Stobart switches to rail.

[Toots]

Eddie Stobart will commence running the 'longest single rail journey in europe' when its refrigerated container train starts running from Valencia to Dagenham on Tuesday.It will carry tomatoes,lemons,oranges and other fruit and vegetables.This could be a pivotal move for the railfreight industry,as its success could lead the way for other hauliers to switch to rail.

 

[royaloak]

That's good news, oh and welcome to the friendly forum Toots.

 

[Toots]

cheers mate,it would have helped if I had got the words right first time mind you.....

 

[Aictos]

Good to see you here Toots, very very happy to see you posting here.

 

[Dennis]

Eddie Stobart will commence running the 'longest single rail journey in europe' ....It will carry.....vegetables.

Is it too late for me to book a ticket? :roll:

 

[moonrakerz]

Valencia to Dagenham ? Diesel engines for Ford cars on the return trip ?

 

[Toots]

Chance would be a fine thing!,but if the railway makes a good job of it,and makes it economicaly attractive, the possibilities are massive.To get a company like Stobart to take rail seriously,not just for international traffic but domestic as well,would be a massive boost to the railfreight industry and of course more would follow suit.As coal traffic inevitably declines,its this type of traffic that could replace it,but its essential we get it right,I hope its an opportunity grabbed with both hands....
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Good to see you here Toots, very very happy to see you posting here.

Many thanks Ajax,and I was pleased to see you were already on here as well.Good one mate.

 

[Drsatan]

Eddie Stobart will commence running the 'longest single rail journey in europe' when its refrigerated container train starts running from Valencia to Dagenham on Tuesday.It will carry tomatoes,lemons,oranges and other fruit and vegetables.This could be a pivotal move for the railfreight industry,as its success could lead the way for other hauliers to switch to rail.

That's assuming it runs on time. If the train always runs late due to the following:


Changing gauge at the Spanish-French border (Spanish railways use 5ft 3in gauge whereas French railways use standard gauge)

Changing locos at the Spanish-French border and at Calais Frethun yard

Runs late through France since SNCF signalmen give it the worst possible paths, in defiance of EU law which states that open access operators must be treated equally

Economic migrants (sorry, asylum seekers) try to jump on board the train at Calais, which means it has to be stopped while they're removed. Obviously if they were discovered in the UK they'd be given accomodation while their claims were processed.

Then it won't be running for much longer:-x

 

[Toots]

Yes,I thought that too...I seem to remember Creative Logistics getting a freight flow across the channel up and running and they were scuppered,don't know if they are still running railfreight or not....

 

[DaveNewcastle]

. . . To get a company like Stobart to take rail seriously,not just for international traffic but domestic as well,would be a massive boost to the railfreight industry . . .

though as you're probably aware, Stobart already runs regular domestic rail freight - notably, carrying perishable foods, the daily "Tesco train" to Inverness (which is equivalent to 42 trucks on the A9 road) and the daily Daventry to Grangemouth service, all using low profile containers to allow them to travel on lower gauge lines than other container freight.

But this expansion across Europe is very welcome!

 

[gingerheid]

Hope it works out!