photo: Archives/GATX Tamns wagon
The GATX is one of the largest lessors of railway trucks in Europe. The company is thriving both in the rental of new cars and in their development. Other achievements include the fact that the top managers of GATX Rail Europe still hold the Presidency of the Association of the private car operators in Austria (VPI - Verband der Privatgüterwagen-Interessenten Österreichs), an association overlooking the safety standards on railways.
The GATX Rail Europe (GRE) is a long-standing partner of the BP Europe SE (BP) for the transport of fuels and lubricants throughout Europe. So far, the BP company has mainly rented tank cars from the GRE. In the autumn, however, a new contract was concluded for the lease of 45 Tamns wagons.
These cars have a revolving roof system. The roof can be unfolded to the side with a single button. This frees up the entire width for opening. It is an innovative solution. Due to the new roof structure, there is much less material loss compared to the predecessor of the new Tamns car, which had a tarpaulin.
The new Tamns cars allow a higher payload, compared to older types. This saves time and money. This project has been evolving since 2018. However, this is not the latest fleet innovation on the GATX side. There has been a significant development in container wagons. These allow for various configurations and sizes of containers in intermodal transport, including swap bodies. One wagon weighs 25 tons and can carry a load weighing 110 tons.
The GATX now uses lime green color for its cars, which symbolizes ecology. The company often emphasizes to its clients that rail transport is sustainable and does not pollute the environment like other means of transportation.
Johann Feindert, CEO of GATX Rail Europe, confirmed these ideas in an interview published on the Rail Cargo Group website. "According to the Rail Freight Forward coalition, 275 million tons of CO2 emissions are emitted into the air by the European land transport market every year. The impact on the environment is colossal. If we are going to achieve our climate goals, we need low-emission engines, such as trains," he said in the interview. He also mentioned seven points in which he explained why this should be the case. In them, for example, he mentions that, given the volume of freight transport, the railways only need a "minute" amount of energy.
Johann Feindert is convinced that the demand for rail freight will increase. He also has extensive experience from the Association of the private car operators in Austria (VPI). He served as a president of the association for 15 years. The new president of VPI is Johannes Friess, Business Unit Manager at GATX Rail Europe. As a result, GATX Rail Europe maintains a strong position not only in innovative solutions and ecology in Europe.