Sidings, independent infrastructures and last miles are important business vectors for ports, forwarders, rail freight operators, infrastructure managers, wagon keepers and last but not least, customers.
Currently, infrastructure quality and capacity will more than ever determine
the potential of growth in volumes and scope of rail freight. While the main corridors in the European Union are attracting the main attention, independent infrastructures, as well as infrastructure sidings and end points (last mile) tend to be forgotten.
There are, of course, technical, commercial and economic reasons for some rail related services to be considered essential. For instance, without traction current, an operator cannot technically run an electric train, cannot provide
services to customers and therefore cannot generate revenue. Consequently railway undertakings can operate in the market only if they have both access to and use of essential rail related services. Another example, say experts from the European Rail Infrastructure Managers Association (EIM), is first and last miles, more precisely, the availability of and non-discriminatory access to last mile infrastructure is vital for the competitiveness of rail freight. In particular, single wagonload traffic (which accounts for 40%-50% of EU rail freight) can hardly be realised without direct access to sidings. On the other hand, specialists from the International Union of Railways (UIC) believe that the availability of private sidings has a direct impact on freight traffic volumes transported by rail.
It is not news that the shunting activity for operations in last mile terminals is obstructed by the fact that these are not electrified which makes the change of locomotives necessary. Moreover, this delays the delivery of freight and represents a disadvantage of the railway operator against road operators, which can affect such a journey without stops.
Bombardier Transportation came with the perfect solution, the TRAXX AC locomotive. Known as “Last Mile Diesel,” this innovation removes the need to change locomotives in shunting areas of a rail network. The new technology offers increased flexibility, for example, at stations where a system change takes place, such as at terminals, ports or on construction sites.
Moreover, the manufacturer announced the development of a TRAXX DC locomotive with a Last Mile Diesel engine is planned which enables the seamless transport of goods by rail.
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