Trial operations commence on the WCML

GoExpress has officially begun its trial operations - proving that high-speed electrified rail can redefine time-critical logistics across the UK.

After months of preparation, planning, and the hard work of a remarkable group of stakeholders, GoExpress has reached a milestone we have been building towards since the very beginning: our trial operations are now underway.

This week, we began our trial alongside operating partners Network Rail, Freightliner Ltd, and Rail Operations Group. Collaboratively, the GoExpress proposition is being put to the test on live infrastructure, under real conditions, with a singular mission: to demonstrate that high-speed rail can deliver time-critical logistics at genuine speed, reliably, and at scale.

"We are not here to move logistics by rail in the way it has always been moved. We are here to move it the way it should be moved - fast, clean, simple, and with high reliability." - Adam Parkinson, Founder & CEO, GoExpress.

The UK logistics landscape is under pressure. A HGV driver demographic time bomb. Businesses demanding faster delivery windows. Customers expecting next-day as the norm. And the industry is facing an urgent imperative to decarbonise, with glacial progress on the middle mile. Road freight, for all its flexibility, cannot answer all four of these major challenges at once.

Rail, however, can begin to support UK plc in a way it has never done before.

GoExpress is built on a straightforward but powerful idea: the UK already has an extensive electrified high-speed rail network. That infrastructure carries passengers at 125mph. Why shouldn't it carry time-critical logistics, supplies, and premium volume at high speeds - overnight, between our major cities, with minimal direct emissions?

Our trial is the proof point. Over the coming days, we will be gathering operational data, refining our processes, and demonstrating end-to-end performance on the Crewe–Wigan corridor with incremental speed increases each night. Every run adds evidence to the case we have been making to customers, investors, and the wider industry: that express rail logistics is not a future concept - it is happening now.

So what does that actually look like? Here is a snapshot of our planned movements this week - four services running through the early hours, on electrified infrastructure, generating IP and operational data, with speed.

THIS WEEK'S TRIAL MOVEMENTS - CREWE ↔ WIGAN

• 3Q04 00.10 Crewe SYD - Wigan NW 00.50
• 3Q05 01.24 Wigan NW - Crewe 02.00
• 3Q06 02.15 Crewe – Wigan NW 02.49
• 3Q07 03.41 Wigan NW - Crewe SYD 04.23

The overnight window is no accident - it is our strategic sweet spot. While the passenger network rests, the infrastructure is available, and the electrified West Coast Mainline gives us the performance we need. It is the same logic that built overnight mail and express courier networks on roads. We are bringing that logic to electrified rail.

None of this would be possible without the partnership and commitment of the organisations sharing this journey with us.

If you are a potential customer, investor, or industry partner who would like to learn more about what we are building, we would love to hear from you.

Follow our journey

Updates, trial results, and behind-the-scenes content will be posted here and on our linkedin page as the trial progresses. Share this post to help spread the word - and reach out directly if you'd like to explore what GoExpress could mean for your business.