New technologies in Slovak Cargo's crosshairs at InnoTrans. "We need to innovate our wagon fleet," says Jaroslav Daniška, member of the Board of Directors of ZSSK CARGO

RAILTARGET presents you with an exclusive interview directly from InnoTrans 2022 with Jaroslav Daniška, a member of the Board of Directors of ZSSK CARGO. We talked about new technologies and innovations in the Slovak national carrier's fleet. Find out more in the interview!

We are interviewing on the occasion of the InnoTrans 2022 trade fair, primarily dedicated to new technologies. New technologies and customer services offered by ZSSK CARGO are also within your remit. Is there any particular customer demand that you are responding to?

As ZSSK CARGO, we regularly discuss our customers' needs with them to offer them the highest quality services. Today, it is the case that customers want, above all, reliable wagons that are as efficient as possible for a given transport. Having such wagons is a key added value that often makes the difference in the battle to win a contract.

We ask this because we have registered your advertisement for an Innofreight inquiry. Can you tell us more about it?

The management of ZSSK CARGO has decided to announce a demand for the procurement of 300 Innofreights and 1,200 containers. I can confirm that this will be one of our most vital innovation decisions in the coming period.

I will ask specifically. Is this demand related to the construction of a new unloading facility at Třinec Iron and Steel Works?

Třinecké železárny is one of the key end users of our services. However, our partners are logistics and trading companies that cooperate with them or supply them with raw materials, and we are mainly responding to their requirements to procure an adequate number of wagons that would be compatible with the innovative unloading technology.

Why do you think ironworks decided to change the technology?

It certainly has to do with the desire to streamline the entire logistics chain, including internal logistics, but that's just my opinion, it's entirely in their hands, and I wouldn't want to speculate on that. As far as we are concerned, we feel that this innovative technology allows for higher train utilization and thus a saving in the number of trains needed to provide the required volume of raw materials and, last but not least, this transport will be more environmentally friendly.

InnoTrans 2022 is, of course, also about networking and business development. What interesting meetings have you had here?

This trade fair is primarily focused on technology and rail technology. That's why we were interested in new types of wagons that could be used in the future, for example, for the transport of bulk substrates, timber, and containers, as well as locomotives with hybrid drive, which would find application, for example, in the implementation of transports on non-electrified lines and handover points on the "last mile" sidings.