RheinCargo says its newly established subsidiary Factory and Industrial Railways, which undertakes first and last-mile and industrial operations, has performed well and contributed to the company’s positive result in 2019.

In total, RheinCargo carried 46.3 million tonnes of freight by rail and barge, although freight transfer between water and land transport decreased by 2.1%.

Hungary: Budapest Transport Centre (BKK), recorded Forints 67.3bn ($US 227.6m) in revenue from fares in 2019, an increase of Forints 1.4m from 2018.

Nearly half of this revenue was from monthly and 15-day passes, as more companies switch to providing their employees with monthly instead of annual passes.

New Zealand: KiwiRail recorded revenues of $NZ 333.6m ($US 211.9m) in its half-year financial results up to December 2019, an increase of $NZ 4.8m on the same period the previous year.

“Excluding the impact of fuel cost recoveries, our underlying revenues grew by $NZ 8.2m, or 3%, for this period,” says group chief executive, Mr Greg Miller.

KiwiRail’s import/export business grew by 5% compared with the previous half year, while the company’s operating surplus was $NZ 26.9m.

France: Locomotive leasing company Akiem Group has signed an agreement to acquire Macquarie Europe Rail’s rolling stock leasing business.

The transaction includes 137 locomotives serving 21 freight and passenger operators across Europe and Britain, 30 EMUs leased to the Greater Anglia franchise in Britain, 16 DMUs operated by a Dutch franchise and 110 wagons.

Following the acquisition, which is subject to regulatory approval, the combined Akiem Group will own a portfolio of more than 600 locomotives operated by 65 customers in Europe.

Bangladesh: The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has approved $US 42m in project readiness financing (PRF) to help improve transport connectivity and promote multimodal transport in Bangladesh.

The PRF will support project preparation in areas including road and rail connectivity of ports, land ports, and border crossing points; road and rail connectivity of intermodal transshipment facilities, including inland container depots and inland container terminals; strengthening of corridors, including bypasses, connected roads, and alternate routes; and sector-wide improvements, including safety, traffic management, and maintenance.

The total financing is worth $US 57.2m, of which the government will provide $US 15.2m. The PRF is due for completion at the end of 2024.

France: Channel Tunnel operator Getlink reported “stable” revenue of €1.85bn in 2019.

Ebitda was down 2% to €560m, in line with announced projections, while consolidated net profit grew 20% to €159m. Getlink will propose a 14% increase in the dividend at its next AGM on April 30, to €0.41 per share.