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Thursday 15 Dec 2011

NETWORK RAIL SAVES OVER 100,000KM OF LORRY JOURNEYS WITH RAIL FREIGHT DELIVERY TO NEW NATIONAL CENTRE

Region & Route:

| Southern

Network Rail has joined forces with DB Schenker Rail to transport furniture destined for Network Rail’s new national centre in Milton Keynes from the continent by rail – saving around 100,000km of lorry journeys and cutting carbon CO₂ emissions by more than 90%.

Thousands of desks, chairs and tables made by furniture supplier Vitra, based in Weil am Rhein, Germany, will be transported by train from nearby Basel in Switzerland to Hams Hall rail freight terminal in Birmingham in early 2012. The combined length of wagons required to move the furniture is more than half a kilometre.

Tim Coucher, Network Rail project director for The Quadrant:MK, said: “Our new national centre in Milton Keynes will be one of the most sustainable buildings in the country, so it makes sense that we encourage the use of rail wherever possible throughout the supply chain.

"We’re proud to be supporting the rail industry by choosing DB Schenker Rail to transport our furniture from Europe, removing a huge number of lorry journeys from our roads and cutting carbon emissions by more than 90%."

Alain Thauvette, chief executive of DB Schenker Rail UK, said: "In delivering significantly reduced carbon emissions, we have been able to use our pan-European rail freight network to deliver a seamless haulage solution that meets Network Rail's needs."

Tony Ash, managing director of Vitra, said: "It is extremely gratifying to work with a progressive client such as Network Rail, in that they are as interested as Vitra in developing creative ways of minimising our impact on the environment. Vitra products are produced using recycled materials, designed both to last and to be easily maintained. I feel sure that Vitra's products will enhance Network Rail’s new national centre in Milton Keynes."

Network Rail’s national centre, called The Quadrant:MK, will be home to around 3,000 Network Rail people when it opens in 2012. It will bring together all the company’s planning and support activities under one roof, enabling quicker decision making and improved service for Network Rail’s customers.

Bringing together national functions in one place will also improve teamwork and planning and support Network Rail’s devolved routes based in places like Manchester, Swindon, Derby, York and London.