The European high-speed rail express project Euro Carex, involving carriers including La Poste,FedEx, TNT and UPS, has made a major leap forward by completing its first test of a high-speed
freight train, which operated this week between Lyon, Paris CDG and London.Euro Carex said the test demonstrated “the efficiency, speed and environmental benefits of anintermodal transportation system combining air containers and a high-speed rail network”.
The high-speed freight train number 27274, with a potential load of 120 tonnes of parcels –equivalent to seven articulated trucks – left Lyon-St. Exupéry Airport on Tuesday 20 March at16:42. It arrived at St. Pancras International Station in London yesterday morning after travellingon the ‘High Speed One’ rail line via the Channel Tunnel, having previously stopped to loadadditional cargo at Roissy Paris-Charles de Gaulle Airport.
Euro Carex said the Express Rail Euro Carex operation could, in time, be connected to atrans-continental distribution network for next-day delivery, allowing express parcel and freighttransport with a far lower carbon footprint lower than air and road transport. The express freightbusiness could also be complemented by traditional freight and road freight volumes.
It said the achievement has been made possible through “seamless coordination” between severalEuropean airports that are members of Euro Carex (Paris-CDG, Amsterdam, Liège and Lyon), along withinfrastructure managers Eurotunnel, High Speed One and the manager of the French railway networkRéseau Ferré de France; rail operators SNCF and Europorte; and carriers including Air France KLMCargo Martinair Cargo, Chronopost International, Dimotrans, FedEx Express, Géodis, Geopost, TNT,WFS.
Yanick Paternotte, chairman of Euro Carex and a member of the French parliament, said it was aproject on a truly European scale and was part of Eurotunnel’s strategy to promote the use of theChannel Tunnel for the transfer of freight between the UK and continental Europe, and that itoffered a potential solution to the continuous rise in fuel prices, road congestion andenvironmental constraints that limit the number of night flights.
“I am delighted that today’s test over the European high speed rail network clearly shows theinterest of strategic players in the logistics field – airports as well as rail operators – inlinking their infrastructures to key European economic centres in order to benefit businesses andcommunities,” Paternotte said.
No-one at Euro Carex was available to comment at the time of writing on the next steps forwardfor the project, although CEP-Research understands that the plan is to run regular trains between anew express freight station at Roissy-Charles de Gaulle airport and other airports including Lyon,Lille, Liege, Amsterdam, Frankfurt, and London in a first phase, planned for 2015-2017, with otherairports such as Cologne, Marseille, Berlin and Strasbourg being added in a second phase plannedfor 2018 and 2019, followed by a third phase from 2020 including Madrid, Barcelona, Milan, Turinand Bologna airports.
Euro Carex lists its priorities for 2012 and 2013 as including: technical and planning studies,site by site; looking for national and European funding sources; European study on train pathsunder the coordination of Euro Carex with the rail infrastructure managers; continuing todevelop its transport plan and European consolidated business plan; looking for extra volumes withthe aim to increase load factors, by selecting and approaching the main logistics and transportcarriers.
Euro Carex members include SNCF, Eurotunnel, Europorte, High Speed One, Air France Cargo,La Poste, FedEx Express, WFS, ADP, Roissy Carex, Aéroports de Lyon, London Carex, Lyon Carex, LiègeCarex, ACT, TNT, UPS, SADC, Amsterdam Airport Schiphol, Liège Airport.
