Grocery giant Tesco has partnered with Direct Rail Services to introduce a new ‘cool service’ to transport goods across the UK.
The new service will be the first time Tesco has used refrigerated rail freight in the UK, distributing chilled goods from Tilbury to Coatbridge by a low CO2 rail twice a day, seven days a week.
Using rail to transport goods will save environmental emissions as it is often one of the ‘cleaner’ modes of transport, and supports Tesco’s aim of becoming ‘net zero’ by 2035.
The 415-mile route will use DRS’s Class 88 bi-mode electric locomotives which can run on electricity and produce zero exhaust and greenhouse gas emissions. This service alone will take at least 17,000 containers off the road each year, saving Tesco 7.3 million road miles and nearly 9,000 tonnes of CO2e.
Jason Tarry, Tesco UK and ROI CEO said: “Our rail service will be an important part of our efforts to deliver a fantastic Christmas for our customers but the journey doesn’t stop here as we continue to increase the number of containers we transport by rail as part of our commitment to reach net zero emissions in our operations by 2035.”
Adding, Chris Connelly, NTS Deputy CEO and Rail Director said: “This is an example of how rail can play an integral part in the race to net zero. Each train will remove around 40 lorries from Britain’s roads and save 9,000 tonnes of CO2e, and we’re running two trains a day, seven days a week.”
