Hupac has launched a new direct P400 service linking Bari in the southeast of Italy with Novara in the northwest. P400 is a type of semitrailer. Novara is one of the largest hubs of Hupac in Italy. The new service started on Monday 28 September.

The service will start with 3 departures per week in both directions, but may soon be increased to daily departures if the demand is there. The first train departed from Novara yesterday, and will arrive on Thursday in Bari. A second train will leave the North-Italian hub tomorrow, on Wednesday.

Not a given

Services catered towards the P400 semitrailer mean a great deal for the intermodal market. The P400 semitrailer has 3 metres of internal height, good for three levels of pallets. This means more capacity in a single trailer, a great advantage in the market today.

Although the relevance is evident, the P400 railway service is not a given everywhere in Europe. The railway network existed before semitrailers came to the market, so it was initially not designed for this type of unit. In France, the network only allowed for the transport of P400 semitrailers since February 2020.

Wider network

With the new P400 connection Bari-Novara, Hupac serves more than only Italy. Novara is a large hub with a wide range of services to Germany, Benelux and all the way up to Scandinavia, and with multiple daily departures.

From Novara to Bari, departures are scheduled on Mondays, Wednesdays and Saturdays. From Bari two trains depart on Thursdays and one on Saturdays. Dangerous goods can only be loaded on the connections during the week, and not on Saturdays.