GEODIS launches new rail connection between Poland and Spain

GEODIS, a leading intermodal operator, has expanded its rail freight services with another fixed schedule connection. As of June 11th, the freight train between Łódź and Barcelona was operable, representing the first direct rail connection between the two countries.

On the inaugural trip customers' goods in 44 containers and/or swap bodies, each capable of carrying a payload of 26 tons set off from the freight terminal in Łódź, reaching Barcelona after just three days, from where 'last mile' distribution will take place by road. Later on that day of arrival, the train returns to Poland with imported goods from Spain. Successive trains have also a capacity of 44 units, replacing the same amount of trucks that might otherwise be used.

The service is another example of GEODIS’ ability to go beyond a pure intermodal offering and provide a truly multimodal option, which combines road transport with rail seamlessly, enabling a secure flow of goods and more flexibility in managing peaks in demand.

Moving more goods safely with less energy consumed.

Delivering goods on rail emits five times less CO2e than covering the same distance by road and is 12 times lower than the equivalent air transport. The rail link allows the delivery of as much as 1,000 tons of goods from various industries.  

The rail route between Łódź and Barcelona, although longer than the road journey by almost 160 km, reduces CO2e emissions by up to -79%. Moreover, energy consumption is around 57% lower.

Dynamic development of rail transport services

In the first stage of the development of this project, the schedule provides for one train per week, leaving Łódź every Tuesday. In the other direction, the train will depart from Barcelona on Fridays.   

"The launch of the new Łódź - Barcelona rail connection provides customers a large number of benefits, as it will enable punctual transportation of shipments, while considerably limiting CO2 emissions,” said Marc Vollet, Chief Operations Officer at GEODIS European Road Network.  “GEODIS is one of the leading intermodal operators, and we are proud to continue in this vein by developing this road-rail solution in Europe, enabling our customers to benefit from even more solutions and optional routings.  We have great ambitions for this new line, as we plan to increase the frequency to two trains per week in the near future."

This new multimodal block-train is an addition to the existing GEODIS multimodal route network which operates nearly 120 trains a week throughout Europe.