1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127
128
129
130
131
132
133
134
135
136
137
138
139
140
141
142
143
144
145
146
147
148
149
150
151
152
153
154
155
156
157
158
159
160
161
162
163
164
165
166
167
168
169
170
171
172
173
174
175
176 
On the road to rail freight
Page 16
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
A Cardiff-based operator is bucking the trend by aiming to transfer as
much work as possible onto the rails. Chris Tindall reports.
FREIGHT SYSTEMS Express (FSE),which last year topped a list of the fastest expanding small and medium-sized firms in Wales,plans to shift as much traffic as possible onto the rails.
The Cardi ff-based logistics company, which only began trading in July 2002, says its main goal is to make the most of the rail network. Managing director Geoff Tomlinson reports: "It's going to take about two years to maximise all the rail opportunities as it's such a change in mindset."
The company hauls pharmaceutical supplies and paper towels for European customers, motor vehicle components and computer equipment for its US customers, and shop shelving for a British company. It has been working for some time with Freightliner and recently moved its base to the Freightliner rail freight terminal at Wen tloog, Cardiff.
FSE already moves some of its loads from UK ports to Cardiff via rail. Tomlinson says this has confirmed rail's -great potential" — and he does not share A MD Geoff Tomlinson: The goal is to reduce truck mileage by "maximising rail opportunities" other operators' concerns about the reach of rail compared with roads.
"It depends how you look at it." he adds. "The goal is to take as many lorry miles off the roads. That means you have to k)ok at the main segment of the journey. We need to get as near as we can to our start and end points by rail; the rest is filled in using road transport. "It's all about diminishing the lorry mileage."