Amazon trials last-mile deliveries by tram in Frankfurt

Amazon has announced a new pilot package delivery service in Frankfurt, Germany, that meshes electric road and rail transport.

The e-commerce giant will use vans from its delivery depot to the first tram stop on the outskirts of Frankfurt, with the city’s new Gütertram service transporting the goods to awaiting cargo bikes. Gütertram constitutes part of a research project from Frankfurt University and the local municipality and fits with a broader Amazon initiative to embrace trains. In April, the company signed a logistics contract to use a rail network to transport goods between fulfillment centers in Germany and Italy.

Amazon has been pushing its green credentials to counter various damning environmental reports through the years, though last year it abandoned plans to make half of its shipments carbon neutral by 2030.

This isn’t the first time trams have been repurposed for cargo in Europe. In Germany, Dresden operated the CarGoTram for two decades until its recent closure, while Deutsche Post DHL piloted something similar in Schwerin, scrapping it less than two years after its 2022 launch.