Rail Freight Group
It has been 20 years since the first train load of goods left Grangemouth for the newly opened rail terminal in Daventry in Northamptonshire. Operated by Direct Rail Services for customer W. H. Malcolm, the train carried glass from Alloa to be used for bottling lager and making coffee jars. The northbound train returned the next day with pet food, pallets and some retail traffic.
Fast forward to 2020 and over 30 trains a week now ply this corridor, with additional routes now serving Aberdeen and Inverness. And it is not only about the Scottish market, with trains operating into South Wales, linking the north west and London, and running between Teesport and terminals inland. The customer base has expanded with multiple retailers and supermarkets consigning goods by rail, and some such as Tesco proudly promoting their use of rail in their branding. The terminal at Daventry has expanded significantly, with its second phase completed in 2015 and its third phase currently in development, and other locations are now handling trains for supermarkets and other retailers.
The success of these trains is not only getting lorries off the road – each train is up to half-a-mile long, taking up …
