TNT Express -New rail delivery trial run into central London

[TrueBlueTerrier]

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A freight train rolled into London's Euston station in the early hours of Thursday to signal the trial of a new delivery service to businesses in the capital by courier firm TNT Express.

The test train ran from Rugby, Warwickshire, and carried goods destined for stores and businesses supplied by office goods firm Staples, and plumbing goods manufacturer Bristan.

The goods were sorted on the platform and loaded onto a fleet of electric and zero-emission delivery vans which are already extensively used around the English capital by TNT.

“We are very keen to understand whether, by potentially supplementing our core road network with selected rail services where feasible, we may be able to better support our customers and their businesses with an even faster and more reliable service,” Simon Harper, director of operations for TNT UK and Ireland, said of the trial.

Trains have not been used to carry out such deliveries on a large scale for more than 20 years, when the nationalised industry operated what was known as the Speedlink network, which ferried goods between most major towns and cities, before it was abandoned as unviable.

TNT has long-term plans to run regular high-speed services between a number of regional centres, using its biggest sorting centre at Kingsbury, Warwickshire as a hub for the operations.

[Lounge Lizard]

That's why we need HS2, to free up platforms at Euston for TNT.