Lineas has launched a new railway service between Lyon and Antwerp under the banner of the Lyon Xpress. The line is part of the Green Xpress Network (GXN) of the Belgian freight forwarder and is carried out in cooperation with the partner Europorte. It is the eleventh connection on the GXN.

“Thanks to a combination of products from the GXN network, cargoes from Lyon can be rapidly sent on their way to the Netherlands, Germany, Sweden, Slovakia, etc. and vice-versa. The Lyon Xpress benefits also from a connexion with the area Fos/Marseille; this enables an improved access to the industrial sites located around the “Etang de Berre”. This new product will undoubtedly constitute a further step towards the modal shift – the mission of Lineas”, the company stated.

“The 16-hour journey of the Lyon Xpress runs twice a week at present, departing from Lyon on Thursday and Saturday with conventional cargo only. The frequency will be increased to three roundtrips in April. The aim is to switch over to five roundtrips as rapidly as possible. As of June, the Lyon Xpress will also accept intermodal cargoes to and from Port Edouard Herriot.

Added value

The region around Lyon is famous for its commercial dynamism, particularly in the chemical sector. The rapid connection with other chemical clusters in Antwerp, Germany and the Netherlands means real added value for the sector, the company continued.

Green Xpress Network: “The innovative principle of an Xpress product consists of combining different sorts of cargoes, from steel, chemicals and consumer goods, to pallets and containers, thereby capitalising on the winning assets of rail, namely transporting large volumes over (medium) long distances. The GXN product is extremely reliable, flexible and rapid because the number of re-marshalling operations is limited to a minimum and the end-to-end transport is controlled by the same operator.”

Antwerp as a hub

In September last year, Lineas opened a new intermodal rail freight line connecting the Austrian cities of Graz and Wels to Antwerp. Antwerp constitutes an important destination on its network, as it connects to all Benelux destinations within a day, including the Port of Rotterdam via the Rotterdam Shuttle. Other connections are to several cities in France, Spain, Germany, Switzerland, Italy, Czech, Bulgaria, Romania and Sweden. The Port of Antwerp constitutes a prime gateway for export to the United States, the freight forwarder explained earlier.