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Wednesday 7 Dec 2011

NEW FREIGHT DEAL TO MOVE DEVON TIMBER BY RAIL

Region & Route:

| Wales & Western: Western

| Wales & Western

Hundreds of lorries will be kept from West Country roads, owing to a successful collaboration between Network Rail, Colas Rail Freight, Devon Council and Kronospan – the country’s largest manufacturer of chipboard products.

As part of this partnership, a disused freight line of 4 miles between Newton Abbot and Heathfield has been brought back to use. This will enable Colas Rail Freight to transport timber produced by Kronospan from Teignbridge (Devon) to Chirk (North Wales) by train, supporting a three-year contract between both companies.

The weekly services will start today and each freight train will consist of 14 wagons, carrying around 600 tonnes of timber. This will potentially remove around 24 lorries from the roads and help reduce carbon emission in the West Country.

Patrick Hallgate, route managing director for Network Rail Western said: “Britain relies on rail and the value of rail freight is considerable. For businesses, rail freight can offer a cheaper, quicker and more practical alternative to moving goods by road. Almost £700m of social and environment benefits each year can be attributed to freight traffic on Britain’s railways."

"Without the railway, the anticipated growth in freight traffic over the next 30 years would mean an extra 1.5m lorry journeys on Britain’s roads each year. Each freight train can take around 60 lorries off the roads and by shifting traffic from already congested roads to rail will bring greater future benefits.”

Simon Ball, head of freight for Colas Rail Freight, explained that thanks to his company's close working relationship with Network Rail and with the cooperation of Devon County Council’s highways department, the terminal was in working order within a few weeks.

He added: “The branch has not seen a train for many years and needed to be capable of taking freight trains again. We arranged for it to be checked, cleared and then prepared for service with road access. The vegetation in the old goods yard was cut back and, after levelling, firm standing was created by rolling into the ground hundreds of tonnes of material.

“With this project we have demonstrated yet again that we are flexible and able to move quickly to create fully functional, fit for purpose freight terminals in a very short time.”

Colas is developing its position as the leading provider of rail haulage for timber products by investing in rolling stock and terminals and by developing a network of contacts with key rail organisations and local authorities.