The dedicated weekly „Fresh Express Service”, to run between the famous market gardening regions in southern Spain and the large retail dealers of food products in the United Kingdom, will consist of 30 temperature-controlled containers. The transport capacity will be made available through regular reservations of part of a container or of entire containers from Murcia or Valencia.

From Spain to the UK in less than 60 hours

Enlarge image: From Spain to the UK in less than 60 hours

On Tuesday, the train departs Valencia, Spain. After a short stop in Port Bou for transshipping the containers to cars adapted to the standard European track gauge, the train continues northwards to the Channel Tunnel, via Toulouse and Paris. At the end of the final segment of the journey, the train arrives at the rail terminal of Dagenham at 06:00 Friday morning, less than 60 hours following its departure from Valencia. Once unloaded, the train starts off again following the same route and arrives in Spain some 56 hours later, at 03:00 Monday morning. This return trip affords some very nice commercial opportunities.

As a player that cannot be ignored in daily rail freight services in the United Kingdom, and respectful of the environment, Stobart Rail is launching this innovative line on the Iberian Peninsula in cooperation with DB Schenker.

Electric locomotives of the type BR 186 will carry the refrigerated contai

This offer is unique in that this will be the longest train in Europe running across three countries under the control of a single rail freight operator, DB Schenker, with the participation of its European subsidiaries Euro Cargo Rail France and Euro Cargo Rail Spain.

This cooperative arrangement constitutes a major step in reducing the carbon footprint. In fact, rail freight is known to emit four times less CO2 than haulage by truck along the same distance. „We are pleased to announce the collaboration with DB Schenker and believe this adds a massive opportunity for both companies to enable a cost effective and environmentally friendly solution for moving chilled and ambient produce throughout Europe,” Stobart Group’s CEO Andrew Tinker.

Reduce the carbon footprints

Each train will contain 30 reefer boxes, and the direct service from the pack-house to the store will reduce waste and increase the shelf life. „These factors will create substantial savings for our customers. In addition, this service will save 13.7 million road kilometers per year operating 3 trains per week, annually reducing CO2 emissions by 8,625 tons in the first year alone (starting with a single daily service) and more than 105,000 tons between now and the end of 2011“, said Tinker.

 “The development of this service would not have been possible without our preliminary investments in Euro Cargo Rail over the last four years. Thanks to our cooperation with Stobart Rail, we shall be able to deliver a superior service that will play a major role in realizing the European aspirations along the lines of a modal shift from road to rail. With increasing environmental and cost pressures, we see good growth opportunities for similar services to France,” stated Alain Thauvette, General Director of Euro Cargo Rail in France.