New rail line connects Teesport to Manchester

A new rail freight service has launched between Teesport and Manchester’s Trafford Park.

The venture, a collaboration between Direct Rail Services (DRS) and PD Ports, aims to cut congestion on the Trans Pennine route by removing up to 40 heavy vehicle movements per journey. 

Bosses say it uses ultra-low IDA wagons, which allow it to transport modern high cube containers, offering increased capacity and supply chain efficiencies. 

Running five days a week on a trial basis, it also provides a direct rail link between the North East and North West for the first time.

Gottfried Eymer, managing director for rail at DRS, said: “This new trial offers a route to customers who may not have considered rail before. 

“It is an open access service, which will amalgamate different customers to one train, saving time and cost.

“Rail is much more environmentally friendly when compared to road, producing up to 76 per cent fewer CO2 emissions, while each train can remove up to 40 HGVs from the roads.”

Teesport’s European shipping connections, including direct links to Iberia, Scandinavia, the Baltics, Poland and the Netherlands, will further enhance trade accessibility.

Jo Edmenson, PD Ports’ key account manager for rail freight services, added: “Trans Pennine connections for operators looking to move goods across the country have been confined to road freight for many years due to the constraints of the rail network, with height restrictions at stations, bridges and tunnels causing a number of issues.

“There is much anticipation about the Trans Pennine upgrade, which will hopefully remove many of those blockages, but with a completion date of 2030, we felt that was too long to wait when we considered the importance of rail freight as a means of decarbonising the supply chain.

“We’re excited to partner with DRS to offer this new service.

“The route opens up a major new connection between the two regions and offers alternative means of shipping goods into the east coast of the UK and onwards, with the same true for exports.”

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