New BR division hopes for whole train loads
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• Rail Express Systems (RES), British Rail's new freight service, is attempting to woo large hauliers into chartering whole trains for volume loads.
RES was launched last week and is bidding for business in the UK express parcels and light freight market which it estimates is worth £3,000m per year.
It says it will not announce haulage customers until it has tailored its service to the customers' needs, but admits to being in discussion with TNT.
"The service is about chartering full train loads, but we are open to offers from smaller hauliers," says RES director Charles Belcher, who says he is prepared to talk to any operator requiring trunk haulage.
The Royal Mail is one of RES's largest customers and managing director Bill Cockburn says he is keen to increase the amount of mail that travels by train from 20%. "We have a fleet of 30,000 vehicles but this could reduce if British Rail picks up a bigger slice of the cake," says Cockburn.
RES has 95 locomotives and 940 railvans. The service joins British Rail's other commercial divisions, Red Star, Track 29, Trainload Freight and Railfreight Distribution.