The Long Marston showground
The Quinton Rail Technology Centre (QRTC) site has a long and interesting history, dating back to its years as a Royal Engineers supply base during the Second World War.
It was rapidly constructed in 1940 as part of Churchill’s plans to retake Europe - one of a number of ‘inland ports’ set to play a key role in the run-up to (and execution of) the D-Day landings.
Decommissioned by the MoD in the late 1990s, it then became a privately owned site. In 2005, Motorail Logistics (set up by chief executive officer Ruth Flack) took over the railway infrastructure, now renamed the Quinton Rail Technology Centre. She and her team have transformed it into the site that it is today.
QRTC has a key strategic role to play in the UK rail sector. On its vast site companies such as Motorail, Total Tank Solutions (a successful partnership between Motorail and LCM Environmental), Vivarail, Chrysalis Rail, the ABC Consortium and the Rail Alliance all operate here (sharing the site with water voles, deer, buzzards, skylarks, owls, badgers and bats, among other co-tenants!), and these companies contribute a huge amount to the sector. It also boasts a wealth of strategic partners including top universities such as Birmingham, Coventry and Warwick, each playing their part during this past decade.
The site at Long Marston is the largest and most extensive rail storage facility in the UK, and its list of customers reads like a Who’s Who of rolling stock ownership.
Comprising some 20km of storage sidings, it is connected to the national rail network at Honeybourne (on the Cotswold Line) and served by all of the freight operating companies, taking advantage of 24/7 access.
There is storage capacity for approximately 1,000 items of rolling stock, and it also has four hectares of open hard-standing-based storage and approximately 2000m2 of covered workshops along with associated handling equipment and crainage. QRTC is constantly looking to invest in new facilities and equipment to meet the needs of its many customers.
Motorail, a subsidiary of QRTC, currently has contracts in place for the storage of traction and rolling stock ( both passenger and goods) with all of the rolling stock companies (Porterbrook, Angel, Eversholt), as well as the likes of Virgin Trains Group, GE Transportation, DB Schenker, DB Regio, Direct Rail Services and Vivarail.
For a number of these companies Motorail also stores wheel-sets, bogies, internal furnishings, body shells and general components. In some cases, this service consists of the management of the company’s entire stock of spares.
And the development plans do not stop here. Ambitious plans are in place to develop the site further, and in particular to create a leading test track facility within the current Control Period (CP5, which ends in March 2019).
QRTC is the UK’s leading facility for system-based testing, trialling and product development purposes. Boasting the only endurance track (looped), it can cope with maximum speeds of 50kph (31mph) and is ideal for a wide range of uses - including the UK’s only crash test facility, product approvals, training and publicity/marketing.
It is regularly used by the emergency services and special forces for technical training. It also has the longest overhead line equipment (OLE) span away from the national network, and is currently constructing the UK’s first light rail test facility. This is a £1 million investment, and will be opened at Rail Live.