail bridge to the war-torn region.”

“Here in the UK, we are pleased to be able to support the ongoing aid effort to deliver essential supplies to ease the real suffering of

rail industry has achieved will start to make a real difference to those in Ukraine, but this could not have been achieved this without remarkable local support. Those individuals have our thanks and my personal commitment to build on this initial momentum.”

Further donations and contributions

Those wishing to make smaller or general donations are encouraged to provide financial support to the Disaster Emergency Committee Ukraine Humanitarian Appeal (https://www.dec.org.uk/appeal/ ukraine-humanitarian-appeal).

While further UK Rail for Ukraine services are not scheduled at this time, those who may have large quantities of high value physical items to donate are asked to contact Tony Gillan, International Product Manager via Tony.Gillan@deutschebahn. com Businesses wishing to offer work to Ukrainians in or outside the country are encouraged to contact the International Chamber of Commerce which is coordinating efforts through their Centre for Entrepreneurship for Ukraine via icccoe@iccwbo.org

s first humanitarian aid train

ilway facilitated the delivtrial generators purchased y which are imperative for

MP, Secretary of State for

the Ukrainian people impacted and displaced by the atrocities that are unfolding.”

David Horne, Managing Director at London North Eastern Railway (LNER) on behalf of train operators said: “We are proud to be working alongside the wider railway family in providing support to the people of Ukraine, including our railway colleagues.”

Trent Smyth AM, Executive Director at The Chief of Staff Association said: “The initiative shown by the railway industry is truly impressive. We are proud we could play our part in bringing the right people together to help make this possible.”

Chris Docker, Managing Director of Symposium Consulting, said: “What the UK

UK Rail for Ukraine comprises volunteers from across the railway family led by a project team including Network Rail, Symposium Consulting, DB Cargo UK, London North Eastern Railway (LNER), Avanti, MTR Elizabeth Line and The Veterans Charity.

Support or donations has also been provided by staff from companies such as: Acland Plant Hire Avanti West Coast Brakes Group Business In The Community Campeys Deutsche Bahn DB Cargo UK Fieldfisher Furrer and Frey

www.freight-tracks.com April 25 2022 n 37

headline news Rail bridge Ukraine in 1:87

MODEL EFFORT FOR UKRAINE CIVILIAN RELIEF GERMANY The well-known model train dealer Menzels Lokschuppen & Töff Töff GmbH from Düsseldorf and DB Cargo have responded to the situation in Ukraine by joining forces to quickly launch their own fundraising campaign.

Would you like to purchase one of the locomotives?

€100 donated per locomotive

The idea behind the project

The model railway retailer is launching a model locomotive to accompany the campaign. The design is the DB Cargo locomotive used to transport aid to Ukraine. From the sale proceeds, €100 euros will be donated to the Deutsche Bahn Foundation for each locomotive sold. The donations will be used to support people fleeing the war and provide targeted aid.

The Siemens Vectron MS locomotive is in traffic red DB Cargo and corresponds to the A35 configuration with approval for Germany, Italy, Croatia, Austria, Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia, the Czech Republic and Hungary.

Deutsche Bahn Foundation

With their fundraising campaign, Menzels Lokschuppen and DB Cargo are helping to support the Deutsche Bahn Foundation’s Ukraine aid efforts. Together with its close partner of many years, the Travellers’ Aid Society, the foundation is currently providing emergency humanitarian aid directly on board trains and at stations in Germany to support, advise and offer guidance to the arriving refugees.

The Deutsche Bahn Foundation also provides humanitarian aid internationally for people fleeing the war in Ukraine with the help of experienced partners and DB’s own logistics expertise.

The foundation plans to transport medical supplies, medical equipment and medicines to a hospital in western Ukraine later this month. The foundation will also be supporting educational and psychosocial services for refugee children and adolescents.

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The model locomotives from the fundraising campaign are available from the DB shop (German only) and, of course, from the Menzels Lokschuppen online shop.

Deutsche Bahn has set up a logistics network to transport aid supplies from Germany directly to Ukraine. The logistics teams from DB Cargo, DB Schenker and DB Transa-Spedition work hand in hand. Urgently needed goods such as food, drinking water, warm clothing, sanitary articles and medical products are transported directly into the country by freight train via the DB rail bridge.

The donations are collected by truck in Germany, packed in containers and finally transported across the border to Ukraine by freight train in DB Cargo’s European rail network.

Since the rail bridge was built, 25 trains have been able to use the bridge successfully.

Advance sales started on April 12 and will run through May 31 2022; delivery of the locomotives will begin in October 2022. Prices range from €299.90 to €439.90.

