DP World London Gateway and DB Schenker Railway announced on Monday that an agreement that would provide rail services at the new deep sea port had been signed.

Scheduled to be Europe’s largest logistics park, the London Gateway is scheduled to open in Q4 2013. DB Schenker Rail will operate freight trains over 700m in length from the port, placing them amongst the longest in the UK once operational. The new hub is likely to become the country’s busiest rail freight terminal.

“London Gateway is the most significant logistics project in the intermodal sector, and it will be home to the largest rail freight terminal in the UK. The services which we will launch at London Gateway will be the first of many freight trains we will operate from the port, forming a strong rail freight network across the UK and mainland Europe for customers,” Carsten Hinne, managing director of Logistics for DB Schenker Rail UK, said.

The agreement sees the company introducing at least four rail freight services a day (four in, four out), subject to volumes. It will also serve a range of inland terminals including potential new UK locations. Hinne added that additional freight rail services would be introduced in the future.

Furthermore, DB Schenker will also pursue the development of rail freight services from London Gateway to mainland Europe using the Channel Tunnel.

“In addition, DB Schenker is a truly multimodal operator using shipping, air, rail and land to deliver our services. The wider DB Schenker group is pursuing a range of shipping line options for its international clients through London Gateway, in the anticipation that they can have containers handled through the port during late 2013,” Hinne said.

The firm has committed to providing DP World London Gateway with the rail freight capacity required to maximise volumes being transported by rail to and from the port, he added. The trains will help avoid more than 4,000 lorry movements per week, thereby helping to increase the overall sustainability of the project.