Case study: Mossend International Railfreight Park

Expanded and relaunched during the COP26 climate change summit last year, and operated by logistics company Peter D Stirling, Mossend International Railfreight Park (MIRP) will be Scotland’s largest international multi-modal rail freight park.

It is currently named Mossend Railhead, with access from Mossend Down Yard, which is on the opposite side of the Law Junction (south of Motherwell)-Whifflet route in Lanarkshire to the Mossend Euroterminal, and so has close access to the electrified West Coast Main Line. Over 90% of the cost will be met by the private sector, and its location means that 77% of the Scottish population live within 50 miles.

Already a thriving 20-hectare rail freight terminal with automotive traffic, bulk cement, containers of FMCG and steel products, the MIRP development project will significantly upgrade the site.

When completed, the development will be a new 24-hectare SRFI and will be the first such carbon-neutral facility in Scotland. This will include a rail freight terminal, capable of handling 16 maximum-length freight trains per day, container storage, HGV parking and driver welfare.

The eight 775-metre new international standard railway sidings will accommodate the longest trains permitted on Network Rail, with internal movements performed by two new battery-shunting locomotives.