The latest ?pop-up? in Warrington ? a new rail depot to deliver aggs to the construction industry

The new pop-up rail depot in Warrington is the latest CEMEX rail innovation and is helping to meet the growing demand for aggregates by the construction industry in the North West. CEMEX in partnership with DBCargo has created the new depot which will be able to handle 125,000 tonnes a year.

The temporary Warrington depot has been created using a readymade weighbridge and office with a generator and installed on available land next to the West Coast main line. The aggregates are transported in box wagons, unloaded with a grabber and stock piled on site, awaiting local transportation by road to concrete plants and construction sites.

“A pop-up rail depot can be installed in weeks rather than months and gives the flexibility to move aggregates from quarries to areas where they are needed, especially in the short term. So with the right piece of land close to the rail network you can create a depot.

“Rail has considerable economic and environmental benefits compared to road transportation with significant CO2 savings and on busy roads, a major time saving. In 2015 we transported 2.3 million tonnes by rail equivalent to 80,000 truck movements. And now we can establish a depot relatively quickly, we would like to establish more freight paths taking even more trucks off our busy roads,” comments Mark Grimshaw-Smith Head of CEMEX Rail and Sea.

Currently CEMEX operates 14 receiving depots serving key areas of the country with material from 3 despatch points Dove Holes quarry in Derbyshire, Shap quarry in Cumbria and Cardiff. Rail volumes have grown by 25% between 2012 and 2015.

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