Taking thousands of trucks off the road
January 26, 2009
Stobart Rail, in partnership with Tesco, has announced the opening of a new six days a week Grangemouth to Inverness rail freight service.
Stewart Stevenson, Scottish Government Transport Minister officially opened the service and the Inverness rail freight terminal on 20 January 2009.
The Scottish Government has allocated over £3 million of funding to all parties connected with this new rail freight service which will significantly reduce pressure on the busy A9 route to Inverness by taking away over 13,000 lorry journeys each year, equivalent to 1.67 million vehicle miles.
Overall, the Minister said, there will be substantial environmental benefits as it is estimated that the new service will save 827,000 litres of fuel per year.
Stobart will collect goods from Tesco's new one million square foot distribution centre at Livingston and deliver them to Grangemouth rail terminal, operated by WH Malcolm, where they will be loaded onto a train leaving for Inverness.
On arrival at the Inverness rail terminal, loads will be divided for onward transfer to various Tesco stores around Inverness, Aviemore, Wick, Dingwall, Elgin, Thurso, Ullapool and Forres.
Each train will include 20 Stobart Rail-designed 45-feet long curtain-sided containers, designed to be able to travel on any rail route in the UK.
Stobart Rail was awarded a Freight Facilities Grant towards the capital cost of purchasing its inter-modal containers and a grant under the Rail Environmental Benefits Procurement Scheme.
This grant scheme provides revenue support to freight operators for the transport of inter-modal containers by rail rather than road.
Print this page