16 B ULK D ISTRIBUTOR
Rail Tanks & Transport
July/August 2019
An ‘L’ of a challenge
L
ow-noise, lightweight, long-running,
logistics-enabled, lifecycle cost-oriented
– the freight wagon of the future should
meet all five of these basic criteria, according
to a new report.
The Technical Innovation Circle for Rail Freight
Transport (TIS) published a white paper* at this
year’s transport logistic. The white paper details
TIS’s roadmap to make rail freight more
competitive and outlines its positions on key
issues surrounding innovation, digitisation and
automation.
It explains the steps on which participant
companies will focus their research and
development work in the future in the various
fields of innovation – from the automation of
braking tests to the definition of harmonised
interfaces for energy and data management to
efficient, condition-based maintenance.
In 2012, TIS published a first white paper
‘Innovative Rail Freight Wagon 2030 – The ‘5L’
Future Initiative’. This did more than formulate
ambitious goals. It also presented the sector with
a new approach for developing basic innovations
using the concept of a demonstrator train.
The ‘5L Future Initiative’ is now firmly
established in the rail freight sector. There is a
broad consensus that innovation in accordance
with the 5L criteria is a necessity for rail freight
wagons.
In this second white paper, TIS aims to provide
an interim assessment of its initiatives for the
innovative freight wagon, and identify the
challenges the rail freight industry is about to face
and set goals for the future.
Until now, most activities have concentrated on
Buying Genesee & Wyoming is costing Brookfield Infrastructure
and GIC $8.4 billion
Freightliner
owner to
be bought
U
Five Ls for a competitive and successful rail freight wagon
the development potential of the freight wagon.
But improving the competitiveness of rail freight
transport will require more than the development
of isolated innovations in freight wagon design.
TIS is therefore going a step further and looking
at the freight train as a whole. The future will
depend on the ability to combine innovative
freight wagons into intelligent freight trains.
This has the potential to trigger an enormous
boost in productivity and pave the way for the
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digitised, automated rail freight transport of the
21st century.
In November 2018, the companies involved in
TIS officially acknowledged the need for the rapid
introduction of digital automatic coupling (DAC)
in conjunction with an energy and data
management system.
To achieve a significant increase in the
proportion of total freight transported by rail,
successful developments in various commercial
and technical fields will be essential. However, it
will be equally important for the rail freight sector
and political authorities to initiate the necessary
structural improvements. This applies, in
particular, to the development of an efficient
infrastructure and ensuring a level playing field for
competition between the various modes of
transport.
The conditions for achieving these results are
better than ever before. Politicians are promising
to increase the market share of rail freight. With
their Rail Freight Master Plan, political authorities
and the sector have presented a blueprint for the
future. The challenge is now to obtain the funding
programmes required to implement it.
Companies and organisation participating in TIS
include BASF, DB Cargo, DB Systemtechnik, ELH
Waggonbau Niesky, GATX Rail Germany,
Waggonbau Graaff, Ermewa, Knorr-Bremse
Systeme, SBB Cargo,
J.M. Voith, Wabtec Europe, Wascosa, Dresden
University of Technology and Berlin University of
Technology.
*The Intelligent Freight Train. The TIS roadmap
for competitive rail freight.
www.innovative-freight-wagon.de
1st prize
Savvy
S
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avvy Telematic Systems was awarded first
prize at the IVS Prize for Innovation of
Schaffhauser Platzbanken for its algorithm
which is able to identify defects on trains at
an early stage.
The company has developed the product for
Wascosa which is able to detect automatically
wheel flats and can be used on the railways. In
tandem with a tracker attached to a rail car, the
algorithm can identify and detect wheel flats,
which allows damage to be identified at an early
stage.
S rail operator Genesee & Wyoming is
being bought by an institutional
investor.
Toronto-headquartered Brookfield Infrastructure
and Singapore-based GIC are paying US$8.4
billion for G&W, which owns a number of short
line railways in North America, Australia and
Europe, including the UK’s Freighliner intermodal
carrier.
G&W’s six North American regions serve 41 US
states and four Canadian provinces and include
114 short line and regional freight railroads with
more than 13,000 track-miles.
The firm’s Australia region serves New South
Wales, Northern Territory and South Australia and
operates the 1,400-mile Tarcoola-to-Darwin rail
line. The Australia Region is 51.1 percent owned
by G&W and 48.9 percent owned by a consortium
of funds and clients managed by Macquarie
Infrastructure.
The transaction will result in G&W becoming a
privately held company. Through its subsidiaries,
G&W provides transport infrastructure services
over more than 26,000 km of track.
“We believe this transaction is an excellent
outcome for all G&W stakeholders,” said Jack
Hellmann, G&W chairman and CEO. “For our
current stockholders, the sale price realises
significant value and represents a 39.5 percent
premium to our 8 March share price. And for
long-term investors who have owned our shares
for the past two decades, the sale price represents
a return of more than 5,400 percent.
“For our customers, employees, and Class I
partners, the long-term investment horizon of
Brookfield Infrastructure and GIC as seasoned
infrastructure investors is perfectly aligned with
the long lives of G&W railroad assets, which are
integral to the local economies that we serve in
North America and around the world,” Hellmann
continued.
“They are also fully supportive of our business
plan, which will continue to be focused on safety,
customer service, and growing our footprint to
provide more opportunity for our people. We also
expect this transaction will allow us to enhance
our business as we benefit from Brookfield/GIC’s
expertise in real estate and technology, as well as
relationships with their rail-centric and
complementary portfolio companies.”
Brookfield CEO Sam Pollock added: “This is a
rare opportunity to acquire a large-scale transport
infrastructure business in North America. G&W
will be a significant addition to our global rail
platform and will expand our presence in this
sector to four continents. The company’s cash
flows have proven to be highly resilient over many
years.”
Each G&W share will be converted into the right
to receive $112 per share in cash.
The Transaction is expected to close by year end
or early 2020.
Brookfield’s investment will be approximately
$500 million of equity. The remainder of the
business will be owned by Brookfield’s institutional
partners and GIC.
www.gwrr.com