Rail Freight Transport

WSP provides planning, design, and construction management services for any rail freight transport project.

Trains made the industrial revolution possible. When goods need to be moved across long distances, few transportation modes can be as efficient as railroads. This is why trains have always been part of the logistics chain.

In today’s competitive economic landscape, rail freight is crucial and operators are looking to expand their network’s capacity and productivity with investments in both advanced technology and infrastructure. In fact, the demand for new and upgraded rail lines has been growing rapidly in recent years.

Rail freight transport is all about moving goods with efficiency. WSP provides planning, design and construction management services for any rail-related project. Our planning capabilities include capacity simulations, analysis and resolution of operational issues, market analyses, traffic forecasting, and multimodal competitive assessments.
Investing in the Future

Across the world, rail companies are investing millions of dollars to maintain the efficiency, the safety, and the sustainability of their networks. As well, there has been tremendous growth in intermodal traffic.

With our multi-faceted expertise (port, roads and highways, rail), we provide services to successfully deliver new or revitalised intermodal terminal. Here are some of our specific services:

• Architectural and intermodal facility design
• Geotechnical engineering
• Specialty track design
• Tactical and operational scheduling
• Development of standards and criteria for public agencies
• System and network concept development
• Environmental assessment
• Sustainability and resilience planning and assessment
• Engineering design
• Technical and economic feasibility assessments
• Network and corridor planning
• Operations planning and simulations
• Operations and maintenance consulting
• Railway signalling
• Communications systems design
• Traction power systems design and engineering
• Tunnelling and elevated structures design and engineering

Putting our Experience in Freight to Work for You

Some of the projects we have been involved in include Malar Line, Roy Hill Iron Ore Line in Australia and the West Coast railway in Sweden.

In the Gothenburg-Trollahattan project, the existing single-track railway had reached its full capacity, and the highway was blighted by traffic congestion and often flooded by the Gotha River. With the new double-track railway line, fast commuter trains and goods trains will be able to use it simultaneously. The railway will also be able to accommodate greater volumes of freight traffic, meeting increasing demand from the harbour and minimising pollution.

Globally, WSP provides hands-on field experience in the successful delivery of new intermodal terminals, port expansions and mainline capacity improvements.