2008-05: Freightwise stand at Polish Logistics Kongress

The FREIGHTWISE project was represented at the Polish Logistics Kongress in Poznan, May 7-8th 2008. NewRail of Newcastle University manned a stand representing FREIGHTWISE along with the BESTUFS II [www.bestufs.net/] and RETRACK [www.retrack.eu/] projects. The Kongress is the major Polish logistics event organised by ILIM [www.ilim.poznan.pl/] and was attended by over 700 delegates. ILIM presented the FREIGHTWISE project at the event along with the related KOMODA [www.komodaproject.com] eLogistics project.

Tom Zunder and Dewan Islam of NewRail and Frank Knoors of Sequoyah manned the stand and distributed various materials.

Picture shows: Stefaan Vermeire of ICSO and Frank Knoors of Sequoyah at the Polish Logistics Kongress, Poznan, 7-9th May 2008.

2008-05: Freight Best Practice Lecture downloads

Thomas Zunder and Dewan Islam of the Rail Freight and Logistics Group at NewRail, Newcastle University developed a Masters' level module for use in postgraduate teaching as part of the UK Freight Best Practice Programme. This material, a 4 lecture set with lecturers' notes and student feedback forms, has been downloaded from the Freight Best Practice website more than 1250 times as of end of May 2008 and is considered a great success. Discussions are ongoing to develop further educational material as part of the DfT funded programme.

http://tinyurl.com/6nn394

2008-05: Over 400 lorry journeys a week are to be cut from Scotland's busy roads as two new freight rail services are laid on to haul Tesco food.

Scottish Transport Minister Stewart Stevenson has pledged over £3m in a bid to cut congestion and carbon emissions.

Eddie Stobart will receive up to £982,000 to help transport Tesco goods between Grangemouth and Inverness.

John G Russell has been awarded up to £2.1m for a Coatbridge to Inverness rail goods service.

Speaking at the opening of Tesco's new distribution centre in Livingston, Mr Stevenson said: "As a government we are committed to getting more freight off Scotland's roads and onto rail and water.

"By taking more lorries off our roads this funding will help ease congestion and reduce damage to the environment.

"Many of us have experienced congestion on roads such as the A9. These awards will help free up traffic flow on the A9 and reduce emissions.

"This funding will remove three million lorry miles from Scotland's roads a year and deliver £6.3m in environmental benefits over the next five years."

Sir Terry Leahy, chief executive of Tesco, said: "Tesco is committed to helping the environment and by moving this freight onto rail it is estimated we will save over 13,000 road journeys a year.

"This shows just how ambitious Tesco is when it comes to cutting our environmental footprint, while delivering the very best for our customers.

"I am delighted to officially open the distribution centre in Livingston and to see for myself the real benefit for Tesco customers, who will now be able to take advantage of increased product availability and wider ranges of both local and national goods."

 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/edinburgh_and_east/7411020.stm

2008-05: Cheaper trains through supplier-led standardisation

08 May 2008 | Andrew Grantham

Rolling stock engineers gathered in Paris on April 2 to mark the conclusion of a European Commission-backed project to cut life-cycle costs through the industry-led standardisation of subsystem interfaces

'Modtrain is a not an organisation, it is a project', stressed Eric Fontanel, Modtrain chairman and General Manager of supply industry association Unife. read more...