Media centre

Wednesday 17 Dec 2025

Video: The rail freight teams working behind the scenes to deliver Christmas across Wales and Borders route

Region & Route:

Wales & Western: Wales & Borders

If Network Rail did Christmas adverts, this would be ours. Join us for a festive look behind the scenes at Wentloog, where rail freight helps keep shelves stocked, supports Welsh industry and cuts congestion at the busiest time of year.

Rail freight is a major and complex logistical operation, bringing together infrastructure managers, freight operators, ports, terminals and retailers to keep goods moving reliably across the country - especially in the run-up to Christmas. Together, we have enabled the safe transportation of more than 4,000 freight trains across the Wales and Borders network, in 2025.

Across the country, rail freight handles both every day and seasonal goods through key terminals such as Wentloog, in Cardiff, and other freight facilities across the region, ensuring festive deliveries reach local communities on time.

Wentloog, managed by Freightliner, is one of South Wales’ main container handling facilities, with five freight services operating each day - two Direct Rail Service and three Freightliner services. The site operates as an intermodal terminal, where containers are transferred seamlessly between rail and road. This allows goods to stay in the same container from port to distribution centre, improving efficiency and reducing the need for long-distance lorry journeys.

Freightliner's Cardiff terminal plays a particularly important role at Christmas. Around 1,300 containers arrive every week, at Wentloog, equating to approximately 250,000 tonnes of goods in December alone - including food and drink destined for shops across Wales and the Borders. The terminal also handles around 120 million litres of wine every year!

In this video, Network Rail and Freightliner have teamed up to spread some festive joy and to thank all those hard working railway-elves who help deliver Christmas.

This year, Network Rail has supported additional capacity at Wentloog by undertaking gauge clearance at Newport, enabling Direct Rail Services’ twice-daily intermodal trains to carry larger refrigerated containers. With major retailers such as Tesco moving more than 30 per cent of their packaged Christmas range by rail, this has increased the movement of perishable goods, keeping products fresh while further reducing pressure on the road network.

Rail freight also underpins some of Wales’s most important industries, moving materials such as steel, construction products, timber, fuel and aggregates across the country.

It produces around 76 per cent less carbon emissions per tonne than road transport and contributes £2.5 billion to the UK economy each year. Network Rail and freight operators continue to work closely with the UK Government to support the ambition to grow rail freight volumes by 75 per cent by 2050.

Richard Moody, Programme Director at Network Rail, said, “Rail freight companies are playing a central role in delivering Christmas cheer, ensuring families have everything they need to celebrate in style. With only a fraction of the emissions compared to road haulage, every tree, pudding and toy transported by rail helps to make Christmas greener.

“Many families will be unaware that much of their festive shopping has been carried by rail freight – one of Santa’s not-so-little helpers.”

From all of us at Network Rail Wales and Borders and Freightliner, Have a Merry Freightmas!