Help for Santa and Help for the Environment as Early Rail Freight Planning Pays Off

Starting as early as August, DB Schenker Rail UK has been co-ordinating and fine tuning its high speed rail freight delivery services to cope with the Christmas rush.

Container loads of seasonal products have been safely and quickly delivered cross-country by rail to major cities in the Midlands, North of England and Scotland. These included clothing, footwear, Christmas decorations, toys, seasonal food, electrical goods and artificial Christmas trees.

DB Schenker high speed intermodal services transport trainloads of containers from the ports of London Gateway, Southampton and Felixstowe long distance by rail for final local delivery by lorry.

Booking of containers of Christmas stock started in the summer for the Southampton to Burton-on-Trent service and rapidly expanded to take in more Christmas business from Southampton to the Birmingham International Freight Terminal in Tamworth and to Trafford Park near Salford.

The East of England Region also benefited by container traffic from Felixstowe being despatched to Wakefield by rail instead of road.

David Cross, of DB Schenker Rail UK, said:

"We understand how challenging Santa's logistical operations can be and our intermodal rail freight operations are now an integral part of the Christmas season - many of the goods found under the tree and on the table with the turkey were delivered by our trains.

"Rail is also recognised as a more environmentally friendly form of transport than road, making it a great option for our customers' Christmas deliveries."

(based on an article by DB Schenker who must get credit for managing to make a seasonal press release out of rail freight!)