First intermodal heads for Portbury

On July 23, Freightliner 66593 passes the overgrown platforms at Pill (on the Portishead branch) with the very first intermodal train to use the route since it part-reopened in 2002 for freight traffic to Bristol’s Royal Portbury Dock. The train from London Gateway was normally dealt with at nearby Avonmouth, but due to ageing infrastructure and a smaller lock gate, the site was overlooked for a weekly contract with MSC that now links Portbury directly with Mediterranean ports as far as Turkey.