“We understand the role of the Lithuanian railway infrastructure in ensuring military mobility and preparation for the country’s defense – it is a special element that ensures the redeployment of forces”, commented Egidijus Lazauskas, CEO of the LTG Group.

“LTG Cargo has accumulated experience in project transportation, transporting military equipment and soldiers of NATO allies both in Lithuania and on international routes.”

The King’s Strike

During the so-called “King’s Strike 2025” exercise, LTG Cargo transported military equipment, but there were also passenger wagons attached to the train. Some of the participating soldiers travelled on board the train.

The exercise has provided LTG Cargo with valuable experience, its CEO Eglė Šimė said. Šimė added that the railways are important transport lines for the arrival of NATO troops to the Baltic region, particularly due to their ability to transport large amounts of equipment and personnel quickly.

Biofuel HVO

Besides the military exercise, LTG Cargo embarked on a sustainability adventure. Two of the company’s locomotives will run on hydrotreated vegetable oil (HVO) for the coming 18 months. HVO is widely seen as a more environmentally friendly alternative to diesel, with claimed emission reductions of around 90%.

LTG Cargo is already running a shunting locomotive on HVO, and a Siemens mainline locomotive will join the pilot in a few months.

The operator hails HVO100, the type of HVO that it will be testing, as completely free from fossil fuels. It is supposed to be completely sourced from renewable raw materials, such as cooking oil and animal fats.

Haropa Port, which manages the French ports of Le Havre, Paris and Rouen, is making efforts to shift more goods on rail. Other than this new service between Paris and Switzerland, another connection was launched in November linking Le Havre and Chalon-sur-Saône, in western France.

Bremerhaven seaport is is one of the two ‘twin ports’ of Bremen, together forming the Bremen Ports. In Bremerhaven seaport, three railway companies are currently active as shunting service providers for the last mile to the terminals and back. DB Cargo AG, Eisenbahnen und Verkehrsbetriebe Elbe-Weser GmbH (evb) and FLEX Bahndienstleistungen GmbH are currently using up to 15 shunting locomotives, previously powered by diesel. They are in use 24 hours a day, 360 days a year and each consumed around 80,000 liters of diesel per year. By switching to HVO, emissions are greatly reduced: compared to conventional diesel, HVO causes around 90 percent fewer greenhouse gas emissions. The biofuel is made from biological residues and waste, and has no fossil origin.

For reducing emissions in the port, a joint project called “Climate and emission protection on the last mile in rail freight transport” was set up with the participation of the Bremen Senator for Science and Ports, DB Energie GmbH and the shunting service providers DB Cargo AG and evb. The framework conditions for the conversion to HVO were also clarified. The changeover would not succeed entirely without adjustments to the vehicles and, in particular, to the rail filling station. The Free Hanseatic City of Bremen supports the companies within the scope of a subsidy of 200,000 euros.

Claudia Schilling, Bremen Senator for Science and Ports: “In Bremerhaven, we are the first major seaport in Europe to end the use of diesel for transports on the ‘last mile’ in rail freight transport and make the already environmentally and climate-friendly mode of rail transport even greener. We also want to be a role model for other ports and hinterland terminals in terms of climate protection and show how this alternative fuel can significantly reduce emissions immediately. From today on, Bremerhaven not only offers a high-performance connection by rail, but at the same time the most sustainable and climate-friendly logistics chains to the German and European hinterland.”

This article was originally published on RailTech, our sister publication.

Fuel stream ahead with renewable source

There has been much fanfare lately over bio-generated fuel alternatives to mineral derived diesel. Nevertheless, as is obligatory these days, this “innovative service” will be the “first of its kind” in the UK. “GD+” is a type of Hydrotreated Vegetable Oil (HVO), used in this instance as a diesel replacement. This drop-in fuel is made entirely from waste and residue oils and is defined as renewable, environmentally friendly, biodegradable, and sustainable.

The fuel is, according to Freightliner, supply chain traceable and independently verified. It generates significantly lower CO₂e emissions, particulate matter, nitrogen oxides (NOx), and methane (CH4). During its 437-mile (700km) journey, the operators claim around 80 per cent emissions reductions compared to straight diesel run. “With only 38 per cent of the UK’s rail network electrified, adopting alternative fuels could be a quick and effective transition to drastically reduce the country’s emissions”, said a Freightliner statement.

