Mode 02 - Freight
Rail
Block trains through the corridors that road can't match.
Meridian operates dedicated block trains through the Asia–Europe land bridge, the US Pacific corridor, and the European pre-Alpine tunnels. A block train runs non-stop from origin to destination - no shunting, no breaks, no transhipments. The same containers that came off the ship roll straight onto the train and roll straight off at the other end.
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Cross-continent
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Dedicated loops
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Lower CO₂ vs road
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Schedule integrity
Overview
Rail is the mode that quietly carries the world's heaviest cargo - and the one most forwarders get wrong.
A block train is a fixed formation of containers that runs non-stop from origin to destination. No shunting yards. No intermediate handling. No transhipments. The container that was loaded in Chongqing at 09:00 on Monday rolls off in Duisburg at 14:00 on Wednesday - seventy-two hours later, having crossed six borders without breaking formation.
Most forwarders buy rail space on the spot market, which means they get whatever slots are left after the regular shippers have taken theirs. Meridian charters entire trains on dedicated weekly loops. The formation is ours, the slot is ours, the schedule is ours. When your container is on that train, it is on that train.
Rail is also the greenest mode per tonne-kilometre - roughly 70% lower carbon than road, and a tenth of air. If your finance team is starting to ask about Scope 3 emissions (and they are), rail is the lane you move volume onto. We hand you the carbon report per shipment, in the format your auditor wants.
How it moves
The rail workflow
Block booking
We hold the formation. Your container gets a slot in the train's loading plan - not a 'maybe' slot, an actual one.
Origin handoff
Container arrives at the rail terminal, gets grounded, and loads onto the flatcar. Seal verified, photo taken, departure confirmed.
Border crossings
We pre-file customs at every border on the route. The train slows, paperwork is checked electronically, and it rolls on. No multi-day dwell.
Destination discharge
Train arrives at the destination terminal. Container grounds, gets picked up by our road partner, and delivers to your door.
Capabilities
What we move, and how
Every capability below ships under a single contract - no per-mode paperwork, no per-mode invoices. One coordinator, one tracker, one carbon report.
In the field
Rail operations, on the ground
Active lanes
Routes we run today
From
Chongqing
To
Duisburg
From
Xi'an
To
Hamburg
From
Chengdu
To
Łódź
From
Long Beach
To
Chicago
From
Rotterdam
To
Milan
From
Hamburg
To
Budapest
Why Meridian
Why teams choose our rail product
We charter the train
Other forwarders buy slots. We hold the formation. The schedule is ours, and so is the reliability.
Border dwell: 11 hours
The industry average is six days. We pre-file customs and the train slows, doesn't stop.
70% lower carbon
Rail beats road by a factor of three on CO₂ per tonne-kilometre. Your Scope 3 report thanks you.
Per-wagon GPS
Each flatcar reports position every fifteen minutes. You see exactly where your container is.
Ready to move?
One brief gets you mode-by-mode pricing, transit times, and a dedicated coordinator - usually within four working hours.