LONDON, Nov. 5 (Reuters) – British freight company Stobart Group Ltd is on track to go green, its chief operating officer said, after the company's first refrigerated train carrying fruit and vegetables arrived in the U.K. from Spain.

Stobart is one of Britain's biggest haulage and logistics companies, with air, port, road and rail operations.

The new train can carry up to 30 refrigerated equivalent trucks-worth of oranges, lemons, tomatoes and salad, from fields in Valencia to the Ford Dagenham railhead in Essex in about 58 hours – 12 hours more quickly than a similar lorry trip.

Over a year that once-a-week journey can save 8,625 tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions compared with a lorry's carbon footprint.

''I believe that consumers will start to look for carbon footprints when they buy goods,'' COO William Stobart, brother of company founder Eddie Stobart said, adding that the company has had a lot of interest in the new route from retailers and producers. ''Everybody thinking of Eddie Stobart thinks of a truck, but we're thinking of all modes of transport,'' Stobart said, adding he'd like to expand rail operations.

Stobart Group owns Southend airport in Essex and Carlisle airport in north-west England, and has four train lines in the UK. It recently reported a 12.7 percent rise in first-half pretax profit.

The company runs lorries between Spain and the U.K. but plans to end that service by the end of next year when it plans to run five trains a week on the route.

''You won't see less trucks though, because that business is growing too, but we'd rather grow by a few trucks and grow more by rail,'' he said after watching the first Stobart train come through the Channel Tunnel.