The strictly limited model will only be produced in the pre-ordered number (order deadline: May 31 2022) but not more than 1500 locomotives across all variants.

Rail bridge Ukraine in 1:1

headline news

DB Cargo UK hosts top-level talks on plans to grow international rail freight traffic

UNITED KINGDOM DB Cargo UK hosted a round table discussion on the future of international rail freight recently at its intermodal terminal in Barking, East London.

The event was hosted by the company’s CEO Andrea Rossi and involved a range of influential figures from Government, business and the rail freight sector.

Among the attendees were senior representatives from the Department for Transport, the Department for International Trade and the Great British Railways Transition Team.

They were joined by representatives from DB Cargo UK’s European sister company Transfesa, Channel Tunnel operators Eurotunnel and major names from the supermarket retail and automotive sectors.

During the meeting they discussed the barriers and opportunities to increase the volume of rail freight going through the Channel Tunnel, which is particularly relevant given the huge problems currently being experienced at some of the UK’s ports.

DB Cargo UK’s CEO Andrea Rossi said: “Growing our international traffic and developing new European corridors are key strategic objectives for DB Cargo and there is no better time to drive forward discussions on what needs to change to achieve this.

“I was incredibly heartened by everyone’s willingness to engage in open and frank discussions on the future of international rail freight and the solutions it presents to many issues facing society at the present time,” he added.

DB Cargo UK recently successfully bid for funding to create

a new ‘Customs Approval Area’ at its intermodal terminal at Barking in London.

Thanks to a £470,000 award from the UK Government’s multi-million pound Port Infrastructure Fund, work is due to begin shortly to build a new inland border control facility at the site to speed up the seamless movement of goods into and out of the country following the end of the Brexit transition period.

Investment

The investment will fund the construction of a new warehouse, where Border Control staff will be able to conduct inspections and where containers can be loaded and unloaded for onward travel.

It will also include a new secure storage area to hold any confiscated/seized goods, additional site security and office and welfare facilities for HMRC staff.

“Barking is already a key staging post between the UK and Europe and plays an important role in the import and export of materials, consumer goods and produce for use both home and abroad,” said Andrea.

“Every week train-loads of refrigerated containers and automotive components from Spain pass through the terminal en-route to suppliers up and down the country. This latest investment will ensure Barking continues to play a significant role in the seamless transportation of goods to and from Europe,” he added.

www.freight-tracks.com April 25 2022 n 39

headline news

Freight on Rail Group Australian election p T he industry group representing Australia’s largest rail freight operators and infrastructure owners have released their policy priorities for the forthcoming Australian federal election.

Freight on Rail Group (FORG) members contribute more than $11 billion to Australia’s economy each year, employ almost 20,000 people, operate 1,600 freight locomotives and manage 23,000 kilometres of rail track.

They include Pacific National, Australian Rail Track Corporation, One Rail Australia, Aurizon, Qube Holdings, SCT Logistics, Arc Infrastructure, Watco Australia and Southern Shorthaul Railroad.

Rail-based freight and logistics operations perform a vital role for Australia’s export industries and in domestic markets.

FORG recognises the importance of efficiently meeting future freight demand and continuing to improve the competitiveness of freight supply chains.

As Australia moves rapidly to decarbonise the nation’s supply chains, rail will have a pivotal role given the major safety, environmental and other community benefits it delivers, including reduced road congestion.

The following should be priorities for the elected Federal Government. Prioritise rail infrastructure resilience FORG welcomes the current Review of Road and Rail Supply Chain Resilience. With “once in 100 year” events happening more regularly it will be important that: • Resilience priorities are identified across Australia’s rail freight network, including regional rail infrastructure and focusing on where the existing network requires improvement.

• The use of technology to detect when a network or particular sections of a network require mitigation and protection actions.

• Ensuring that rail networks are well prepared to undertake efficient recovery works when required.

The findings of the Review of Road and Rail Supply Chain Resilience need to be a key priority for the first six months of the new Federal term of office.

Inland Rail Project

Inland Rail will provide step-change improvement in the domestic and export supply chains for industries that are vital for Australia’s economic prosperity.

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A key infrastructure priority for an incoming Federal Government should be the delivery of the Inland Rail project, with a focus on supporting the large private sector investments that will be required to realise all the economic and regional benefits of the supply chain services that will use Inland Rail in the future.

Provide a level playing field for rail and road with infrastructure pricing policy on freight corridors where rail and road compete to transport general freight, the current policy o federal and state Governments has resulted in favourable road user charges for trucks that are not cost reflective.

headline news

p outlines federal policy priorities

compartmentalised to the specific mode of transport, road or rail,and handled separately.

