First aluminium bogie cement wagons enter the UK

Birmingham, 27 March 2008. The UK’s first aluminium bogie cement wagons have been officially unveiled today (enter date) as VTG delivered fifteen of the pioneering rolling stock to Castle Cement’s manufacturing facility in Clitheroe, Lancashire.

The newly arrived wagons are currently being loaded at Castle’s production facility in Ribblesdale for their maiden journey on Friday 28 March, when they will travel to Mossend near Glasgow, via Carlisle. The first of their kind to be used on British tracks, the wagons will also mark the return to rail transportation to Scotland for the cement provider.

Consisting of an innovative aluminium body construction to minimise tare weight, a high performance pressure discharge system, and track friendly 75 mph bogies, the new wagons are designed to move increased volumes of freight in a cost effective and more environmentally friendly manner across the UK rail network.

Rob Brook VTG Rail UK’s Managing Director said: “We are pleased to be at the forefront of freight rolling stock technology with these aluminium bogie tank wagons and are delighted to be working with Castle, our long standing customer, to put cement back on track to Scotland.”

Following the completion of its newly built storage and distribution centre at the Mossend Railhead near Glasgow, Castle Cement will use the wagons to transport cement from its Ribblesdale production facility in trains carrying up to 1100 tonnes of bulk cement at a time.

With an 80 tonne payload per wagon, and the aluminium body construction maximising load capacity, each train journey will be the equivalent of 35 lorry movements by road.

Castle Cement’s Managing Director Mike Eberlin said: “The aluminium wagons will allow us to further improve our distribution and better serve customers in Scotland at the same time as being more environmentally friendly. A significant reduction in the number of lorry movements is a small but important part of a continuing programme to maintain Castle’s proud reputation as an environmentally conscious cement manufacturer. In total we may be able to eliminate 450 lorry movements each month.”

The agreement builds upon VTG’s ten-year relationship with Castle Cement, with VTG already supplying 64 specialised pressure discharge wagons for the movement of bulk cement from its Ketton works to central London.

Ian Shaw, VTG’s Bulk Fleet Sales Manager said: “The majority of people recognise the need to produce and transport cement in the quantities necessary to meet the growing demands of Britain’s economy. However there is an increasing concern and expectation that such activities are being undertaken in an environmentally responsible manner. We are pleased to be working with Castle Cement to ensure that this balance is achieved.”
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Notes to editors

About VTG:

VTG Aktiengesellschaft is one of Europe’s leading rail logistics and wagon hire companies. The company has the largest private wagon fleet in Europe. Globally the fleet consists of about 49,300 rail freight cars with a focus on tank cars and state of the art high capacity freight cars and flat cars. In addition to the hiring of rail freight cars, the Group offers global tank container transport and comprehensive multi-modal logistics services mainly around rail transport.

With the combination of its three interrelated divisions Wagon Hire, Rail Logistics and Tank Container Logistics VTG offers its clients a high-performance platform for international transport of their freight. The Group has many years of experience and specific know-how in particular in the transport of liquid and sensitive goods. Its customers include numerous well-known companies from almost all industrial sectors such as, for example, chemicals, mineral oil, the automobile or paper industries.

In the financial year 2007 VTG generated operating revenues of EUR 541.4 million and an operating result (EBITDA) of EUR 137.0 million. Via its subsidiaries and affiliates the company, which has its head office in Hamburg, is mainly present in Europe, Asia and North America. As at 30 June 2008 VTG employed 833 employees worldwide in consolidated companies. Since June 2007 VTG AG has been listed on the official Prime Standard market of the Frankfurt Stock Exchange – since September 2008 also on the SDAX (SCN: VTG999).

Press contact:
Andrea Geeson, Communications Manager
Telephone: 01444 473588, E-Mail: andrea@woodhousecommunications.co.uk
Information is also available at www.vtg-rail.co.uk