Middle ground on cost and time
Rail freight forwarding
Rail sits between road and ocean on both cost and time. On the China to Europe corridor it halves the ocean transit, and on continental lanes it takes heavy, regular volume off the road at a lower cost per tonne.
At a glance
- China to Europe
- 18 to 25 days
- Romania to Germany
- 4 to 6 days
- Romania to Poland
- 3 to 5 days
- Typical departures
- Weekly, fixed schedule
- Emissions versus road
- Roughly 75 to 80 percent lower
- Equipment
- 20ft, 40ft, 40ft high cube
Rail freight makes sense in two quite different situations. The first is the Eurasian corridor, where a container from China reaches central Europe in roughly eighteen to twenty five days, against thirty five to forty five by sea and three to six by air. For goods that are too valuable to sit on a vessel for six weeks but not urgent enough to fly, rail is the only sensible middle.
The second is heavy continental volume. If you move steel, timber, grain, cement or machinery in regular quantities between fixed points, wagon load rail is usually cheaper per tonne than road and considerably cleaner. Rail produces a small fraction of the carbon emissions of an equivalent truck movement, which increasingly matters when your customers report on their supply chain footprint.
Rail is rarely door to door on its own, so almost every rail file we handle is intermodal: a truck at each end and a train in the middle. We plan the whole chain, including the terminal handling and the customs steps, so you deal with one file rather than three suppliers.
What we take care of
- Rail space booking on the corridor or lane
- Pre-carriage from your site to the origin terminal
- Terminal handling, lifting and wagon loading
- T1 transit and customs clearance at the point of entry
- On-carriage from the destination terminal to the door
- Container release and equipment return
- Combined road and rail planning where rail alone does not fit
- Emissions reporting per shipment on request
What we do
China to Europe block trains
FCL and LCL space on the Eurasian corridor, with terminal handling and onward trucking into Romania arranged.
Wagon load and block train
Full wagons or whole trains for heavy, regular continental volumes moving between fixed terminals.
Intermodal road and rail
Combined transport where the trailer or swap body travels by rail on the long leg and by road at each end.
Low carbon routing
A far smaller emissions footprint per tonne kilometre than road, with figures we can document for your sustainability reporting.
Transit and customs
T1 transit documents and clearance at the terminal of entry, handled so the container is not held at the border.
Fixed weekly departures
Scheduled services rather than sailings that slip, which makes arrival planning more predictable than it sounds.
How it works
- 1
Define the lane
Origin, destination, volume per month and whether the goods tolerate a fixed weekly departure pattern.
- 2
We build the chain
Terminal pair, train service, and the road legs at each end, priced as one door to door figure.
- 3
Booking and pre-carriage
We reserve the slot on the service, collect from your site and deliver into the origin terminal before cut off.
- 4
Rail leg and delivery
We track the service, clear the goods at entry and run the final road leg to the receiving address.
Frequently asked questions
Is rail from China actually faster than sea?
Yes, materially. Rail runs about eighteen to twenty five days terminal to terminal against thirty five to forty five days port to port by sea, and the inland legs at both ends are shorter. The rate sits between the two modes. For mid value goods on a replenishment cycle, rail often gives the best total cost once you account for the working capital tied up in transit.
Can rail deliver to my warehouse directly?
Only if you have a rail siding, which almost nobody does. In practice rail is always intermodal: a truck carries the container from the terminal to your door. We include that leg in the quotation so the price you see is the price to your dock, not to a terminal you then have to solve for.
What happens if a train is delayed?
Rail schedules are more stable than ocean schedules but border and gauge change points can add days. We monitor the service and tell you as soon as an arrival date moves, and where the delay would break a deadline we will price the road alternative for the remaining leg so you can decide.
Do you provide carbon figures for rail shipments?
On request, yes. We can report estimated emissions per shipment based on tonne kilometres and the mode used, which is the format most corporate sustainability reports need. Rail typically comes out around a quarter of the equivalent road figure.
Related services
Industries we serve with this
Tell us what you need to move.
Send the supplier city or port of loading, the volume and weight, and the date the goods are ready. We will come back with a landed cost and a realistic transit time, usually within one working day.