Tests of digital automatic couplers are now underway under some of Europe’s most demanding railway conditions as the steel shuttle is equipped with the latest technology. Green Cargo operates the Luleå–Borlänge route with the freight train, which is a central part of SSAB’s production chain.
SSAB and Green Cargo extend their partnership encompassing shipments of some 700,000 tonnes of finished goods each year from SSAB’s plants in Borlänge and Oxelösund to customers in Sweden and Denmark. The logistics solution, which comprises steel coil and cut lengths of sheet steel, is conducted through Green Cargo’s wagon load network. The new three-year agreement started on January 1, 2021.
A technological shift is afoot for wagons and load carriers for specialized freight transport for the SSAB stretches between Luleå and Borlänge and Borlänge and Oxelösund. A total of 40 new wagons have been leased from the wagon provider Wascosa. The wagons are equipped with disc brakes that allow for quieter trains, greater flexibility of wagon usage and increased safety.
The equipped wagons will soon leave the maintenance depot in Eskilstuna and arrive in Luleå. That is where Green Cargo will test different automatic coupling options in Swedish winter conditions. Tests will also be conducted in parallel in Austria, Germany and Switzerland. Automatic coupling has many advantages for the industry when it comes to safer working conditions and increased production.
SSAB has given Green Cargo its continued trust in handling the crucial flow of steel ingots and finished products between SSAB’s plants in Luleå, Borlänge and Oxelösund. The new agreement goes into effect on January 1, 2020 and extends at least five years beyond that.