Parcel giant UPS has been testing rail freight transport services between its hubs in Milan, in northern Italy, and Herne, in western Germany. The tests, in cooperation with CargoBeamer, started in October, with two UPS swap bodies loaded on the CargoBeamer trains every day per direction.
This seems to be the first time UPS is turning to the railways in Europe. The company was contacted for further information but no answer was provided as of yet. The convoys will run through the Rhine-Alpine corridor section connecting Domodossola, near the Italian-Swiss border, and Kaldenkirchen, on the German-Dutch border.
Other than being UPS’ first time using the rail in Europe, it is also CargoBeamer’s first service specifically for parcels. As a spokesperson from the company told RailFreight.com, they have similar partnerships, for example with Amazon, but these services deal with larger goods rather than parcels.
More parcels on rail in Europe?
The initiative of having more parcels travelling by rail rather than road is being pushed by various EU countries, for examplem Germany. At the end of 2022, the German rail freight industry asked the Ministry of Transport to establish a framework to create the conditions for a significant modal shift.
Moreover, various companies have been testing similar projects. DPD launched a service connecting Duisburg and Leipzig at the end of 2022, while GLS introduced a rail connection for parcels between the MegaHub Lehrte and Nuremberg. For both these projects, the companies partnered with Kombiverkher.
Since the end of 2023, parcels are back on the rail also in Ukraine. The national post company Ukrposhta has been cooperating with the National Post of Estonia Omniva, Ukrainian Railways and Slovakian company Interport to find alternative solutions to road transport. This solution, reinstated in Ukraine after 21 years, makes parcel deliveries within and across its borders easier and faster.
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