Cargolink
Encyclopedia
Cargolink AS is a Norwegian
railway company
. Owned by the automotive distribution company Autolink
, Cargolink has operated both autorack
and container
trains since November 2008. Cargolink has a fleet of ten diesel locomotives, five shunter
s, 100 autorack
s and 60 container cars. Combined autorack and container trains are operated up to five times per week along the Sørland-, Bergen-, Rauma-, Røros- and Nordland Lines, as well as services through Sweden.
Autolink, the largest distributor of automobiles in Norway, has traditionally bought train services from CargoNet
. In 2007, they signed a contract with Ofotbanen, and at the same time bought 40% of the company. However, Ofotbanen was in financial difficulties, causing a dispute between the two owners. The result was that Autolink formally established Cargolink in March 2008, without the knowledge of Ofotbanen, and terminated the contract with Ofotbanen in July. Cargolink received an operating licence in September and service started in November.
Cargolink has a fleet of five shunters at their port in Drammen, in addition to three Di 6
diesel locomotives and three TRAXX
electric locomotives for main haulage. While the shunters are owned by Cargolink, the diesel locomotives are leased from Dispolok
of Germany and the electric locomotives are leased from Hector Rail
. It also has more than 100 closed autorack
s for automobile transport, and 60 container cars
. 70 new autoracks are under delivery from Sweden.
On contract from Autolink, Cargolink operates autorack trains throughout large portions of the Norwegian railway network
, from the seaports in Drammen and Oslo. Services are provided along the Sørland Line to Stavanger
, along the Bergen Line to Bergen
, along the Dovre Line to Trondheim
, along the Rauma Line to Åndalsnes
, and along the Nordland Line to Mosjøen
, Mo i Rana
and Bodø
. It also operates through Sweden
to reach Narvik
and Malmö
Each route has up to five weekly departures in both directions with combined autorack and container trains. The company transports 55,000 cars annually on 600 trains, giving a revenue of . Autolink is responsible for about three-quarters of all new-car distribution in the country. On the weekly return trips from Northern Norway, Cargolink uses the empty cars to transport aluminum from Elkem Mosjøen
.
. On 31 January 2007, Autolink bought 40% of the private railway company Ofotbanen, and at the same time signed a haulage contract with them. This made Autolink Ofotbanen's largest customer, and second largest owner. In March, Autolink ordered additional 70 new autoracks for NOK 175 million.
Ofotbanen have since their establishment had financial difficulties. The contract with Autolink had helped, but in July 2008, Autolink canceled their contract with Ofotbanen. Two weeks later, Autolink announced that they would establish their own railway company, which they had been working with since March. They stated that the deal with Ofotbanen was discontinued because the majority owner—Rail Management, in turn owned by Mons Bolin—would not allow additional private placements of capital, nor sell their shares to Autolink. From 29 July, all automotive trains stopped running, and no cars were transported for ten days. The same day, all board members in Ofotbanen representing Autolink withdrew from their positions.
The matter ended in court, with a case to determine whether Autolink should be allowed to take control of four train radios that were located in locomotives owned by Autolink, but operated by Ofotbanen. In a shareholder agreement between Autolink and Rail Management, the ownership of the train radios had been transferred to Autolink, but the agreement has clauses that specified that Autolink could not start a competing railway company. Stating that Autolink had been disloyal in regard to the contract, Ofoten District Court
ruled on 17 July 2008 against Autolink's demand for an interim order to transfer the ownership of the radios to Autolink. The court ruled that an interim decision could not be made due to the complexity of the contracts, and that a normal lawsuit would have to be carried out to determine the matter. There was agreement that Autolink, on 13 February 2008, had bought five shunter
s from Ofotbanen for NOK 12 million, of which NOK 9.5 million was paid by Autolink deleting debt.
