The unveiling of a plaque at Nuneaton this month was big news for us here in the Haven Gateway! The unveiling ceremony was to mark the completion of the Nuneaton North Chord, a rail flyover which links the cross-country rail route from the Port of Felixstowe to Nuneaton with the West Coast Main Line.
It’s an incredibly important 1.4 km stretch of rail, allowing freight trains to travel through Nuneaton station without affecting passenger services and creating the capacity to carry up to 12 freight trains per day in each direction through the Nuneaton area. Over a year, that’s equivalent to taking about 275,000 trucks off the road.
But as Network Rail points out, there’s a bigger picture here. The Nuneaton North Chord is part of its strategic freight network and its programme of investment to improve freight capacity across Britain’s railways. And it also means that the 9 ft 6 in ‘high cube’ containers increasingly preferred by shippers and shipping companies can now be carried across the whole length of the route instead of having to be moved via the congested North London line.
All of this adds up to another link in the supply chain offering from the Port of Felixstowe.
And perhaps it’s a good moment to point out that Felixstowe is not only the UK’s largest container port by far. Amazingly, if Felixstowe’s rail terminals were a port, the throughput they handle would make them the third largest container terminal in the UK!
The equivalent of over 750,000 teu (standard 20-ft boxes) are carried to and from the port by scheduled freight trains every year. And that figure is set to increase dramatically. Hutchison Ports UK is investing in a third rail terminal at the port; due to be fully operational by the middle of next year, it will increase Felixstowe’s annual container-to-rail capacity to 1.5 million teu, delivering a huge reduction in trucks on the road and carbon emissions.
As Network Rail’s freight director, Tim Robinson, pointed out at the Nuneaton ceremony, Britain relies on rail freight, which is one of the greenest methods of transporting goods.
Transport minister Simon Burns said: “The Chord unlocks a real rail freight revolution, with bigger containers now being taken straight from the Port of Felixstowe and transported by rail directly to the West Midlands and beyond.”
The Nuneaton North Chord scheme was co-financed by Network Rail, the Department for Transport and the European Union’s TEN-T programme. And there’s more investment to come on this strategic line.
Rail freight generates 76% less carbon dioxide than road freight per tonne carried, and the ability to carry high-cube boxes is also significantly green – these high-cubes carry more items than standard containers, making them a more efficient way of distributing goods.
All around us we hear of major retail chains and importers searching for greener supply chains. Felixstowe, with its ability to handle the world’s largest containerships, and with its unbeatable rail offering, certainly fits the bill.
Comments
Post a Comment