Green light for Ikea's trains to replace 50 lorries

Banverket (the Swedish National Rail Administration) is now giving the
green light for Ikea to operate one train per day in each direction over
the Öresund Bridge, using the Continental Line in Malmö. The decision
means that Ikea will be the first private company in Europe to begin
operating its own cross-border freight trains. Ikea's trains will
replace 50 lorries per day.

Ikea plans initially to run trains between the central stores in Älmhult
and the junction station at Duisburg in Germany. In the long term, the
objective is that 40 per cent of Ikea's European transports will be by
rail. The company is the first in Europe to use the deregulation of
railways to operate its own cross-border freight trains.

Different electrical systems
The planned start-up of operation of Ikea's own trains has earlier been
postponed owing to the lack of a...