There is an opportunity for governments and industry to think across the different transport modes and to increase the utilisation of rail freight to reduce overall transport emissions, given that using rail freight produces 16 times less carbon pollution than road freight per tonne kilometre.

FORG recommends that emissions reduction programmes should provide an incentive for future freight volumes to be carried by rail, recognising the environmental and community benefits from using rail. A rail freight utilisation programe would also be linked to the larger infrastructure access costs paid by rail compared to road.

Improved rail freight productivity

FORG recommends the Federal and State Governments introduce equivalent policies for rail and road infrastructure pricing, and achieve this by one of the following options: • Road pricing reform that introduces cost-reflective user charging for heavy vehicles, as previously agreed by the Federal and State Governments; or • Alternatively, the introduction of a rail freight utilisation incentive programme, potentially linked to the value of the emissions reduction benefits of freight transported by rail.

Utilise rail freight to reduce transport sector greenhouse gas emissions Too often the emissions reduction strategies are

FORG recommends a nationally coordinated focus on improving the productivity of rail freight that involves the following priorities: • Addressing impediments to rail freight productivity including those that are identified by the Review of Rail Freight Productivity chaired by former Deputy Prime Minister John Anderson.

• Making targeted investments in improving the productivity of existing rail infrastructure.

• Integrate rail-based supply chains with other transport modes so that the benefits of rail in carrying larger volumes of freight are realised, including ‘first mile’ and ‘last mile’ connections to production or distribution sites and end destinations.

• A co-ordinated Federal and State Government approach to consistently identifying and overseeing the implementation of rail freight productivity improvement priorities that is integrated with overall supply chain development programmes.

Transport infrastructure investment proposals to recognise externality impacts of transport modes FORG recommends that transport infrastructure investment assessments should be required to consider and recognise the externality impacts of transport modes, including safety, environment and congestion benefits.

These benefits should be identified and considered in relation to infrastructure investment priorities, including investments aimed at improving the productivity and utilisation of existing infrastructure.

www.freight-tracks.com April 25 2022 n 41

headline news CMA CGM TO PROVIDE ECO-FRIENDLY INTERMODAL RAIL IN BRAZIL

BRAZIL Shipping line CMA CGM is to provide two new dedicated service offerings with eco-friendly intermodal solutions to serve the dynamic region of Southeast Brazil, Rio de Janeiro and Minas Gerais.

As of April 2022, the Rail innovative products Rio de Janeiro Ramp and Mina Gerais Ramp permit customers to benefit of daily departure and very short and reliable transit time through the port of Santos, Brazil.

To accompany customers’ needs, CMA CGM provides three weekly services SEAS, SEAS 2 and SAFRAN connecting Asia and Europe to/from Rio de Janeiro and Minas Gerais with Rail ramp delivery respectively in four days and seven days. Should last miles service be required, the intermodal transit time is within one day.

SANGRITANA SEES Sangritana spa activates a new rail transpo SWITZERLAND Every two weeks, the agreement provides for the transport of beech logs on 18 wagons from the Chiasso station in Switzerland to the Fossacesia station terminal to supply Mancini Imballaggi and TapMarc.

The final destination of the train will be the terminal of the partner company Lugo Terminal in Giovinazzo, Bari. There the remaining part of the train will be unloaded with destination Imola Legno plant in Molfetta.

The service, designed to transport around 1080 tonnes of logs, will be carried out by Sangritana as the first carrier, with the help of Captrain Italia, in partnership with Lugo Terminal for the main contractor DB Schenker.

An advantage for the territory and a benefit for the environment: each load replaces 54 articulated lorries, helps to de-congest the Adriatic highway and saves 43 tonnes of CO2.

A further opportunity for growth for the regional industrial fabric, allowing to make the most of the economic savings, transit time and emissions that the railway can offer to the territory.

The project also allowed for the improvement of handling procedures

and the time and distance of the “last mile” were reduced with the relocation of the unloading area at the former collection and delivery park of the Fossacesia / Turin station. di Sangro, in a strategic position close to the Adriatic line and close to the industrial area of ​​the Val di Sangro.

After the partnership with Trigano, with this second international order as the first carrier, Sangritana adds a further piece of growth, both in terms of turnover and in terms of services offered to its product portfolio of goods transported.

Wood imports into Italy

The main supplier of wood into Italy is Austria accounted. The country accounts for more than half of Italy’s demand. Germany is another key importer while Slovakia also provided great volumes of timber. Timber also comes from Poland and Czechia. Curiously, despite its adjoining location, it seems Switzerland has always been a minor source of wood for Italy.

Importers have recently been accused of breaking sanction by importing blacklist wood from Myanmar.

