DB Cargo UK is the UK’s biggest railfreight provider and has just gone through a programme of restructuring and modernisation in response to changing patterns of trade. They are using new systems and improved IT to streamline processes and deliver a more reliant and resilient transport service. A key element in all this is a £6 million expansion of its steel coil warehousing facility in Wolverhampton at Horseley Fields, including the addition of a new internal rail line. This will then bring the storage, handling and re-distribution capacity up to 40,000 tonnes of steel in the form of 3,325 coils.
One of the biggest beneficiaries will be ArcelorMittal, the world’s largest steel company, which brings steel into the UK through the ports of Immingham, Hull, Goole and Boston. Moving steel by rail to a central location for the majority of its journey, will significantly reduce the carbon footprint for the products that will be made from it.
Each train can carry as much as 76 HGVs and apart from being more environmentally friendly, rail transport will reduce air pollution and traffic congestion on the roads.
DB Cargo UK ran a trial train in September 2017 from Boston to Wolverhampton using specialist covered wagons. This train has since been run weekly. The frequency will be increased to 3 or 4 trains a week once the new logistics centre is opened this autumn.
The Wolverhampton site has been used for trans-shipment and secondary distribution to neighbouring engineering and manufacturing plants since the 1960s, when specialist steel products were produced in the Midlands and Wales. Since then, as steel production in the UK has been progressively run down, the demand for increased steel supplies from Europe has increased and this new development represents a practical and eco-friendly response to the changing situation.