SCA Transforest and Hector Rail have signed a five year agreement for rail transportation from Piteå and Umeå to southern Scandinavia. The new collaboration will result in significantly more efficient and environmentally friendly transportation of the approximately 800,000 tonnes per year to be handled by the system. The operation will commence in January 2013.
By using more powerful locomotives and heavier trains, more goods can be transported on each departure. The agreement covers seven full train loads per week in each direction between Umeå and Piteå. Over the year, this is equivalent to approximately 500,000 tonnes of paper, solid-wood products and recovered fibre that will be transported using these unit trains. At present, twice as many departures – 14 a week – take place using smaller trains between Umeå and Piteå.
Three trains a week will depart in each direction between Umeå and Skövde compared with five smaller trains currently being used between the destinations. In total, some 300,000 tonnes of paper and recovered paper will be transported by these unit trains. To be able to pull these heavier trains, Hector Rail will deploy more powerful locomotives with electrical regeneration. Energy consumption per tonne-km will be reduced by more than 25 per cent.
To leverage the possibilities offered by these larger trains, SCA Transforest will develop and invest in a fleet of new and more efficient load carriers enabling a very high degree of capacity utilisation. This requires containers to be purpose-built for placing on container wagons.