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headline news

S THE WOOD AND THE TREES rt service of timber from Switzerland to Abruzzo and Puglia

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headline news

A pillar of the ecological transition, will rail freight be the big one left out of the energy crisis?

T

he French Rail Association (AFRA - Association Francaise du Rail), which brings together alternative operators to SNCF, is concerned about the consequences of the energy crisis for rail operators. A pillar of the ecological transition, rail freight must not become the great forgotten of the energy crisis.

Faced with rising energy prices in the context of the war in Ukraine, the government has implemented a resilience plan for individuals and professionals. For the time being, the railway companies remain forgotten by these measures. However, the energy crisis will cost rail freight operators at least €55 million this year. A figure to be compared to the €400 million promised to

road hauliers by the government.

“The government will massively support road transport: it is inconceivable that rail freight does not benefit from comparable measures,” underlines Franck Tuffereau, General Delegate of AFRA. “Rail transport has shown how useful it is to everyone and to all territories: the energy crisis should not erase all recent efforts. The objective of doubling the share of rail freight by 2030 can still be achieved.”

The IPCC report challenges citizens and public authorities on the need to act urgently in favor of the climate in the next three years in order to limit global warming. Many presidential candidates are making the environment a priority,

but after a promising start, the current transportation administration no longer seems to care much about the mode of transportation that best conserves our planet’s resources.

Should we demonstrate in a more concrete way to illustrate the difficulties of our sector to be heard?

In September 2021, the French government announced an investment of €170 million per year to strengthen rail freight.

A historic financial effort after years of under-investment that the energy crisis threatens to wipe out even though rail transport is an asset for the ecological transition: a trip by train emits 10 times less CO2 than the same trip by car and 50 times less than the aircraft.

Never miss a rail freight story again.

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headline news

Freight on film UNITED KINGDOM The UK’s Rail Freight Group (RFG) has announced ‘Rail Freight: Fit for the Future’ a forward-thinking documentary series, focused on three key pillars of growth, sustainability, and innovation.

It will be produced by Zinc Media Group and released in partnership with the Freight Industry Times in the Autumn.

Shot throughout the UK, ‘Rail Freight: Fit for the Future’ will take viewers on a cinematic journey, exploring who and what is driving change.

The content will feature feats of engineering; inspiring stories of how rail freight is working with the wider industry; and showcase cutting-edge technology that’s providing faster, greener, and safer ways of transporting goods around the country.

‘Rail Freight: Fit for the Future’ will consist of a series of short-form documentaries, featuring insightful stories from across the rail freight sector.

The films will highlight how the freight industry is driving sustainable practices, supporting growth, and driving innovation. We’ll hear from leaders and influencers in the industry, as well as the people and businesses at the forefront of this powerful industry.

Maggie Simpson OBE, Director General, Rail Freight Group, said: “It is an exciting time for rail freight, as customers look to move more goods by rail to meet their sustainability ambitions, and the sector is responding with new investments and innovations.

“At RFG, we want to give all of our members the opportunity to tell their stories and expand on how they are helping make rail freight fit for the future.

“The UK rail freight sector has an incredible story to tell and this project presents a real opportunity for those to be told to a wider audience.”

This series comes at an opportune time as the UK Government calls on industry to hit net-zero targets by 2050.

Rail Freight is a growing business sector with huge potential to support in this.

There are fantastic innovations and developments happening all over the country, as well as investment in R&D helping modernise the industry.

“Rail Freight is a success story.

We’re delighted to partner with the Rail Freight Group to bring this story to life through this powerful series,” says Adam Harrod, Director of Business Programming at Zinc Media Group.

The content will be launched in the Autumn of this year, to coincide with the RFG Annual Conference in Octo-

ber 2022 and will form part of a national marketing campaign aimed at RFG members, policymakers, the wider modal sectors and the general public.

The series will help these audiences understand how important the rail freight sector is to UK PLC; how it is helping the UK reach its sustainability goals and promote those leading the way in innovation and development.

The RFG is currently seeking sponsors with interesting stories to be featured in the documentary, as well as additional media and distribution partners.

To find out how you can be involved, please contact Adam Harrod, Director of Business Programming at Adam.Harrod@ZincMedia.com

www.freight-tracks.com April 25 2022 n 45

News Review

Digitisation of rail freight in Port of Rotterdam started

NETHERLANDS In Rotterdam, nineteen rail freight parties have signed a partnership agreement for accelerated further growth of digitisation and data sharing in the sector. In the next two years, the foundation will be laid, under the leadership of the Port of Rotterdam Authority.

