New track for Eddie Stobart
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by Miles Brignall • Die-hard road haulier Eddie Stobart is considering buying his own rail wagons and setting up railfreight services between Scotland and the Midlands to avoid congested motorways.
Stobart has already bought a 42,000m2 plot at the Daventry International Rail Freight Terminal (DIRFT): within five years he plans to be running regular freight services to and from Glasgow and other sites.
The trains, which will be painted in Stobart's distinctive green, red and cream colours, will carry bulk goods for onward delivery by road.
The company says it is not yet looking at piggybacking road trailers and will buy in traction from a rail company.
Stobart's commercial manager Richard Butcher says: "Distribution in the future will envelop all aspects of transport. There is little chance of the motorway network expanding and congestion will only get worse. We see railfreight as a way of getting round this."
Daventry is considered strategically important as it has excellent road links. Every one of Stobart's 650-vehicle fleet passes the Daventry site once a week, and the company is already looking at a second site at the terminal.
Butcher says that this would also allow Stobart to move goods on to the Continent by rail.