CILT (UK) Rail Freight Forum Meeting: “Warp Speed Logistics: The 90mph Middle Mile Rail Freight Intermodal Trial” – Freight Gets Even
Speaker:
Adam Parkinson, CEO & Founder, GoExpress
Adam Parkinson is a multi‑disciplinary rail expert whose career spans front‑line safety‑critical operations, new locomotive fleets, infrastructure and freight terminal development, M&A, and commercial and regulatory strategy. After beginning in operational roles, he now advises across the sector as founder of GoLink Advisory Group and GoExpress, and as Commercial Rail Development Director at DP World London Gateway Port. He recently led the UK’s first sustained 90mph intermodal operation, securing funding, trial customers, rolling stock, EV road haulage and Network Rail approvals to deliver all 54 test trains on overnight high‑speed Anglo‑Scottish paths. He is Technical Freight Lead for RSSB’s COF‑HSF project and was co‑author of the UK’s 75% rail freight growth target for the DfT.
In this exclusive CILT Rail Freight Forum session, Adam will unpack the headline results of GoExpress’s four‑week 90mph middle‑mile trial on the West Coast Main Line — the UK’s first sustained high‑speed intermodal operation. Supported by the Department for Transport’s Freight Innovation Fund and delivered with Connected Places Catapult, Network Rail, RSSB, academic partners and DPD, the programme proved the commercial case for high‑speed, low‑carbon rail logistics. The trial halved Anglo‑Scottish transit times from eight hours to four hours thirty minutes, achieved 53 on‑time arrivals out of 54 journeys, and demonstrated more than 1100 kWh of energy recovered per run — enough to power an eHGV for over 500 miles. Metered energy consumption over 270 miles showed a 58% reduction versus eHGVs, with carbon savings of more than 390kg per container compared with diesel road transport.
Adam will explore how this model can shift freight from road to rail, support UK decarbonisation targets and unlock new capacity without new infrastructure — and how operators can secure priority capacity on the first commercial 90mph routes now in development.