“Due to our sustainability objectives, the Port of Rotterdam Authority together with the Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management and the logistic parties focus on strong rail transport growth in the next few years,” says Matthijs van Doorn, Commercial Director at the Port of Rotterdam Authority. “In the past year, rail freight transport has grown by ten%.

It is our aim to continue building a competitive rail offer. We can only succeed if we take additional steps in efficiency, transparency and reliability. This requires good infrastructure, good market circumstances, digitisation, and data sharing.”

Rail Connected

The growth programme, Rail Connected, has arisen from the Rail Freight Transport Measures Package to promote rail freight transport. The programme is financed by the Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management and the Port of Rotterdam Authority. The Port of Rotterdam Authority coordinates the programme, which is designed together with the market parties.

A major part of Rail Connected is the further development of the current Notification Container Hinterland Barge service

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by Portbase, the provider of the Port Community System. As a result, the exchange of information between the chain parties is digitised further. ‘ “This will allow the possibility of reporting trains to the terminal, for instance, and information will be available about the composition of the train,” Iwan van der Wolf, Managing Director of Portbase, explains. “Data will be accessible when information exchange is standardised and digitised. At a later stage and with the proper authorisations, we can make it available safely to the rail freight sector and other parties. In this way, we use smart innovations to develop improvements.”

Boost

“The transparency and insights that come about due to digitisation will contribute to improved predictability of rail freight transport as a product,” Van Doorn adds. ‘Eventually, this will help optimise the use of the railway, the trains, and employees.

It will boost the growth of rail freight traffic. The Rail Connected growth programme is a first, major step to make this possible.’

Besides deep-sea container terminals RWG and Hutchison Ports ECT Rotterdam, the following parties from the rail freight sector participate: Contargo, CTT Rotterdam, Danser, DB Cargo Nederland, DistriRail, European Gateway Services, Haeger & Schmidt Logistics, KombiRail Europe, LTE, Neska Intermodal, Optimodal, Portshuttle, Rail Force One, Raillogix, Rotterdam Rail Feeding, RTB Cargo, and Trimodal Europe.

News Review

WABTEC TO ACQUIRE TRIMBLE’S BEENA VISION BUSINESS UNITED STATES The Wabtec Corporation, a leading global supplier for freight and transit rail, announced today the company has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Trimble’s Beena Vision business, a manufacturer of machine vision-based wayside inspection systems for the railroad industry. The acquisition is subject to customary closing conditions and financial terms were not disclosed.

“Beena Vision’s systems, coupled

safety incidents and to increase fleet availability for revenue generation.”

Beena Vision provides vision-based wayside detectors for the rolling stock maintenance market. Its non-contact measurement technology provides a highly detailed condition assessment of train components — ranging from wheel surface condition to full train inspection — while operating in service and at high speeds. Beena Vision’s wayside systems enable Train Operat-

folio, enhancing its ability to progress wayside train condition monitoring, as well as supply chain and logistics technology for railroad customers around the world.

“We set out to identify the ideal company to carry forward our rolling stock wayside monitoring solutions and we have found that company in Wabtec,” said Ron Bisio, Trimble’s senior vice president with responsibility for rail. “Trimble will continue to develop

with Wabtec’s TrackIQ portfolio, will create a comprehensive wayside inspection offering,” said Nalin Jain, President of Wabtec’s Digital Electronics business. “TrackIQ’s sensor-based systems and Beena Vision’s technologies combine to produce an industry-leading suite of wayside inspection solutions.

These solutions enable our customers to monitor the health of their rolling stock assets, which allows them to realise reductions in maintenance costs,

ing Companies (TOCs) to manage fleet maintenance through cutting-edge sensor and image-based inspection systems. Real-time alarms, alerts, and reports enable significant reductions in maintenance costs, improve safety and increase fleet availability. Beena Vision systems are installed at many major North American Class 1 railroads, as well as other worldwide TOCs. This deal will extend Wabtec’s unparalleled digital and electronics port-

cloud-based Internet of Things (IoT) rail solutions for rolling stock lifecycle management and will increase its focus on solutions for railway infrastructure surveying, construction, and maintenance, which are closely aligned to its core industry segments.”

Beena Vision’s business has been reported as part of the Trimble Transportation Segment. The sale will not have a material impact on the segment or overall financial results.

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News Review

CSX gets STB green NS OFFERING CONDUCTOR STARTING BONUSES light for Pan Am OF $5,000 IN THREE NEW LOCATIONS acquisition UNITED STATES The US Surface Transportation Board (STB) has approved CSX’s application to acquire Pan Am Railways (Pan Am). CSX will move forward with the acquisition with a planned closing date of June 1 2022, when CSX will acquire control of Pan Am. “CSX is pleased that the STB approved the proposed acquisition of Pan Am and has recognised the significant

benefits this transaction will bring to shippers and other New England stakeholders,” said president and chief executive officer, James M. Foote.

