Rail freight: is it right for your logistics flow?
You have goods to transport over a long distance. Sea freight may be too slow. Air freight may be disproportionate to the value or urgency of the shipment. And road transport is not always the only option. Rail freight can be an interesting alternative. But choosing rail is not simply a matter of comparing the price of a train with that of a truck. The better question is: Distance, volume, shipment frequency, terminal locations, pre-carriage, final delivery, door-to-door transit time, total cost… The choice of transport mode should be based on the entire journey. In this guide, Nexline explains when rail freight can be relevant, how it works in practice and which criteria to consider before making a decision. What is rail freight? Rail freight is the transportation of goods by train. But within a supply chain, the train does not necessarily cover the entire journey. For example, goods may follow this route: This is known as multimodal transport, where several modes of transport are combined to complete the same shipment. This is an important distinction: choosing rail freight does not necessarily mean replacing trucks with trains from end to end. Rail can be the long-distance link within a wider logistics chain. Nexline offers solutions including FCL, LCL, rail-road, rail-sea and full train chartering. When is rail freight a good option? There is no magic distance at which a company should automatically switch to rail. However, certain factors can make rail freight particularly relevant. 1. You are transporting goods over a long distance The longer the distance, the more relevant it can be to consider several transport modes rather than relying solely on road transport. Rail offers high loading capacity and is particularly suited to medium- and long-distance transportation. 2. Your shipments are regular Recurring flows can be easier to integrate into a rail freight operation than one-off shipments. Why? Because departures, capacity and transport planning become more predictable. Texto pegado 3. You are transporting large volumes Rail freight makes it possible to consolidate and move large volumes efficiently. This can be particularly relevant for: 4. You need a shorter transit time than sea freight On certain international routes, rail freight can provide an intermediate solution between sea and air freight. It can be relevant when sea freight does not meet the required lead time, while air freight would be disproportionate to the needs of the shipment. The right choice nevertheless depends on the corridor, type of goods, volume and required door-to-door transit time. This is particularly relevant on certain China–Europe rail freight routes, such as the Xi’an–Duisburg connection. Texto pegado Key takeaway Rail freight can be particularly relevant when you need to combine capacity, distance, controlled transit times and multimodal logistics planning. Rail, road, sea or air freight: how do you choose? This is where the decision becomes more complex. There is no single “best” transport mode. The right choice depends on your specific flow. Criteria Rail freight Road freight Sea freight Air freight Long distance Very suitable Depending on the route Very suitable Very suitable Large volumes Suitable Suitable Very suitable More limited Urgent shipments Depending on the flow Suitable Less suitable Very suitable Door-to-door With pre/post-carriage Very suitable With pre/post-carriage With pre/post-carriage Consolidation High Medium Very high Limited Multimodal transport Very common Very common Very common Possible The table deliberately does not identify a “winner”. Transit times, prices and operational constraints vary depending on the corridor and the type of flow. The real question is: Which balance between cost, transit time, volume, flexibility and operational constraints best matches my needs? Is the price of rail freight enough to compare different transport modes? No. This is one of the most common mistakes when comparing different transport solutions. Imagine two quotes: Option A Rail freight: €1,000 Option B Road freight: €1,150 At first glance, rail appears to be cheaper. But you need to consider the cost of the entire journey. For rail freight, this may include: = actual cost of the logistics flow This is precisely why the transport price alone is not enough to measure the total logistics cost. How long does rail freight take? There is no standard transit time for all rail freight shipments. The transit time depends on factors including: To understand the transit times being quoted, it is important to distinguish between the train journey time and the door-to-door transit time. This is the time during which the goods are actually being transported by rail, from the train’s departure to its arrival at the destination terminal. This is the total time required to move the goods from their point of origin to their final destination. It includes, for example, road pre-carriage, terminal operations, the rail journey and final delivery. These are therefore two different things. Example: A train may take 2 days to cover a particular route, while the door-to-door transit time may be longer if the goods first need to reach the rail terminal by truck, wait for departure, or be transported from the arrival terminal to the final customer. How does rail freight work in practice? Let’s take a simple example. A company needs to transport goods from Lyon to northern France. Step 1 — Collection A truck collects the goods from the customer’s site. Step 2 — Rail terminal The goods are transported to the rail terminal. Step 3 — Rail freight The train takes over for the long-distance part of the journey. Step 4 — Arrival terminal The transport unit is unloaded from the train. Step 5 — Final delivery A truck takes the goods to the final recipient. The train is therefore not isolated from the rest of the supply chain. It becomes one part of a multimodal transport journey. This is illustrated by the new Dunkirk–Lyon rail connection introduced by Nexline: containers are collected at the Terminal des Flandres, transported by rail to Lyon, and then delivered to their final destination. FCL, LCL or full train: which solution should you choose? The choice mainly depends on the