World rail freight news round-up

Green Cargo has introduced an intermodal service between Göteborg and the port of Norrköping, with weekday departures carrying trailers, swap bodies and containers. According to Green Cargo Key Account Manager Matilda Hedström, a large volume of goods is currently being transported by road in this corridor, so the operator has teamed up with DB Cargo FLS Nordic to offer a cost-effective, fast and sustainable alternative.

Union Pacific has launched a second premium intermodal train between Southern California and the Chicago area, cutting transit times from five to three days. Operating at up to 110 km/h, the daily service introduced on April 28 connects the City of Industry & Inland Empire Intermodal Terminal in California with the Global 2 terminal at Northlake, Illinois, where interchange connections are provided to and from the Ohio Valley and northeastern cities.

Proposed increases to track access charges in Sweden (40%), Germany (16%) and Portugal (8%) have the potential to ‘totally undermine’ the European Union’s modal shift objectives, according to the European Rail Freight Association. Calling for short term support measures to compensate for the increases, ERFA said many transport contracts for 2025 were set before operators were informed of any increases, and now need to be renegotiated.

STG Logistics has announced an expanded relationship with CSX to facilitate drayage services to support the door-to-door CSX RailPlus product. ‘Over the last 30 years CSX’s rail network has given us the ability to scale our intermodal business while providing reliable service to our east coast client base’, says Tyler Holtgreven, STGL’s SVP Intermodal. ‘We are incredibly excited about the opportunities ahead, for both of our organisations and our customers.’

Lawyer Kati Pino was appointed to the supervisory board of Estonian operator Operail on May 7. The supervisory board now comprises Chairman Kaido Saar and members Tarmo Porgand, Sander Salmu and Kati Pino.

Anne Chow has been elected to the CSX board. She is the founder of leadership development company The Rewired CEO.