"Super" freight trains set for Scots railways HALF mile long "supertrains" - the longest ever - are planned for Scotland as part of an expansion of the Mossend freight railhead in Lanarkshire by operator PDS. The firm is to lodge plans this summer for a siding long enough to accommodate 770-metre freight trains, compared to the 600m longest trains at the moment. Britain's longest passenger train, the 16-carriage Caledonian Sleeper, is a quarter of a mile long, or some 400m. PDS's plans are part of a new distribution park at its site near Bellshill, designed to take advantage of completion of the M8 motorway between Glasgow and Edinburgh. It said this would leave a section of the current A8 as a "high-quality access road" to the railhead via a planned new bridge. The firm said Mossend would be the furthest north in the UK that the longer trains could reach. The centre currently handles freight such as food and drink, coal, steel and chemicals, which is transferred between rail and road. Congestion PDS admitted that slower-moving freight trains sharing the Glasgow-London west coast main line with higher-speed passenger services such as Virgin's 125mph trains was "still a live issue." However, it pointed out that 750m trains would add significant capacity without taking additional trains "slots" on the route. The Rail Freight Group described the expansion as a "very positive development." Scotland spokesman David Spaven said: "It's very encouraging the private sector is continuing to invest substantially in new terminal facilities, but the public sector has to play its part too, by enhancing the route infrastructure to accommodate the longer trains which are the key to rail economics. We need 775m loop sidings on the west coast main line if big freight trains running at 75mph are to find suitable paths amongst 125mph passenger services. From the Central Belt to Aberdeen - a key corridor for new rail traffic such as supermarket supplies - 450m long trains can convey the equivalent of some 25 lorry loads, but intermediate loops are needed to handle this length of train.