Delivering decarbonisation benefits

Freightliner has been enthusiastically taking up the environmental advantages for the new service. However, it is a commercial coup for them and ONE, providing a through service for intermodal customers between the south coast of England and Central Scotland. “We are delighted to be partnering with ONE to make this happen,” said Andrew Daly, Chief Commercial Officer for Freightliner. “We are leading the UK rail freight industry when it comes to delivering decarbonisation benefits, and this initiative is further evidence of our commitment to a greener future for UK rail freight through committed customer partnerships. We will continue to invest and lead the way in this critical area of decarbonisation.”

Simon Parsons, the director of the Ocean Network Express UK Agency, put the new link in a global context. “We aim to be the link between customer and supplier to accelerate the transition towards a fully green supply chain. Our long-term relationship with Freightliner has enabled us to align our green ambitions and act swiftly to support the logistical needs of our customers between Scotland and Southampton. We are very hopeful to further expand our green network throughout the UK.”

Singapore-based ONE is the seventh largest container shipping company in the world, operating more than 210 ships at a total capacity of around 1.52 million TEUs.

A pathway to decarbonise operations

Almost everyone has a concept for moving away from diesel operations, but two British companies are on the brink of introducing their solution to the market. G-volution has been developing dual fuel engines since 2008 and together with SBLRail, they want to showcase the practical technology to the industry.

“Dual fuel engines use compression ignition and combust two fuels simultaneously”, explains Shimon Shapiro, research director for the project. “This work shows how diesel fuel can be displaced by renewable net zero carbon emission fuels and how adopting dual fuel engines can be a pathway to decarbonise locomotive operations.”

Keep non-compliant units in active service

The unique part of the proposition offers multiple solutions for operators who either seek to reduce emissions or to keep potentially non-compliant units in active service. The concepts use diesel with biomethane, diesel with biopropane and diesel with hydrogen. “The Class 37’s English Electric 12CSVT and the Class 66’s EMD 12-710 engines [can be] replaced by new dual fuel engines, meeting the Stage 5 emission standard”, says Shapiro. “A twin engine concept Class 59 and Class 66 using two smaller new dual fuel engines has also been developed as well as a dual fuel evolution concept of the Class 66’s original EMD 12-710 engine. The locomotives’ original engines could also be evolved to dual fuelling too but modern engines offer higher efficiency.”

Practically, the original diesel tanks from the locomotives would be replaced with a smaller diesel tank, and cylinders for biomethane, biopropane or hydrogen which would be installed alongside. As a design concept, a
range of fuel tank solutions have been developed, including using a number of smaller cylinders instead of larger installations.

Infrastructure already exists

Both biomethane and biopropane can be manufactured by anaerobic digestion of biomass including organic food waste, farm and sewage waste. The partners point out that the production infrastructure already partly exists. “There are currently 670 such biomethane production plants in the UK”, says Shapiro. “Biomethane is a renewable fuel replacement for natural gas. Dual fuelling lowers particulate emissions too.”

The partners have backed up their claims with a raft of route simulations, demonstrating improved emissions performance over a range of scenarios. “Further work is now underway to apply our dual fuel evolutions to other types of rolling stock”, concludes Shapiro. “[This] also includes further dual fuelling concepts.” The partners say the fuelling costs, which are currently higher than straight diesel, are offset by greater efficiency. Now it’s over to the market to take a closer look.

Hydrotreated vegetable oil (HVO) is made from biological residues and waste. No additional cultivation areas are used for the production, which compete with the food and feed products. The biofuel is also free from palm oil. Combustion in the engine only releases the amount of CO2 previously withdrawn from the atmosphere during the growth of the plants.

Squaring the circle

Nikutta also vividly illustrated what it means for her company to use biofuels. “We have managed to square the circle – we can easily run freight trains with alternative fuels and the existing locomotive fleet in a completely CO2-neutral manner”, she commented, underlying the importance of such a project’s implementation. She also pointed out that such an approach is not a solemn decision of the company. The customers push towards a sustainable direction, and the company complies.

What is important, though, in the case of DB using biofuels is that there is no need for investments in new locomotives. The German company can convert its existing fleet at a relatively low cost, and the German government supports this fully. “The fact that we can make the existing fleet CO2-free with this new biofuel is another important step towards a climate-neutral rail. It is an important energy policy signal, especially in these times when we urgently need to reduce our dependence on fossil fuels.”

