DB Schenker orders $525 million in equipment

DB Schenker orders $525 million in equipment    DB Schenker Rail, the Deutsche Bahn freight operator, will invest about 410 million euros ($525 million) this year, mostly in new freight cars and locomotives throughout Europe.
   “This is a record amount which we plan to invest at exactly those points where there is increasing customer demand for our transport services and where modern equipment is required,” said Karl-Friedrich Rausch, member of the management board of DB Mobility Logistics AG, in a statement.
   About 190 million euros ($243 million) will be spent on new freight cars and repairing the existing fleet, while 167 million euros ($214 million) will be invested in locomotives. The remaining funds will be spread among investments in facilities and information systems equipment, the company said.
   By the end of the year, DB Schenker Rail expects to acquire 1,472 freight cars and 71 locomotives, including 700 cars specially for coal and steel transport.
   During the first half of 2010, DB Schenker Rail raised its rail freight volume to 203 million tons. This is an increase of 58 million tons year-on-year or 40.1 percent. There were particularly high increases in iron, ores and scrap metal volumes.