VTG’s state-of-the-art container wagon, the Ecofret, was put through its paces at a demonstration ON Friday 23 November 2012 at the Roadways Logistics’ terminal at Tamworth.
Customers, potential customers, industry stakeholders and the media saw how the VTG Ecofret, which was launched at the Multimodal exhibition at the Birmingham NEC in May, could be of benefit, economically and environmentally.
The Ecofret can carry 9ft 6in high, 40ft and 20ft boxes on W10 gauge cleared routes. It provides an economical and environmentally-friendly alternative to other container wagons because it maximises the number of boxes that can be carried within a given train length.
Thanks also to a newly-designed 840mm wheel diameter bogie, it also offers track friendly ride performance, which helps reduce track access charges.
Rob Brook, managing director of VTG Rail UK, said: “This wagon will make a significant difference to the economics of moving containers around Britain by rail. We have now successfully launched it into revenue earning traffic and are talking to other potential users about further builds.”
Ecofrets consist of a twin set of 40ft deck length wagons designed to maximise the number of 40ft containers that can be hauled per train without empty running or 20ft wasted spaces.
The versatile wagons can be arranged in either twin or triple platform configurations and, by mixing 11 triples and 2 twin platforms, it is possible to carry 37 x 40ft boxes (74 TEU) in an 80 SLU, 512 metre long train.
This is a 32% improvement over a train of Megafrets which would only carry 28 x 40ft boxes (56 TEU) in the same train length. The Ecofret also eliminates the empty 20ft slots on FEA 60ft flats caused by the imbalance of 20ft to 40ft boxes.
The Ecofret’s bogies are “semi-steering”, giving a predicted 60% reduction in wheel wear compared to a “conventional” bogie allowing a potential 110,000 plus miles between wheel turns to be achieved.
Brook added: “I am delighted and proud to be showing our guests how innovative VTG can be. The Ecofret follows the production of the first biomass wagons and, in another first for the industry, we are developing the ability to carry 100 per cent bio fuels in our tank wagon fleet.
Note to editors:
- VTG Rail UK, a subsidiary of VTG Aktiengesellschaft (SCN: VTG999), is one of Europe’s leading wagon hire and rail logistics companies.
- The company has the largest private wagon fleet in Europe. Globally the fleet consists of about 50,000 rail freight cars with a focus on tank cars and state of the art high capacity freight cars and flat cars.
- In addition to the hiring of wagons, the Group offers global tank container transport and comprehensive multi-modal logistics services mainly around rail transport.
- With the combination of its three interrelated divisions Wagon Hire, Rail Logistics and Tank Container Logistics VTG offers its clients a high-performance platform for international transport of their freight.
- The Group has many years of experience and specific know-how in particular in the transport of liquid and sensitive goods. Its customers include numerous well-known companies from almost all industrial sectors such as, for example, chemicals, mineral oil, the automobile or paper industries.
- This release was issued on behalf of VTG Rail UK by Woodhouse Communications
- For more information contact Woodhouse on 01444 221000 or email info@woodhousecommunications.co.uk