GB Railfreight has run a special Christmas intermodal train from Maritime Transport’s Birmingham Intermodal Freight Terminal, Birch Coppice to the Port of Liverpool – the first time a service has been run between these two sites.
Locomotive 66729 hauled eight IFA ‘Q80’ flat wagons on December 22, leaving Birch Coppice at 2048 and arriving at Seaforth Container Terminal at 0139 the next day. It made the return journey at 0330, arriving back at Birch Coppice at 1053.
Maritime Transport, GBRf and Peel Ports (which owns the Port of Liverpool) say it demonstrates the potential of running container services between Birmingham and Liverpool as an alternative to moving containers by road.
The development of Liverpool2 deep-water container terminal is expected to increase demand for land transport solutions.
John Smith, managing director of GBRf, said: “The running of our special Christmas train to the Port of Liverpool demonstrates that there are huge intermodal rail freight opportunities that could arise from the Liverpool2 logistics project, and we will be working with our partners to build awareness among existing and new customers.
“The container market is an important source of growth for the industry, and it’s vital that we provide the terminal and network infrastructure that allows us to meet present and future consumer demand.”
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Bernard Molloy FCILT - 27/12/2015 16:28
This clearly demonstrates the significant impact this type of service will have not just on SUPERPORT but on the whole of the Nothern Powerhouse in rebalancing the UK economy,". Bernard Molloy Chair of SUPERPORT and Global Industrial Ligistics Director Unipart Logistics
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Juls - 28/12/2015 21:02
Great to hear of new freight paths, anything which helps to move heavy freight off our roads and onto rails has to be a good thing. I hope one day we will see the Lorry Carrying Trains in the UK that are so common in Europe. Should we be considering these types of solutions in our infrastructure projects that are now being planned.
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