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Monday 9 Dec 2013

Secretary of State for Transport opens new railway sleeper factory which is bringing new jobs to South Yorkshire

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Rt Hon Patrick McLoughlin MP, Secretary of State for Transport, today (Monday 9 December) officially opened a new state-of-the-art factory in Doncaster which will supply of thousands of essential sleepers to keep Britain’s railways running.

Doncaster Concrete Sleeper Factory, which will employ around 45 people, will supply around 400, 000 concrete sleepers each year for Network Rail to use around the network.

Commenting at the opening, Transport Secretary Patrick McLoughlin said: “Thanks to the ongoing investment by Network Rail in our national railway infrastructure companies like the Trackwork Moll, a concrete railway sleeper factory in Doncaster, are keeping our trains moving, delivering massive benefits for passengers and the economy thanks to faster, more frequent and reliable services.”

Concrete sleepers are used on all the busier inter-urban and long distance rail routes as well as those carrying heavy freight tonnages. Between 700,000 and 1,000,000 sleepers are needed each year.

Phil Verster, Route Managing Director for Network Rail’s London North Eastern and East Midlands Route, added: “We are investing in our railway at a rate not seen since the Victorian era. This is resulting in significant improvements for passengers and allowing us to carry huge amounts of essential freight, keeping lorries off the road. This factory will help us to do all of this while at the same time driving down costs, allowing us to do more for less.”

Local skills and expertise have been used in the design and build of the factory. J F Finnegan of Sheffield was the design and build contractor; Race Cottam Associates based in Sheffield were project architects and the Doncaster office of Hannah Reed were the consulting civil engineers. All of the principal contractors were based within 50 miles of the site.

Mr Verster added: “Yorkshire has a proud and well-deserved rail heritage so it is exciting to see this factory using that expertise to support the railway of the future. Doncaster’s central location and excellent rail links make it the ideal location for this important new factory.”

Trackwork Moll is a new company which managed the design and build of the factory and is contracted to supply sleepers to Network Rail for the next ten years. It is jointly owned by Trackwork of Kirk Sandall, Doncaster and Leonhard Moll Betonwerke of Munich, Germany.

Peter Heubeck, General Manager, said: “Sleepers are not a glamorous part of the railway but they play an absolutely essential role in supporting the track, making sure that trains can run safely and reliably day after day. Through this purpose-built facility we will supply these vital components reliably and at a highly competitive cost.”