Ofotbanen lost their license from the Norwegian Railway Inspectorate
on 7 October 2008. This was because Ofotbanen had not documented necessary accounts for 2007, nor provided evidence of necessary liquidity. On 24 October, the company was declared bankrupt. Rail Management subsequently established the new company Ofotbanen Drift, and stated that the cause of the bankruptcy was that Autolink had not let them make a private placement of NOK 10 million.
diesel locomotives have been leased from Vossloh
, with options for later purchase. Operations started on 2 November, with 22 engineers based in Drammen. Since the company has an all-diesel fleet, management is working to reroute trains to Trondheim
and Northern Norway along the Røros Line instead of the Dovre Line. CargoNet and Ofotbanen had been using the Dovre Line because it is electrified, giving lower operating costs despite its elevation, 350 m (1,148.3 ft) higher than the Røros Line. After initial trial runs with only three locomotives, full service was introduced later in November.
Norway
Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...
railway company
Railway company
A railway company or railroad company is an entity that operates a railroad track and/or trains. Such a company can either be private or public...
. Owned by the automotive distribution company Autolink
Autolink
Autolink AS is a Norwegian distributor of automobiles. With port facilities in Drammen, Oslo and Malmö, Autolink prepares and redistributes to dealerships three quarters of all automobiles in Norway. The company has outsourcing agreements with many of the largest automotive importers in the country...
, Cargolink has operated both autorack
Autorack
An autorack, also known as an auto carrier, is a specialized piece of railroad rolling stock used to transport automobiles and light trucks, generally from factories to automotive distributors...
and container
Containerization
Containerization is a system of freight transport based on a range of steel intermodal containers...
trains since November 2008. Cargolink has a fleet of ten diesel locomotives, five shunter
Switcher
A switcher or shunter is a small railroad locomotive intended not for moving trains over long distances but rather for assembling trains ready for a road locomotive to take over, disassembling a train that has been...
s, 100 autorack
Autorack
An autorack, also known as an auto carrier, is a specialized piece of railroad rolling stock used to transport automobiles and light trucks, generally from factories to automotive distributors...
s and 60 container cars. Combined autorack and container trains are operated up to five times per week along the Sørland-, Bergen-, Rauma-, Røros- and Nordland Lines, as well as services through Sweden.
Autolink, the largest distributor of automobiles in Norway, has traditionally bought train services from CargoNet
CargoNet
CargoNet AS is the primary operator of freight trains on the Norwegian railway system. It was formed as NSB Gods after NSB fissioned into a passenger and a freight company. NSB Gods changed its name to CargoNet at the beginning of 2002. It is owned by NSB and the Swedish freight company Green Cargo...
. In 2007, they signed a contract with Ofotbanen, and at the same time bought 40% of the company. However, Ofotbanen was in financial difficulties, causing a dispute between the two owners. The result was that Autolink formally established Cargolink in March 2008, without the knowledge of Ofotbanen, and terminated the contract with Ofotbanen in July. Cargolink received an operating licence in September and service started in November.
Operation
NSB Di 6
NSB Di 6 is a class of twelve diesel-electric locomotives built by Siemens for the Norwegian State Railways from 1995 to 1996. Twelve engines were built at the MaK plant in Kiel whilst it was part of Siemens Schienenfahrzeugtechnik, and numbered Di 6-661 to 6-672.-Construction:During the late...
diesel locomotives and three TRAXX
TRAXX
Bombardier TRAXX is a modular product platform of electric and Diesel-electric mainline locomotives built by Bombardier Transportation, built in both freight and passenger variants...
electric locomotives for main haulage. While the shunters are owned by Cargolink, the diesel locomotives are leased from Dispolok
Dispolok
Siemens Dispolok Ltd. was a locomotive leasing company wholly owned by Siemens Transportation Systems offering locomotives for hire to European rail operators. On the 21st of September 2006 it was bought by Mitsui Rail Capital Europe BV a subsidiary of the Japanese conglomerate Mitsui & Co...
of Germany and the electric locomotives are leased from Hector Rail
Hector Rail
Hector Rail is a Swedish-based independent train haulage provider operating in the European rail transport market, operating 29 locomotives. The company provides locomotives and drivers to freight customers who need to have whole unit trains hauled between two places with a regular time table.The...
