Stobart takes the high road

NORTH West transport giant Stobart Group today launched a new freight service which will ease road congestion in the north of Scotland.

The Warrington company’s rail division teamed up with supermarket group Tesco to launch the six days a week service from Grangemouth to Inverness.

The Scottish government, which has funded the scheme with a £3m grant, opened the new Inverness rail freight terminal today.

It is expected to 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 lorry miles. Overall there will be substantial environmental benefits, and it is estimated that the new service will save 827,000 litres of fuel per year.

Stobart will collect goods from Tesco’s 1 million sq ft distribution centre at Livingston; deliver them to Grangemouth rail terminal, operated by WH Malcolm, where they will be loaded onto a train leaving for Inverness.

At the head of the train will be a new, environmentally-friendly Class 66 locomotive operated by Direct Rail Services (DRS) pulling a train carrying 20 Stobart Rail-designed 45′ curtain-sided containers.

The 8’6′ high containers have been designed to be able to travel on any rail route in the UK. This type of container has proved extremely successful on Stobart Rail’s existing Daventry to Grangemouth service, due to its flexibility.

Andrew Tinkler, chief executive of Stobart Group, said: “This new service is consistent with Stobart Group’s strategy of providing multimodal transport and logistics solutions. Once again, the Group is giving its customers cost savings and reducing harm to the environment.

“We have worked closely with the Scottish government and other partners in getting this service running and look forward to opening more rail freight services in the coming months.”