Hupac will restore its intermodal rail connection between Busto Arsizio and Barcelona on 9 November, running three weekly roundtrips through the newly upgraded La Llagosta terminal that absorbed €80 million in investment.

The Swiss intermodal operator will dispatch northbound trains from Busto Arsizio on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, with return services from La Llagosta on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays. Hupac officially inaugurated the terminal on 19 October, ending a hiatus on the lane and giving shippers a direct rail option between northern Italy and Catalonia.

What does the new terminal add?

La Llagosta now features gantry cranes, OCR gates and advanced IT systems for rail-road intermodal handling. Four 700-metre dual-gauge loading tracks allow the site to operate on both Iberian and standard-gauge networks, a configuration that removes transhipment friction on the Franco-Spanish border and lets Hupac position La Llagosta as a regional hub for the wider Barcelona metropolitan area.

The €80 million upgrade reflects Hupac's strategic bet that Mediterranean rail volumes can absorb additional capacity even as competing road haulage rates remain volatile. For shippers, the lane offers an alternative to congested ports on the western Mediterranean and a lower-emission option for consumer goods, automotive components and intermodal containers moving between the Po Valley and Spain's industrial heartland. Forwarders gain a fixed-day service that simplifies planning compared with variable transit times on Iberian road corridors.

Where is Hupac heading next in Spain?

The Busto Arsizio–La Llagosta rotation is the first leg of a broader Iberian build-out. Antonello Vicini, head of Hupac's Shuttle Net South-West Europe department, indicated on LinkedIn that Hupac will add new connections to Tarragona, Madrid and Seville, with further destinations to follow "soon."

The expansion plan carries commercial weight for forwarders active in trans-Pyrenean traffic. Direct rail options to Tarragona, a Mediterranean port with growing automotive and chemical throughput, and to Madrid, Spain's logistics centre, would shorten lead times for shippers currently routing Spanish-bound cargo through congested French border crossings at Cerbère and Port Bou.

What does the timing signal?

The 9 November relaunch lands ahead of the traditional fourth-quarter freight peak, when retailers and automotive manufacturers typically increase imports from Italian and German suppliers. Three roundtrips per week equate to roughly six train pairs, with each 700-metre consist capable of moving more than 70 TEU depending on the loading profile. Hupac has not disclosed the expected annual throughput target for the lane.

Hupac's renewed commitment to Spain also coincides with EU-backed investment in Mediterranean rail corridors and ongoing policy pressure to shift freight from road to rail under the European Green Deal. By anchoring capacity at La Llagosta rather than relying on cross-border gauge changes at the Pyrenean border, the operator offers customers a more resilient supply chain option for Iberian-bound volumes.

For freight buyers, the lane's economics will hinge on the premium Hupac charges relative to truck and on how quickly the company scales the announced connections to Tarragona, Madrid and Seville into regular scheduled service. With the La Llagosta terminal now operational and the Busto Arsizio rotation back on the timetable, the first commercial test of the Iberian strategy arrives in November.