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As part of Railway 200, freight trains
carry more than 1 billion tonnes of goods to
prepare for festive period, including millions of
Christmas decorations, trees, presents, food and
bottles of wine
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A freight train can carry as much
as 129 HGVs, so the railway is
helping to cut traffic jams in the run up to the
festivities and deliver a greener Christmas
New figures reveal that rail freight is playing an even
bigger role in the run up to Christmas this year, bringing
extra festive cheer to homes across Britain and cause for
celebration in the 200th anniversary of the modern
railway.
Freight trains are helping to
deliver millions of festive goods,
including Christmas crackers, puddings, mince
pies, decorations, wrapping
paper, trees, toys and wine to shops around
the country. About a third of Tesco's Christmas
range will reach the shelves by rail freight.
Overall, in the three months since mid-September, as
retailers prepare for the festivities, more than 1.1 billion
tonnes of consumer goods and fresh produce have
been moved by more than 12,000 freight trains, an
increase of 10 and 4 per cent respectively since last
year.
In addition, to keep supermarket shelves stocked, in the
week before Christmas 1,000 trains will
move about 90 million tonnes of seasonal
goods from ports and freight terminals around Britain.
Richard Moody, Programme Director at Network
Rail, said:
“Rail freight companies are delighted
to play a central role in delivering Christmas
cheer during rail's bicentenary
year, ensuring families have everything they need to celebrate in
style. With only a fraction of the emissions compared to road
haulage, every tree, pudding and
toy transported by rail helps to make a green
Christmas.
“Many friends and families around the Christmas table will be
unaware that much of their festive fare was carried to market by
rail freight, one of Santa's not-so-little
helpers.”
A freight train can carry as much cargo as
129 heavy goods vehicles with only a fraction of the
emissions, helping to tackle the climate emergency
and reduce traffic jams.
Ben , Head of primary, global and
rail logistics at
Tesco, added:
“Our distribution network plays a vital role in our efforts
to become carbon neutral in our own operations by
2035. Moving more than 30 per cent of our
packaged Christmas range by rail allows us to get products to our
stores in a more sustainable way, by removing
thousands of lorry journeys each year and reducing our
carbon emissions.”
Railway 200 is a national celebration of 200 years of the modern
railway, inspired by the opening of the Stockton and Darlington
Railway in 1825, a journey that changed the world
forever. The origins of the railway
came even earlier and were built
on carrying cargo, with horses pulling coal in
wooden wagons.