. It also has more than 100 closed autorack
Autorack
An autorack, also known as an auto carrier, is a specialized piece of railroad rolling stock used to transport automobiles and light trucks, generally from factories to automotive distributors...
s for automobile transport, and 60 container cars
Containerization
Containerization is a system of freight transport based on a range of steel intermodal containers...
. 70 new autoracks are under delivery from Sweden.
On contract from Autolink, Cargolink operates autorack trains throughout large portions of the Norwegian railway network
Rail transport in Norway
The Norwegian railway system comprises 4,087 km of track of which 2,622 km is electrified and 242 km double track. There are 696 tunnels and 2760 bridges....
, from the seaports in Drammen and Oslo. Services are provided along the Sørland Line to Stavanger
Stavanger
Stavanger is a city and municipality in the county of Rogaland, Norway.Stavanger municipality has a population of 126,469. There are 197,852 people living in the Stavanger conurbation, making Stavanger the fourth largest city, but the third largest urban area, in Norway...
, along the Bergen Line to Bergen
Bergen
Bergen is the second largest city in Norway with a population of as of , . Bergen is the administrative centre of Hordaland county. Greater Bergen or Bergen Metropolitan Area as defined by Statistics Norway, has a population of as of , ....
, along the Dovre Line to Trondheim
Trondheim
Trondheim , historically, Nidaros and Trondhjem, is a city and municipality in Sør-Trøndelag county, Norway. With a population of 173,486, it is the third most populous municipality and city in the country, although the fourth largest metropolitan area. It is the administrative centre of...
, along the Rauma Line to Åndalsnes
Åndalsnes
is a town in the municipality of Rauma in Møre og Romsdal county, Norway. Åndalsnes is the administrative center of Rauma. The town has a population of 2,207...
, and along the Nordland Line to Mosjøen
Mosjøen
-History:Mosjøen was founded in the 17th century as local farmers met here to trade, and has been growing since then. Sawmills were built here in 1866 by a British company, and Mosjøen got township rights in 1875. It is the oldest town in the Helgeland region and the second oldest town in Nordland...
, Mo i Rana
Mo i Rana
Mo i Rana is a town in the municipality of Rana, Nordland, Norway, located just south of the Arctic Circle and in the region Helgeland. The town is called "Mo i Rana" to distinquish it from other places named Mo - most notably the town of Mosjøen, also in Helgeland - though locally the town is...
and Bodø
Bodø
is a city and a municipality in Nordland county, Norway. It is part of the Salten region.The city of Bodø was established as a municipality on 1 January 1838 . Bodin was merged with Bodø on 1 January 1968. Skjerstad was merged with Bodø on 1 January 2005...
. It also operates through Sweden
Rail transport in Sweden
Rail transport in Sweden uses a network of 13,000 km of track, the 20th largest in the world. Construction of the first railway line in Sweden began in 1855. The major operator is the state-owned SJ AB....
to reach Narvik
Narvik
is the third largest city and municipality in Nordland county, Norway by population. Narvik is located on the shores of the Narvik Fjord . The municipality is part of the Ofoten traditional region of North Norway, inside the arctic circle...
and Malmö
Malmö
Malmö , in the southernmost province of Scania, is the third most populous city in Sweden, after Stockholm and Gothenburg.Malmö is the seat of Malmö Municipality and the capital of Skåne County...
Each route has up to five weekly departures in both directions with combined autorack and container trains. The company transports 55,000 cars annually on 600 trains, giving a revenue of . Autolink is responsible for about three-quarters of all new-car distribution in the country. On the weekly return trips from Northern Norway, Cargolink uses the empty cars to transport aluminum from Elkem Mosjøen
Elkem
Elkem is one of Norway's largest industrial companies, and one of the world's leading suppliers of metals and materials. The company's main products are aluminium, energy and silicon as well as specialised products such as ferrosilicon to foundries, microsilica and carbon...
.
