DB Schenker Rail UK ran its first train into Barrington Quarry in Cambridgeshire on behalf of building materials supplier, CEMEX UK, on Thursday 9th July, 2015.
Barrington Quarry previously supplied chalk to the, now closed, Barrington Cement Works. Inert waste materials from London construction sites will be delivered directly into the quarry, where it will be used for backfilling and restoration.
DB Schenker Rail UK will run one train per day from Willesden, North London to Foxton and then along the 2.5 km upgraded line to the site expanding the service to two trains per day during August, as part of a two-year contract with CEMEX UK.
Each train will be formed of 22 wagons and carry approximately 1,500 tonnes of material, the equivalent of around 75 lorry loads.
Using rail freight to collect the inert material rather than moving them to landfill sites by road will reduce road traffic in London, Hertfordshire and Cambridgeshire and reduce CO2 emissions.
The Barrington Light Railway that links the quarry to the national network has recently been renovated by CEMEX to serve the site. This work included strengthening a bridge on the line to allow the passage of mainline locomotives for the first time. The Barrington line has served the London construction industry for over 90 years. It was previously used to bring in fuel and raw materials into the cement plant and transport cement in bulk and bags from the plant to the capital for concrete production throughout the South East.
David Fletcher, Head of Construction Sales for DB Schenker Rail UK, said: “Our partnership with Cemex provides an efficient and eco-friendly way to transport and recycle construction materials from the capital and there is the potential for this to increase to three per day as the construction market in London continues to grow.”
Mark Grimshaw-Smith Head of Rail Freight at CEMEX UK, said: “It is fantastic to have been able to reinstate the Barrington Light Railway and see it in use again on this project. The quarry can now be restored with minimal impact on the environment and to the local community.”
Liberal Democrat County Councillor Nick Hollinghurst, who is the Hertfordshire Lib Dem Spokesman on Environment and Transport said,
“This is an imaginative and environmentally friendly development and it will spare Hertfordshire’s road system 150 lorries a day – possibly 225 a day – over at least a 2-year period. However, I think we should all be interested in the re-use and recycling of materials as a first priority, wherever feasible. I have writtent to Cemex UK asking if they have any plans to carry out any processing to extract usable fines, gravel and hardcore.”