Swiss logistics service provider Bertschi Group has launched a new rail freight service connecting Tarragona Constanti with Barcelona Morrot, in North-Western Spain. The service is expected to decrease freight transport on road in favour of rail freight transport. The first train departed on Monday 8 August.

“Currently the frequency of this train is 1 rotation per week. But the original project is to make 2 rotations per week”, sources from Bertschi told RailFreight.com, with the second rotation planned to start in September. “We use the train for units with liquids and dry chemical products, always in bulk, and some containers of our Business Unit Dry Bulk with bulk granules food products,” the company commented.

80 per cent less trucks on the road

According to Bertschi sources, the volume of road transport on the Tarragona – Barcelona – Tarragona line amounts to around 150 trucks per week. “With this new train, we can take out from the road a huge part of these trucks, around 80 per cent. With these reductions of trucks on the road, we increase the safety and we reduce a huge the CO2 emissions”.

“Our real goal with this new train is to have more pure intermodal transport as we can. With the current train network in Spain, to send tanks or containers to different European countries, we only can drop off units at the Barcelona terminal”, sources said. This new connection will therefore allow for a better connection between Tarragona and the rest of Europe.