Autolink and Ofotbanen
Autolink has traditionally owned a large pool of autoracks. These have been operated by the Norwegian State Railways, and subsequently their subsidiary CargoNetCargoNet
CargoNet AS is the primary operator of freight trains on the Norwegian railway system. It was formed as NSB Gods after NSB fissioned into a passenger and a freight company. NSB Gods changed its name to CargoNet at the beginning of 2002. It is owned by NSB and the Swedish freight company Green Cargo...
. On 31 January 2007, Autolink bought 40% of the private railway company Ofotbanen, and at the same time signed a haulage contract with them. This made Autolink Ofotbanen's largest customer, and second largest owner. In March, Autolink ordered additional 70 new autoracks for NOK 175 million.
The matter ended in court, with a case to determine whether Autolink should be allowed to take control of four train radios that were located in locomotives owned by Autolink, but operated by Ofotbanen. In a shareholder agreement between Autolink and Rail Management, the ownership of the train radios had been transferred to Autolink, but the agreement has clauses that specified that Autolink could not start a competing railway company. Stating that Autolink had been disloyal in regard to the contract, Ofoten District Court
Ofoten District Court
Ofoten District Court is the district court serving Ballangen, Evenes, Gratangen, Hamarøy, Lavangen, Lødingen, Narvik, Salangen, Tjeldsund og Tysfjord. Located in Narvik, the cases may be appealed to Hålogaland Court of Appeal. The court has a chief judge, two professional judges and one deputy...
ruled on 17 July 2008 against Autolink's demand for an interim order to transfer the ownership of the radios to Autolink. The court ruled that an interim decision could not be made due to the complexity of the contracts, and that a normal lawsuit would have to be carried out to determine the matter. There was agreement that Autolink, on 13 February 2008, had bought five shunter
Switcher
A switcher or shunter is a small railroad locomotive intended not for moving trains over long distances but rather for assembling trains ready for a road locomotive to take over, disassembling a train that has been...
s from Ofotbanen for NOK 12 million, of which NOK 9.5 million was paid by Autolink deleting debt.
Norwegian Railway Inspectorate
The Norwegian Railway Inspectorate is a Norwegian government agency responsible for control and supervision of rail transport in Norway, including railways, tramways, rapid transits, heritage railways and side tracks....
on 7 October 2008. This was because Ofotbanen had not documented necessary accounts for 2007, nor provided evidence of necessary liquidity. On 24 October, the company was declared bankrupt. Rail Management subsequently established the new company Ofotbanen Drift, and stated that the cause of the bankruptcy was that Autolink had not let them make a private placement of NOK 10 million.
Establishment
Work on establishing the new company was initiated by Autolink in March 2008, with the company formally established on 27 March. It received an operating license from the Norwegian Railway Inspectorate on 18 September 2008. Five shunters that were operated by Ofotbanen, but owned by Autolink, were transferred to Cargolink. In addition, ten Di 6NSB Di 6
NSB Di 6 is a class of twelve diesel-electric locomotives built by Siemens for the Norwegian State Railways from 1995 to 1996. Twelve engines were built at the MaK plant in Kiel whilst it was part of Siemens Schienenfahrzeugtechnik, and numbered Di 6-661 to 6-672.-Construction:During the late...
diesel locomotives have been leased from Vossloh
Vossloh
Vossloh AG is a German transport technology manufacturer based in the Westphalian town of Werdohl. The group has 4,700 employees , and generated sales of €1.2 billion, of which approximately 60% came from the rail infrastructure division, and the remainder from the motive power and components...
, with options for later purchase. Operations started on 2 November, with 22 engineers based in Drammen. Since the company has an all-diesel fleet, management is working to reroute trains to Trondheim
Trondheim
Trondheim , historically, Nidaros and Trondhjem, is a city and municipality in Sør-Trøndelag county, Norway. With a population of 173,486, it is the third most populous municipality and city in the country, although the fourth largest metropolitan area. It is the administrative centre of...
and Northern Norway along the Røros Line instead of the Dovre Line. CargoNet and Ofotbanen had been using the Dovre Line because it is electrified, giving lower operating costs despite its elevation, 350 m (1,148.3 ft) higher than the Røros Line. After initial trial runs with only three locomotives, full service was introduced later in November.