Eurocentral Rail Terminal


(Mossend EuroTerminal)

Located at Mossend in North Lanarkshire, Eurocentral Rail Terminal (also known as Mossend EuroTerminal) lies between Motherwell and Coatbridge, immediately to the west of the Eurocentral business park and distribution hub. Built with public funding and opened in 1994 to serve as the northern terminus of a rail-freight distribution network which uses the Channel Tunnel as a connection to mainland Europe, this facility developed from Mossend Sidings, which had once served the massive Clydesdale Steelworks (closed 1990) and Thankerton Colliery (closed in the 1950s).

The facility is operated by DB Schenker, the logistics division of the German national rail operator Deutsche Bahn AG, which had inherited much of the former British Railways freight business. The depot provides intermodal freight transfer between rail and road and is well-placed at the centre of Scotland's road network, next to the M8 motorway linking Glasgow and Edinburgh.

The existence of primary distribution centres in the West Midlands of England and expensive charges applied to freight passing through the Channel Tunnel have restricted international traffic, so the Mossend facility has concentrated on domestic containerised services, primarily supermarket supplies which transfer to road haulage within Central Scotland or continue via rail to Inverness. Eurocentral plays a crucial role in allowing engines to be changed from electric traction, used on the West Coast Main Line, to diesel locomotives which operate over many internal Scottish routes. The facility also provides a staging point for crew changes on bulk commodity trains (most notably coal being routed south the English power stations).

Logistics operator PD Stirling Ltd run the adjacent Mossend Railhead, while the Coatbridge Freightliner Terminal, an intermodal freight depot which transfers containers to and from Britain's principal seaports, is located at Gartsherrie, 3½ miles (5.5 km) to the north northwest.


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