The Rail Freight Group (RFG) has warmly welcomed the arrival of DB Schenker’s first regular continental gauge train to use High Speed 1, the first freight service to utilise the high speed line.
The weekly train departed Wroclaw in Poland on 8 November at 8:20pm and arrived 11 minutes early into Ripple Lane Exchange Sidings at 00:06 on 11 November.
The freight on board was previously being moved by road and DB said that demand from customers had been very high, resulting in strong orders for the new service being received from the automotive, retail and food sectors.
The train left the UK on the same day to transport goods to Poland on the return journey.
The service will be the first regular rail freight service to use the High Speed 1 rail route, the only continental gauge railway in the UK.
The significantly larger haulage capacity available from these swap bodies, with an internal height of three metres, means two standard pallets can be transported stacked on top of each other.
This provides a more efficient and economic means of transporting the maximum amount of product per train.
DB said that it hopes to increase the frequency of the service in February.
Tony Berkeley, RFG Chairman, said:
“This is the culmination of five years hard work to get such traffic accepted on HS1. RFG is supporting train operators in their negotiations with HS1 on allowing more freight trains to operate on the line at night.
“This first regular service demonstrates the demand for such services, and we hope that this is the first of many more,” he added.
The work to introduce rail freight services onto High Speed 1 has been supported by the European Commission’s Marco Polo programme.