“We look forward to integrating Pan Am, their employees and the rail-served industries of the Northeast into CSX and to working in partnership with connecting railroads to provide exceptional supply chain solutions to New England and beyond.”

David A. Fink, president of Pan Am Railways said: “This much anticipated decision paves the way for an exciting new chapter for Pan Am customers and our employees as we begin our transition to the CSX team.”

Passenger and commuter carriers in New England will benefit as the company is committed to maintaining or improving existing passenger service that operates on Pan Am.

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UNITED STATES Norfolk Southern Corporation has expanded its conductor trainee incentive programme to three new priority locations. Conductor trainees in Bellevue, Ohio; Elkhart, Indiana; and Fort Wayne, Indiana are now eligible to receive starting bonuses of $5,000. Applicants can apply online at Jobs.NSCorp.com.

Other priority locations for Norfolk Southern include: Binghamton, New

more than the guaranteed minimum.

Norfolk Southern conductors are responsible for the safe and efficient movement of freight trains. A conductor’s job can include coupling railcars to build trains, delivering railcars to local customers, and transporting trains hundreds of miles. Applicants only need to be 18 years of age and successfully complete a standard background check.

“One of the clear benefits of our

York; Birmingham, Alabama; Buffalo, New York; Chattanooga, Tennessee; Cincinnati, Ohio; Conway, Pennsylvania; Harrisburg, Pennsylvania; Linwood, North Carolina; Louisville, Kentucky; Manassas, Virginia; Roanoke, Virginia; and Sheffield, Alabama.

“Our conductors move the goods that power our nation’s economy,” said Brad Dodd, Director Talent Acquisition at Norfolk Southern.

“Norfolk Southern is a great fit for those who want responsibility, autonomy, and pride in the work they do. We offer competitive compensation, bestin-class healthcare benefits, technical training and professional growth opportunities.”

Norfolk Southern conductors are guaranteed minimum annual pay of $52,000. They participate in the Railroad Retirement System and have a 401(k) savings option in addition to other competitive benefits. Guaranteed minimum earnings increase over the next four years of service to approximately $63,500. With additional work opportunities, most conductors earn far

industry is the opportunity for future advancement and the potential for increased earnings,” added Dodd. “For example, a conductor can be promoted to a locomotive engineer position that has guaranteed minimum annual pay of approximately $94,000, along with benefits. Many of our engineers earn more than $100,000 with the work opportunities at their locations.”

Norfolk Southern utilises a comprehensive training programme for both conductors and locomotive engineers, consisting of classroom and field training. Successful completion of these programmes is a requirement for employment. Conductor trainees should expect to complete a training program of approximately 10-13 weeks before promoting to a conductor position.

The first two weeks of training occur at the Norfolk Southern Training Center in McDonough, Georgia. The remaining weeks of training take place at or near their hiring location. The company provides all the technical training and tools conductors need to be both safe and successful on the job.

April 25 2022 @freighttracks

News Review

TX Logistik co-operates with Samskip on Duisburg – Katrineholm

GERMANY/SWEDEN TX Logistik has strengthened its activities in intermodal transport. The rail logistics company, which is part of the Mercitalia Group (Gruppo FS Italiane), operates two round trips per week for the multimodal transport provider Samskip Multimodal in its train system between Duisburg and Katrineholm in Sweden. The connection was launched on April 6.

The train will be staged at the Duisburg Rail Terminal (DRT) in Duisburg. TX Logistik will take over the traction at Krefeld-Uerdingen station. From there, the route goes via Padborg, the Öresund Bridge and Malmö to Katrineholm. The city is located in the province of Södermanlands län, about 150 km southwest of Stockholm. The destination is the terminal GDL in Katrineholm. Within a radius of 150 km, about one third of the Swedish population can be reached.

The train is around 700 metres long and can carry up to

42 load units. Swap bodies, semi-trailers and containers are transported. They are mainly loaded with industrial and consumer goods. Samskip Multimodal will be responsible for managing the available slot capacity.

With this shuttle operated by TX Logistik the company is further expanding its transport services on the route between Duisburg and Katrineholm.

“We already co-operate with Samskip in the maritime sector and transport containers for the partner in seaport-hinterland traffic on the Rotterdam – Munich route,” explains Bernd Weisweiler, Director Business Development at TX. The main reason for extending the co-operation to intermodal continental transport was the high quality of the services which TX Logistik provides. Another reason: TX Logistik is only one of three rail logistics companies licensed to operate on the Öresund Bridge.

