Stobart Announces Second Rail Freight Service

The new service sees the successful partnership between Stobart and Tesco continue with the start of a new five year contract. The new service is due to commence no later than September 2008. Six days a week, Stobart will collect goods from Tesco’s new one million square foot distribution centre at Livingston; deliver them to Grangemouth rail terminal where they will be loaded onto a train leaving for Inverness at 05.00. The train will arrive at Inverness at 11.01 when Stobart will complete the journey taking the goods by road to various Tesco stores around Inverness, Aviemore, Wick, Dingwall, Elgin and Forres. The journey will then be repeated in reverse for southbound traffic to Grangemouth. Andrew Tinkler, Stobart Chief Executive said “This rail freight service is consistent with Stobart’s strategy of providing multimodal transport and logistics solutions. This service gives our customers cost savings and reduces harm to the environment. We are pleased with the support we have received from the Scottish Government and are committed to helping Tesco reduce its carbon footprint.” This service will significantly reduce pressure on the busy A9 route to Inverness by taking away over 13,000 lorry journeys each year, equivalent to 1.79 million lorry miles or 5.3m freight tonnes being removed from the road. The Scottish Government has awarded a Freight Facilities Grant (FFG) of £525,000 to Stobart Group to contribute to the capital cost of purchasing the 70 intermodal containers for the movement of Tesco traffic. In addition, they have also provided Rail Environmental Benefits Procurement Scheme (REPS) funding of up to a maximum of £457,600. This grant scheme provides revenue support to freight operators for the transport of inter-modal containers by rail rather than road. At the head of the train will be a brand new environmentally friendly Class 66 locomotive, pulling 20 specially designed new 45’ curtainsided containers. The containers are 8’6” in height meaning they can travel on any rail gauge in the UK. This type of container has proved extremely successful on the Daventry to Grangemouth service due to the flexibility it can provide.