Freight railcar purchases continue to pick up pace: operators in Canada, South Africa and Europe are announcing new orders, while Kazakhstan is reporting that it has no plans for additional buying.

Freight railcar purchases: CN and Traxtion plans, EU orders
Photo: CN

This is reported by the railway transport news portal Railway Supply.

Freight railcar purchases in North America and South Africa

Canadian National Railway (CN) plans to complete the acquisition of 1,650 freight railcars by year-end — 750 hopper cars, 600 ore cars and 300 double-deck autoracks; these figures are stated in a CN Rail post. The purchase is being made under CN’s investment program, while the manufacturers and specific car models are not disclosed.

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Traxtion intends to buy about 920 railcars, with rolling stock investment set at 1.6 billion rand ($95 million). The purchase will be made from South African manufacturers. In addition, Traxtion plans to allocate 1.8 billion rand ($107 million) to acquire 46 used Wabtec locomotives from New Zealand’s KiwiRail — the same parameters are referenced in a Railway Supply article.

Europe contracts: flat wagons, hoppers and TSI certification

Freightliner has ordered 150 flat wagons from the UK-based WH Davis. The freight operator, part of US-owned Genesee & Wyoming, will add a new wagon design based on 40-foot platforms. The rolling stock is being procured with financial support from leasing company Porterbrook Leasing — deal details were published by Porterbrook. Deliveries are due to start in the first quarter of 2027.

Germany’s BBL Logistik has ordered 200 Facns hopper wagons from Turkey’s Vako. The contract covers design and supply of the rolling stock, certification to meet European TSI requirements, and warranty obligations.

Finland’s UPM Forest has ordered more than 150 Snps roundwood wagons from VR FleetCare. Deliveries are expected to begin in late 2026 and run through to 2028. It is noted that VR FleetCare, part of Finland’s VR Group, has production capacity of up to 300 wagons per year.

Kazakhstan: Kaztemirtrans on having no plans to buy railcars

Kaztemirtrans said it has no plans to purchase freight railcars. The company’s management board chair Alexander Shiryaev said this in an interview with the newspaper «Қазақстан теміржолшысы». “At the moment, we have enough railcars to cover 100% of customer requests.

Therefore, further purchases will be made only if a real market need arises,” he said. Shiryaev also stated that in 2021–2025 the company, part of national operator “Kazakhstan Temir Zholy” (KTZ), purchased 4,000 open-top wagons from the “Kazakhstan Car Building Company.”

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