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News Review

Union Pacific named a Best Company for Women by Women’s Choice Awards UNITED STATES For the first time, Union Pacific has been named as a Best Place to Work by the Women’s Choice Awards in all three categories: Best Companies for Women, Best Companies for Diversity and Best Companies for Millennials in the United States.

The Women’s Choice Awards selects companies based on female and diversity representation in the workforce, work-life balance benefits, professional development and support networks, paid and family time off, health and wellness benefits, employee recognition and financial benefits.

Only companies with the highest scores earn a Women’s Choice Award,

and very few are recognised across all three categories.

“Union Pacific is honoured to be recognised as a Best Place to Work for all women,” said Beth Whited, Executive Vice President – Sustainability And Strategy.

“Being identified by the Women’s Choice Awards is exemplary of our meaningful progress toward our diversity, equity and inclusion goals.”

Union Pacific was identified by the Women’s Choice Awards for meeting general needs of all working women, aiming to dismantle systematic barriers and close race-based gaps, and helping millennial women grow and advance in

their careers.

This year, the award included an environmental, social and governance component for candidates that have proven to be socially and environmentally responsible. Union Pacific has made significant progress toward reducing its environmental impact and is working to achieve net zero emissions by 2050.

This recognition comes a year after Union Pacific announced its goal to increase the representation of women in its workforce by doubling the current population and growing its people of color in the workforce to 40%, representing a 36% improvement.

Atir Rail uses Nexxiot TradeTech for improved visibility and efficiency FRANCE Atir Rail is an independent company that specialiSes in the rental and management of railcars dedicated to the transport of goods.

The fleet of 4500 wagons is made up of several railcar types including specialist ones for gas, chemicals, petroleum, slurry, powder and hoppers. The company has decided to deploy Nexxiot’s cutting-edge TradeTech to increase the visibility of the fleet and improve the efficiency of operations.

Atir Rail, founded in 2003 and headquartered in Paris, is largely focused on the medium and long-term railcar rentals business.

It will leverage the Nexxiot product portfolio of zero-maintenance sensor hardware, software, advanced algorithms and analytics for fleet visibility and efficiency. The primary drivers include better fleet utilization, maintenance scheduling, repairs, operational improvements, and process automation.

The Nexxiot Globehopper 3.0 hardware roll-out will begin in the next month and Atir Rail clients will be introduced to the new data-driven services

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over the coming year.

Nexxiot hardware is certified safe for use in hazardous environments (ATEX/ HAZLOC) and the data is sent to the Nexxiot Connect Intelligent Cloud in real-time to monitor and control actual mileage, railcar and cargo conditions and asset health. The technology also means it’s possible to monitor the quality of the cargo and various parameters that are important for improving operational performance, service quality, sustainability. This results in more trusted processes for the end-client as well.

Nexxiot’s objective is to reduce carbon emissions in the global supply chain by 5% by reducing empty moves, opti-

April 25 2022 @freighttracks

miSing inefficient routes and eliminating handling errors.

The company also has a policy of recycling and managing the end-of-life of the sensor hardware itself.

“Quality is a central pillar of our culture,” said Stefan Kalmund, Nexxiot CEO. “As drivers of the emerging TradeTech sector and leaders in the digitaliSation of the global supply chain, we take our responsibilities very seriously.

WWe know how important safety, security and sustainability are to our clients. We make sure we support their strategic goals for the long-term as well as their commercial goals for the immediate future as well.” he added.

News Review

Taking truckloads of timber off the US highway UNITED STATES Jim Van Derzee, Manager of Industrial Development, Buckingham Branch Railroad. (BB) notes that with most change, there is risk. New rail customers often must invest capital in rail infrastructure, usually without knowing if rail is a good logistical solution. Fear of this risk often steers prospective customers toward shipping with trucks.

Tucker Timber Products in Keysville, Virginia is a second-generation, family-owned railroad sleeper producer.

They have been producing sleepers at a mill adjacent to an active railroad main line track since 1986 but were shipping their sleepers by truck because they lacked a siding.

With siding construction estimated at over $500,000, the risk was too great to make the investment without testing the rail shipment process.

Adjacent main line

The Buckingham Branch Railroad (BB) operates the main line adjacent to Tucker Timber. BB’s creativity and flexibility helped encourage and facilitate Tucker Timber’s conversion to rail shipping.

Because main line rail traffic is light at that location, BB allowed Tucker Timber to temporarily load railcars on the main line. This unconventional solution required flexibility and co-ordination between Tucker Timber and BB’s Operations Team.

