Stobart Rail Freight


Stobart Rail Freight Ltd is a railway freight service operator in the United Kingdom. Stobart Rail comes under the Rail division of Eddie Stobart Logistics, and carries intermodal freight for the group. The service is operated by rail partner, Direct Rail Services.

History

From Tuesday 19 September 2006 Stobart Rail commenced a daily delivery train on behalf of Tesco, for which it already provided comprehensive road haulage services. Collecting Tesco goods from around the Midlands, the train runs from the Stobart depot at Daventry International Railfreight Terminal in Rugby, to the Grangemouth Rail terminal in Scotland. The train then returns to Rugby, 90% filled by Tesco and 10% filled by Coca-Cola - shipping the equivalent of 26 lorries daily in each direction
Hauled by Class 66 locomotives supplied and manned by Direct Rail Services, the train consisted of 26 specially designed new curtain-sided shipping containers, which at in height are within the UK loading gauge. Stobart has bought 90 of these new containers in order to provide this service. The train travels at an average speed of, which is comparable with a lorry, although the whole process takes slightly longer because of additional loading and unloading
Over the three-year contract, it is estimated the dedicated rail freight service will replace 130,000 lorry journeys and save 3 million road miles a year. Stobart has been given £400,000 by the UK Government and Scottish Executive to switch 70 per cent of its cross-border freight for Tesco from road to rail. The train will be in Tesco corporate colours.
In May 2008, Stobart announced a second route had been gained for Tesco, from Grangemouth to Inverness, to start no later than September.
Stobart announced in May 2008 that it planned up to six new train services in addition to the Tesco contracts in the year.

Operations

Stobart had previously transported some of its freight by rail, using Stobart liveried IWB Ferrywagons hired from Tiphook.
In February 2008, Stobart Rail commenced operating passenger charter services under the Stobart Pullman brand, having purchased Hertfordshire Rail Tours from the administrator of FM Rail. Motive power and a set of Mark 3 carriages were leased from Direct Rail Services. It ceased operating in July 2008.