Felixstowe: New £40m port rail terminal good news for A14 congestion


WORK will start next month on a £40 million project to boost rail cargo at Britain’s biggest port – and take hundreds of thousands of juggernauts off the A14.
The project to build a new rail terminal at Felixstowe will create the first terminal in the UK designed to handle the new 30-wagon freight trains.

Port executives say that by 2030 when the terminal is working to capacity, it will take up to 750,000 lorries a year off the roads.

The scheme, which is receiving a £4.2m European grant from the Trans-European Transport Network Programme (TEN-T) programme, follows the successful opening of the first phase of the port’s latest expansion last autumn when two new deepwater berths, able to handle the world’s largest ships, became operational.

Head of corporate affairs for port owners Hutchison Ports UK, Paul Davey, said: “The new terminal will ultimately double the capacity of the port for rail.

“One of the advantages that Felixstowe has over its rivals is that we can offer shipping companies much greater choice of destination and frequency for freight services than they can get at other places.”

The rail head will be built on Trinity Terminal, the only place left on the port where there is enough land for the 750 metres of sidings needed to accommodate the longer trains.

The aim is to open it in the middle of next year with most of the civil works done this year. Three new cranes – being built in Ireland – will be delivered later this year to work on the terminal.

Using 30-wagon trains will instantly increase capacity at the port by 25 per cent, and by increasing services to six days a week could add a further 25pc.

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