UK branch showing the way

DB Cargo UK has paved the way for the sustainable biofuel transition of its mother company. Since late 2020, DB Cargo’s British branch has launched several tests with locomotives running on HVO fuel. The tests were also undertaken in fully commercial services, such as between Tata Steel’s South Wales plant at Margam, Port Talbot, to Round Oak in Brierley Hill in the West Midlands, near Birmingham. With the support that the biofuel projects see from the British and German governments, it seems that HVO powered locomotives are the future for DB.

Also read:

• UK ministerial ceremony promotes DB’s green fuel initiative

• DB Cargo UK on the cooking oil again

• Alternative fuels locomotive in full commercial service

• DB Cargo UK and NR put HVO ’66 to work

Hydrogen for dual-fuel

The research project, which formally began this month, will investigate the ability to substitute diesel with both hydrogen and biogas on the class 66. Freightliner and other operators have almost 500 examples of the EMD-built class 66 in active service. According to Freightliner analysis, the class hauls over 80 per cent of freight traffic on the UK rail network. Freightliner say the project aims to reduce carbon emissions on one of the industry’s most challenging two-stroke locomotives.

The plan is to retrofit the Class 66 with precision injection technology from specialists Clean Air Power. The aim is to provide a Class 66 that can run on a combination of diesel, biogas and hydrogen. “This sustainable solution will support a programme to decarbonise freight operating companies’ diesel fleets in a cost-efficient manner that does not require significant short-term investment and facilitates operational learning in support of a longer-term fleet replacement programme, potentially using 100 per cent hydrogen fuel”, says the joint statement.

The railway of tomorrow

The technology is one of the 30 winners of the latest round of the First of a Kind (FOAK) competition announced by the UK transport secretary, Grant Shapps. “For two centuries the UK has been at the cutting edge of rail technology”, he said. “To build the railway of tomorrow we have to support the inventors and innovators of today. This competition is designed to find the technology that defines our railway in the future.”

The key project partners, Freightliner and Clean Air Power, are supported by Network Rail, Tarmac, Rail Safety Standards Board (RSSB), Flogas, the University of Birmingham and specialist consultants Carrickarory. Exhaust emissions will be assessed in line with the latest RSSB guidance to understand both the baseline conditions and the impact of dual-fuelling for both hydrogen and biogas. All work on locomotives, static testing and emission data collection will be carried out at Freightliner’s vehicle maintenance facility in Leeds.

Long-term decarbonisation

Freightliner UK Rail Managing Director Tim Shakerley said this represents a pioneering decarbonisation project, “As the largest freight operator of electric traction, we already have a number of environmentally motivated initiatives underway”, he said. “With decarbonisation high on the agenda, these initiatives will further support the government’s pledge to achieve net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.”

Dan Skelton, Managing Director of Clean Air Power, said every partner was focussed on delivering a fully functioning low-carbon, low-emission, hydrogen-friendly Class 66 locomotive. “Our solution offers a route to viable, long-term decarbonisation and its associated cost benefits, which will be practical to implement and scale”, he said. “With the know-how and expertise, we share, we’re looking forward to this new and exciting initiative making a real difference.”

Boardroom seat

DB Cargo UK has appointed what they call a Transformation Team, dedicated to developing and implement plans to make the company more innovative, agile and efficient, according to their own statement.

Marie Hill, who has stepped up from her post as head of IT at the company, to a boardroom seat as chief transformation and digitalisation officer, is seeking to use of technology to improve operational effectiveness and customer service.

Future strategy

The coronavirus pandemic has highlighted the pivotal role digital technologies have to play in supporting modern business. That circumstance has not escaped Hill, who is ready for the challenge. “The creation of the new team will ensure we make the best use of those technologies in all areas of our business, improving our overall effectiveness and efficiency”, she said.

Marie Hill, who has been Head of IT at DB Cargo UK since January 2017, is now a permanent member of the UK Board with immediate effect. Her newly created Transformation Team will work with departments across the business to develop and implement plans to make the company more innovative, agile and efficient, something the company calls a key pillar of its future strategy to improve and grow its business.

Expanding digital capabilities

“I believe that by accelerating and expanding our digital capabilities we will significantly improve the quality of the services we can offer to both existing and new customers”, said DB’s CEO in the UK, Andrea Rossi. “The technological landscape continues to change rapidly.”

Headquartered in Doncaster, the company currently employs around 2200 people all over the UK. Last year, the company successfully tested examples of their diesel fleet, running on biofuels for the first time in the field.