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Wednesday 4 Apr 2012

RAIL RECYCLING DEPOT TO SAVE NETWORK RAIL £4m A YEAR

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National

A new facility which will allow Network Rail to recycle used rail is to save the company around £4m a year.

The Eastleigh rail depot near Southampton has been upgraded so it can produce 216m lengths of serviceable rail which have been recycled from used rail removed from around the network. The recycled lengths are up to 70% cheaper than new rail and can be safely used on low volume and rural routes.

The depot first opened in 2001 to weld new 108m rail into 216m lengths ready for track renewal but the recent upgrade means it can now produce up to 10,000 tonnes of 216m recycled serviceable rail, around 8% of the total rail that Network Rail purchases every year. This is alongside the 50,000 tonnes of new rail currently welded there every year. The upgrade reflects Network Rail's ongoing commitment to reducing costs and improving efficiencies.

When old rail is replaced around the network it is inspected to assess how much is potentially reusable and then thoroughly tested before being processed at the Eastleigh depot. Any sections not suitable for reuse are removed and the remaining rail welded together to form 216m lengths of serviceable rail.

Martin Elwood, director of Network Rail’s national delivery service which runs the depot, said: “Recycling old rail into serviceable rail which can be used elsewhere on the network reduces the volume of rail which is scrapped and the amount of new steel used by Network Rail, both of which save money and are better for the environment. Network Rail is committed to reducing costs and this is the latest initiative which is helping the railway become a more efficient industry.”

The depot upgrade, which was delivered on budget, six months ahead of schedule and caused no interruption to the depot’s day-to-day welding of new rail, was officially opened by Richard O’Brien, Network Rail’s route managing director for Wessex.