It has to be admitted that, at one point, we were going to leave this section out. Primarily because most of STG’s rail experience involved Russia and the former USSR countries – this coming to an abrupt halt with the Ukrainian conflict.
However, before this happened, STG gained valuable experience of rail movements – essentially very similar to the constraints of road movement, but with much stricter disciplines. Not only did this involve the operator selecting the optimum rail wagon but, once this had been done, ensuring that it satisfied the limitations throughout the intended route. In a sense, road restrictions caused by bridges, street furniture, etc , were replaced by rail restrictions caused by signalling and other trackside apparatus.
In one of their greatest challenges, STG were tasked with delivering over length pieces to Kazakhstan. The initial movement took place to Harwich, where the cargo was a transferred to the weekly service to arrive Tallinn, Estonia. From the docks, the pieces were transferred (under supervision) to the local rail terminal, to be safely lashed and secured to Russian rail wagons, before the final leg to Almaty.
Despite some trepidation on our part, the cargo arrived safely, on the predicted date, virtually to the predicted hour – just one of several, successful Russian rail projects.
