East Midlands Gateway rail terminal open

ONE of the UK’s largest new Strategic Rail Freight Interchanges is now connected to the national network and open for business.

The first test train arrived at East Midlands Gateway (EMG), near Castle Donington in Leicestershire, late on December 17, journeying from Southampton Western

Docks behind DB Cargo’s Maritime blue-liveried No. 66162 Maritime Intermodal Five.

As well as being a major customer and logistics partner for DB Cargo, Maritime Intermodal is also the operator of the EMG terminal.

DBC’s first commercial service arrived at the new terminal from the Port of Felixstowe on January 7, with this route now operating five times each week.

The EMG train increases Felixstowe’s daily train total to

36, following on from two new services to Doncaster iPort and

Hams Hall, introduced in late-2019. A second service linking EMG and Felixstowe is also expected to be introduced by Freightliner.

EMG is linked to the national rail network by a new branch from the Sheet Stores Junction-Stenson Junction freight line. The new 17-acre interchange is located at the junction of several major trunk roads and motorways, and is capable of handling up to 16 775m-long freight trains each day.

Eventually, the area will house up to seven million sq ft of warehousing, and will serve the major conurbations of Derby, Leicester and Nottingham.

The opening came as new figures from the Office of Rail and Road (ORR) revealed domestic intermodal traffic posted its highest quarterly total in the second period of 2019/20.

With 1.75 billion net tonne-km carried, containers continue to be the primary source of freight traffic in the UK; construction materials are in second place, with 1.21billion net tonne-km in the same period.

According to the ORR, the total volume of rail freight moved in Q2 2019-20 was 4.25bn net tonnekm, a 3% decrease compared with the same period in 2018/19.

Coal traffic is close to being phased out, with only 0.08 bn net tonne-km moved.

Punctuality remains steady, with 93.5% of trains arriving within 15 minutes of their scheduled arrival time in the period covered.

Freight delay was 10.3 minutes per 100 train kilometres, an 11% reduction in delays compared to the same period of 2018/19.

PAUL ROBERTSON East Midlands’ Gateway Strategic Railfreight Interchange opened to rail traffic in early-January, and is now served by trains to and from Felixstowe, with others routes expected soon. On January 17, DB Cargo’s No. 66148 Maritime Intermodal Seven waits under the lights with the 20.09 to Felixstowe South Terminal.