Friday 20 May 2011
PLANS ANNOUNCED FOR SECOND RAIL FREIGHT UPGRADE FROM SOUTHAMPTON
- Region & Route:
- | Southern: Wessex
- | Southern
Network Rail has announced plans to upgrade a second route out of Southampton docks to take larger, 9’6” high-cube freight containers efficiently when the main line is unavailable.
The diversionary route runs from Southampton to Basingstoke via Romsey and Andover, in addition to the Eastleigh to Romsey line. The works require 17 bridges to be knocked down and rebuilt; the track to be altered at 11 locations and station canopies at Andover, Romsey and Whitchurch to be adjusted. Two redundant bridges will be demolished without being replaced and three further bridges will be modified without having to rebuild them.
Richard O’Brien, Network Rail’s route managing director for Wessex, said: “It is important that the food, clothing, electronics and other consumer goods which arrive into Southampton in containers can make their onward journeys by rail at all times to stock shops around the country.
“Following the recent upgrade of the mainline, we expect increasing amounts of these goods to be shipped in larger, modern containers as this keeps thousands of lorries off the roads, and is the quickest, greenest and most efficient way of transporting them around the country. It is vital we provide an alternative route out of the port for those occasions when we carry out improvement works to the main line so we can offer a reliable service for businesses around Britain”.
Eight of the 17 bridges being knocked down and rebuilt carry public highways across the railway. The remaining structures are on private roads, or public bridleways or footpaths. The first pieces of work are due to start in August 2011 and the whole project is scheduled for completion by June 2013.
Plans are being finalised for each of the 31 individual upgrades required and specific details will be communicated to members of the public and private land owners in advance. There will also be some disruption to train services while track works are carried out, old structures are demolished and new structures lifted into place.
On 4 April 2011, Network Rail announced the successful completion of the upgrade to the mainline from Southampton to the West Midlands which will allow the modern, larger containers preferred by many global shipping firms to be transported more efficiently by train. Upgrading both rail routes out of Southampton allows freight trains to move goods, including food, clothing, electronics and other consumer products, around Britain in a quicker, cheaper, greener and more practical way.
It is estimated that the upgrade will remove up to 50,000 container lorries a year from the roads, easing traffic jams and helping reduce the billions of pounds road congestion costs the economy annually. The project was delivered more than £11.5m under the original £71m budget.
Notes to editors
The following bridges carrying public highways are being upgraded and will require the roads to be closed and diversions to be in place for the duration of the work:
NAME
ROAD
START DATE
END DATE
Freefolk
Priory Lane, between Whitchurch and Laverstock Park
August 2011
December 2011
Newbury Road
Newbury Road, Whitchurch
August 2011
February 2012
Ashfield
A27, Southampton Road
September 2011
December 2011
Lee Drove
Lee Drove, between Romsey and Totton
September 2011
December 2011
Belvers
Weston Lane / Andes Road, Near Redbridge
October 2011
June 2012
Weyhill Road
Weyhill Road, Andover
November 2011
February 2012
Old Salisbury / Duke’s Mead
B3084 / Stanbridge Lane, near Awbridge, Hampshire
November 2011
February 2012
Taskers
Watch Lane, between Whitchurch and Laverstock Park
December 2011
March 2012
Broken Cross
A388 / Old Malthouse Lane, near Ford, Wiltshire
December 2012
March 2013
It is currently scheduled for track works to take place during the following time periods, which will result in disruption to trains services. Passengers are advised to check with National Rail Enquiries or their train operator before booking tickets or travelling.
Basingstoke to Salisbury
Every weekend between September 2011 and October 2011
Romsey to Salisbury
Every weekend between October 2011 and December 2011
Romsey to Southampton
Every weekend between March 2012 and April 2012
ABOUT RAIL FREIGHT:
Vehicles off the road
Each freight train takes about 60 lorries off the roads and without the railway, the anticipated growth in freight traffic over the next 30 years would mean an extra 1.5 million lorry journeys on Britain’s roads each year. Transporting more containers by rail will help reduce carbon emissions and ease traffic congestion on the road network.
Environmental
Rail is also one of the most environmentally friendly forms of transport. Road freight generates six times more carbon dioxide than rail freight for each tonne moved, so the greater transfer of freight from road to rail as a result of this scheme will lead to a significant reduction of carbon emissions.
Efficiency
High cube containers are larger than standard containers, and therefore more items can be transported within them, making them a more efficient means of distributing goods. Rail can be a cheaper, quicker and a more practical way for businesses to transport their goods around the country and beyond. At present high cube containers are too big to be carried on standard height platform wagons on much of the rail network. Therefore the only way to carry them by rail is on special low wagons. However, this reduces efficiency and capacity by up to 33%, making rail a less competitive form of transport for freight.
· Rail transports over 100m tonnes of goods worth around £30bn every year
· The British economy is boosted annually from £870m by the rail freight industry, which also further indirectly supports an economic output of £5.9bn, over six times its direct turnover.
· The freight sector is supporting employment 14 times the number employed directly in the industry (4.7k compared to 66.6k)
· In total the UK freight sector contributes £299m in profits and wages to the UK economy
· Rail freight generates £185k worth of output per employee almost double the national average (£89k)
· The societal benefits from a shift from road to rail equate to £376m (2007/8) and up to £903m if it grows by 140% (2031). This would be a lot higher if the loss of revenue from vehicle excise duty was not taken into account
· Rail freight demand is predicted to grow by 30% over the next decade and up to 140% over 30 years
· The current freight container market is seeing a significant growth in the percentage of high cube containers. The usage of 9’ 6” containers currently stands at over 40%. This is expected to rise to between 50% and 70% by 2019.
Contact information
Passengers / community members
Network Rail national helpline
03457 11 41 41
Latest travel advice
Please visit National Rail Enquiries
Journalists
Network Rail press office - South East route
020 3357 7969
southeastroutecomms@networkrail.co.uk
About Network Rail
We own, operate and develop Britain's railway infrastructure; that's 20,000 miles of track, 30,000 bridges, tunnels and viaducts and the thousands of signals, level crossings and stations. We run 20 of the UK's largest stations while all the others, over 2,500, are run by the country's train operating companies.
Usually, there are almost five million journeys made in the UK and over 600 freight trains run on the network. People depend on Britain's railway for their daily commute, to visit friends and loved ones and to get them home safe every day. Our role is to deliver a safe and reliable railway, so we carefully manage and deliver thousands of projects every year that form part of the multi-billion pound Railway Upgrade Plan, to grow and expand the nation's railway network to respond to the tremendous growth and demand the railway has experienced - a doubling of passenger journeys over the past 20 years.
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