The Milano Malpensa Airport is one of the leaders in Europe for freight transport, and it is now looking to put more goods on rail, but in a somewhat unconventional way. Parcels arriving by plane at the Italian airport will travel on Malpensa Express trains, which move passengers to and from the Cadorna station in Milan.
The project, called SPOT (Smart Parcels On Train) sees the involvement of DHL Express Italy, SEA, which operates the airport, and various groups of the FNM Group, including Malpensa Intermodale and passenger operators Ferrovienord and Trenord. “The objective is to test the operational feasibility of a new solution for the distribution of small goods from Milan Malpensa Airport to the center of Milan, combining rail transport and electric mobility”, said FNM.
Goods are picked up at the DHL Express Italy hub at Malpensa by electric trucks and are driven to the station at Terminal 1. From there, the parcels are loaded onto the Malpensa Express and taken to Cadorna, right next to the Sforzesco Castle. Then, electric vehicles pick them up again for the final delivery at the DHL Express Italy point, three kilometres east of the station.
“A route departing before 6 am was selected for transportation, with low passenger traffic and ensuring the availability of luggage space on board, so as not to impact the service provided to travelers”, FNM added.
Experiments continue
This is not the first initiative of this kind. For example, Amazon carried out a similar experiment on high-speed trains between Paris and Lyon in May 2025. Jeff Bezos’ company also tried using a high-speed passenger train to move freight between Naples and Bologna between 2018 and 2022. In the UK, GoExpress is running a similar project between Leicestershire and Glasgow.
It is also not the first experience for DHL. The parcel giant tested loading parcels on customised trams in Schwerin, in northern Germany. None of these initiatives delivered incredible results, with the project in Germany being abandoned and the train in Italy ending up in the scrapyard. However, it seems that interest in finding ways to mix freight and passenger transport in city centres continues to increase.