News

In an interview with the Financial Times, the CEO of the French train manufacturer Alstom, said that the company was developing a new version of the high speed TGV train for freight designed specifically for the logistics market and to take over their short haul aircraft networks.

Philippe Mellier told the Financial Times the plan was to win over from air the express parcel business of companies such as UPS and FedEx.

“I think that very high-speed trains in the future could be a good alternative to the UPS and FedEx fleet of planes today,” he said.

With the cost of fuel increasing dramatically and the trains going faster and faster (with a new 360km/hr version now operating), if freight can get the same priority as passenger trains, rail looks a viable option according to Alstom. Also the new high speed lines are now crossing borders with one recently joining France and Germany. Alstom thinks that the idea of running high speed lines to air hubs will mean the express mail companies will want to use the new trains.

Of course the use of rail for postal services is not new, mail trains used to be the backbones of many postal networks, maybe the new high speed trains will see a resurgence of the "mail train"!