First freight train has arrived at £14 million iPort Rail facility in Doncaster

The first freight train has pulled in to the newly-opened iPort Rail inland port in Rossington, the UK's first inland intermodal freight facility for the last 10 years
The first freight train, the GB Railfreight Class 66 locomotive no. 66752, The Hoosier State', has pulled in to thenewly-opened iPort Rail inland port in Rossington, Doncaster.The first freight train, the GB Railfreight Class 66 locomotive no. 66752, The Hoosier State', has pulled in to thenewly-opened iPort Rail inland port in Rossington, Doncaster.
The first freight train, the GB Railfreight Class 66 locomotive no. 66752, The Hoosier State', has pulled in to thenewly-opened iPort Rail inland port in Rossington, Doncaster.

The GB Railfreight Class 66 locomotive no. 66752, '˜The Hoosier State' pulled in to the port on Tuesday, September 18.

The arrival of the freight train on site marked not only a milestone for the £14m, 30-acre iPort Rail terminal, but also for the UK's rail freight industry.  

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The fully loaded service began its journey yesterday morning, departing from Solent Stevedores at 5:07am, before arriving at iPort Rail at 2.33pm, where its intermodal cargo was unloaded. New containers were loaded on, and the train departed at 6:04pm back to Southampton.

The service will now run five days a week. 

John Smith, Managing Director of GB Railfreight, said: 'GB Railfreight is absolutely thrilled to be the first commercial service to arrive at the newly-opened iPort Rail facility in Doncaster.

'Its opening marks a great development for the UK freight industry. The fact the loco went from Solent Stevedores to iPort also shows the excellent relationship we have with the team in Southampton. We look forward to seeing these partnerships flourish even more going forward.

'More broadly, this new intermodal flow demonstrates that rail freight has a key role to play in delivering goods around the country and is primed to expand should the opportunity arise.

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'Doing so takes lorries off our roads, reduces congestion and lowers air pollution, and with the new service to and from iPort Rail, we have an outstanding example.'

The iPort Rail terminal provides a state-of-the-art rail freight hub able to accommodate the UK's longest trains up to six times a day, six days a week.