HS2 construction contractors EKFB – a joint venture made up of Eiffage, Kier, Ferrovial Construction, and Bam Nutall – has announced that one thousand freight trains have arrived into its railhead near Quainton, in Buckinghamshire, England. RailFreight.com understands that they were not all at once. HS2 – the high speed rail line being built between London and Birmingham – is being supported by rail freight operators from all around Great Britain.
According to the contraction consortium, freight trains have delivered 1,620,837 tonnes of materials onto the Quainton site, situated on an existing freight line north of Aylesbury. The railhead is managed by Fishbone Solutions on behalf of EKFB with the trains operated by DC Rail and GB Railfreight on behalf of Heidelberg Materials.
Lorries off local roads
Building HS2 has been ongoing, despite the widely reported political prevarication around the project. The original plans for a nationwide network have long since been abandoned, as reported by RailTech.com. Nevertheless, construction has continued along the core 120-mile (192km) route between London and Birmingham.
The rural location of Quainton, which is a principal civil engineering centre, is about 45 miles (72km) from Euston – or 38 miles (61km) from Old Oak Common (the interim London terminus). According to EKFB, the railhead has now effectively removed 162,084 lorries off the local roads within the counties of Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire, and West Northants.
Operators assemble for rail freight
Hidden away from the gaze of the passenger network, Quaintion is at the heart of a significant railway operation. “DCRail is proud to be operating two trains per day carrying over 18,000 tonnes per week into this exciting project,” said David Fletcher, the Director Rail at Cappagh Group of Companies, the parent of DC Rail. “[This] is one of the most complex rail freight operations in the UK,” he added.
Figures supplied by the construction consortium say that the rail freight’s overall benefit to the environment is significant. Offsetting the need for the transportation of materials by road, the railhead has delivered 15,908 tonnes in carbon savings for HS2. They calculate that to be the equivalent of 53,098 single passenger flights from London to Rome. For the record, HS2 will not be going to Rome.
Intersection not interchange with East West Rail
“We knew the potential of moving material by rail at the start of the project,” said Paul Bedford, EKFB’s Head of Logistics and Security. “To see it happening is a testament to all the people involved, and the commitment by this project of delivering material in a sustainable, cheaper and safer way than the traditional use of transportation by road.”
Once the materials are delivered to site, it is stockpiled before being distributed along the trace using EKFB’s dedicated internal haul roads to minimise the disruption to the local roads. As the work progresses, the railhead is expected to handle a further 1,400 freight trains over the next two years, taking the total amount of material delivered to around three million tonnes.
The north – south alignment of HS2 meets the construction of East West Rail at Quainton. The latter project, which will eventually connect Oxford and Cambridge, is further advanced than HS2, and services on part of that route are already under test. There is not an interchange planned between the two projects, but, as is often said, watch this space.