BB also established new working relationships with the procurement team of its Class 1 partner, Norfolk Southern, resulting in new Norfolk Southern sleeper shipment sourcing from Tucker Timber with an assigned railcar pool. BB helped prove that rail is a good logistical solution for Tucker Timber, enabling them to grow their business over the

last two years and even secure new business with customers outside of trucking distance.

Tucker Timber is now constructing a siding to secure their rail business for the future, financed in part by a $422,000 Virginia Rail Industrial Access grant BB helped them obtain in 2021.

The new siding will improve the efficiency of Tucker Timber’s mill operation so they can redeploy approximately

$400,000 of loading equipment to other uses to grow their business.

Tucker Timber expects to grow their carload volume to over 168 after their sidetrack is complete, which equates to about 672 truckloads per year diverted from the highway.

BB is proud to have played an important role in helping Tucker Timber prosper. These two family-owned businesses now have a great future together..

www.freight-tracks.com April 25 2022 n 51

Hi CUBE BOXCARS

SMALL SCALE STEEL RAIL

It’s all in the detail

In each issue of Freight Tracks we look at scale model versions of modern and old school freight rolling stock and infrastructure

I

f your model carries or moves steel items, manufacturers have provided much detail in all the popular scales. Of course, these items are made in plastic.

Walthers Working People -- HO scale Blast Furnace Crew pkg (6)

Bauer H01000 Round steel cargo

HO-Scale JWD Premium Products Handcrafted Load Green PVC Coated Rebar bundles - 15 bundles totalScale measurement of completed load:45’ Long x 8’ Wide x 2’ Tall

Bauer HO Gauge U-profile sheet pile wall, set of 2

Busch 1692 HO Gauge Steel beam, 5 pieces

HO Scale JWD Premium Products Handcrafted Freight Car Load Scale Measurement: 40’ Long x 7-1/2’ Wide x 3” Tall Load consists of varying lengths and thicknesses of ‘plate steel’ www.freight-tracks.com April 25 2022 n 53

Yard

Limit Rail freight off-duty

World’s largest steam locomotive ‘Big Boy 4014’ steams back to celebrate 160 years of UP

U

nion Pacific’s famed Big Boy No. 4014 is set to return to the tracks this summer for its “West Coast Steam Tour.” Kicking off June 26 from Cheyenne, Wyoming, this year’s tour will celebrate UP’s 160th anniversary, railroad heritage and the communities the railroad serves, visiting the Pacific Northwest for the first time since its return to service.

The Big Boy will be on display in four cities: July 6, 2022: Sparks, Nevada July 8-9, 2022: Roseville, California July 15-16, 2022: Portland, Oregon July 21-22, 2022: Boise, Idaho Display days include locomotive viewing, access to the “Experience the Union Pacific Rail Car,” a multi-media walkthrough exhibition that provides a glimpse at the past while telling the story of modern-day railroading, and live Q&A with the Steam Crew.

Twenty-five Big Boy locomotives were built for Union Pacific to haul heavy freight during World War II and out of the eight

54 n

April 25 2022 @freighttracks

still preserved, No. 4014 is the world’s only functioning Big Boy. Weighing in at 1.1 million pounds, this is the second tour since the locomotive was restored for 2019’s “Great Race” tours, which celebrated the 150th anniversary of the transcontinental railroad’s completion, following a retirement that spanned six decades.

“The Big Boy was delivered to Union Pacific in December 1941 and helped carry the nation through World War II,” said Scott Moore, Senior Vice President – Corporate Relations And Chief Administrative Officer.

“It now serves as a reminder of our history and how rail is the backbone of America.

“The tour last year brought out about 1.1 million people from the communities we serve, and we cannot wait to share Big Boy again this summer.”

Big Boy No. 4014 will leave the Steam Shop in Cheyenne, Wyoming, June 26, making brief whistle-stops in dozens of communities in California, Idaho, Nevada, Oregon, Utah and Wyoming. Further details will be released in May. A steam tracking map showing No. 4014’s location and route will be available at upsteam.com.

BECAUSE NOT ALL FREIGHT ON A TRAIN MOVES IN A BOX

visit: tankcontainermedia.com

RAILROADS HAVE BEEN CARRYING FREIGHT SINCE DAY 1.

IT’S NOW DAY 71,448.

WORLD FREIGHT TRAIN DAY 2022 will celebrate the drivers, yard staff, loaders, planners and workshop staff who get the freight through.

Freight Tracks will work with railroads and Freight Operating Companies to promote the importance of the modern freight train in the global supply chain. The date marks the day the world’s first public railway, the Stockton & Darlington Railway in England, opened.

That was 71,406 days ago today.

Join us as over the next seven months, we will plan a series of events and projects that salute the Freight Train in all its importance.

KEEP THE DATE:

September 27, 2022