Direct Rail Services (DRS) has won a prestigious award for its innovative refrigerated rail service with supermarket giant Tesco
DRS and Tesco won the Freight and Logistics Achievement of the Year award at this year’s National Rail Awards, held on 10 October.
The awards showcase excellence in all aspects of the rail industry and are one of the most prominent in the rail calendar. The team from DRS fought off strong competition from across the sector to win the award.
The service, introduced 10 months ago, is Tesco’s first refrigerated rail freight service, distributing chilled goods from Tilbury to Coatbridge by low CO2 rail twice a day, seven days a week.
The 415-mile route uses DRS’s Class 88 bi-mode electric locomotives which run on electricity and produce zero exhaust and greenhouse gas emissions when doing so. This service alone will take at least 17,000 containers off the road each year, saving Tesco 7.3 million road miles and nearly 9,000 tonnes of CO2e.
DRS is part of Nuclear Transport Solutions (NTS), a subsidiary of the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA).
Seth Kybird, NTS CEO, said: “We’re very proud of this service and the work we’re doing with our customers to introduce new and innovative freight trains to the rail network.
“It’s absolutely fantastic that we’ve been recognised for our efforts and the work we’re doing to promote the use of rail as the environmental choice for big retailers in the UK.
“Each train removes around 40 lorries from Britain’s road network and we’re running two trains a day, seven days a week. But the journey doesn’t stop here as we continue to encourage the use of rail freight for retailers across the country.”
David Peattie, NDA CEO, added: “This is wonderful news for Direct Rail Services and extremely well-deserved recognition. DRS plays a crucial role in the NDA’s mission, safely transporting materials across the UK, and offers world-leading and innovative rail operations for Tesco, keeping the supermarket shelves full, all while supporting our carbon net-zero ambitions.”
