Speedlink Volume 1 Introduction, Covered Goods Vans and Open WagonsSpeedlink Volume 1 Introduction, Covered Goods Vans and Open Wagons 25. 00 Speedlink was launched in 1977 as an attempt to arrest the decline in British Rails wagonload freight business. One of the things that distinguished Speedlink workings from almost all of the freight services that had preceded it, was that all the wagons used were air braked. At its peak in the mid 1980s, it carried over 8 million tonnes annually. However, despite this,