French postal operator La Poste is planning to switch long-haul transportation of its mail volumesto the train as part of its sustainability policy.
Announcing it will in future give preference to rail transportation in order to respect theenvironment and strengthen service quality, La Poste said it has issued a European consultationwith the aim of launching long-haul mail transport by rail before the end of next year.
The French operator plans to transport 2.3 billion items a year on two main domestic routes:South-East (Lille, Paris, Lyon, Marseille) and South-West (Lille, Paris, Tours, Bordeaux).
Volumes will be transported in containers to maximise capacity utilisation, either withinrail waggons or as ‘combined transport’ where lorry trailers are carried on flat waggons. La Postesaid it had recently conducted a successful test on the Paris-Avignon route transporting directmarketing volumes.
The postal operator expects to receive proposals from rail transportation companies inmid-November and will select a winner during the first quarter of 2010. The transportation isplanned to commence before the end of 2010.
La Poste, which aims to reduce its CO2 emissions by 15% by 2012, sees rail transportation asa reliable, rapid and environmentally-friendly means of transporting mail volumes over longdistances. It is also planning to increase use of double-decker trucks and electric vehicles.
