Carlisle-based rail freight operator DRS has launched a new England-Scotland intermodal trial between Daventry and Coatbridge. It’s low-key enough, but it could strike a chord with logistics operators and road hauliers, seeking to address some perennial problems around trunk-route freight operations.
With the company’s headquarters located just about midway along the route, executives from Direct Rail Services (DRS) can actually observe their new cross-border intermodal service as it passes Carlisle. The service, linking Daventry in Northamptonshire (England) with Coatbridge in North Lanarkshire (Scotland), could mark a fresh chapter in Anglo-Scottish rail freight.
Club Cards accepted
The service, which covers a 330-mile route (almost 600km), is being operated using DRS’s “environmentally friendly” Class 88 locomotives. That ticks a box right there, with the Stadler “Euro Dual” derived units running almost exclusively in electric mode throughout. Possibly even more significantly, the train is a tangible reflection of a long-held desire for “less than train load” operations, allowing smaller consignments from multiple customers to share the same service. This is obviously a model designed to encourage new businesses to explore rail freight as a viable alternative to road haulage.
The trial started on 5 November and will run for just under eight weeks. It represents the fourth DRS Anglo-Scottish service. The operator is no stranger to this route. Among many other services, they have been operating for many years between the English Midlands, Central Scotland and the Highlands on behalf of supermarket chain Tesco. Sometimes mischievously dubbed the Club Card Express (after the supermarket’s loyalty scheme), these branded block trains have proved highly effective. While those services primarily move high-volume groceries for one customer (albeit a huge customer), the new DRS trial offers flexibility for a broader range of freight, opening up rail as a practical option for companies that previously relied solely on heavy goods vehicles (HGVs) to move individual containers.
Rail freight ambitions and the wider market
The road hauliers (often through their professional representative, the Road Haulage Association) point out that they actually welcome the collaboration of the rail freight sector. In the face of continuing driver recruitment issues, the road sector is struggling to meet long-haul demand. The intercession of rail companies like DRS could help alleviate that issue – by freeing up drivers and trucks for potentially more attractive “last mile” deliveries. It may also work in the favour of both sectors, by increasing demand and reliability overall.
A fully decarbonised chain is the unspoken goal across the whole logistics sector. The Class 88 dual-mode locomotives powering this service are, in no small part, DRS’s contribution. They also make commercial sense for the operator. “Each train can take around 30 HGVs off the roads,” said Gottfried Eymer, Managing Director for Rail of NTS, the parent company of Direct Rail Services. “This train is made up of goods from multiple customers, making it ideal for businesses that would like to benefit from rail but lack the volumes to justify their own train. This new service is a fantastic opportunity for those who have considered rail but are yet to make the switch from road.”
The launch comes amid broader UK Government ambitions to grow rail freight by 75% by 2050. It’s part of a drive to reduce carbon emissions – and chronic road congestion. Analysts note that the combination of purpose-built intermodal terminals (with convenient motorway connections) increasingly makes rail an attractive alternative for operators seeking to move freight over long distances efficiently. In future, it will be any container, not just “club cards accepted”.