12.09.18
South Yorkshire freight terminal officially opened by Princess Royal
The first inland rail freight terminal in over a decade has been officially opened by the Princess Royal.
The £14m state-of-the-art freight terminal is part of a larger iPort development in South Yorkshire which could create around 5,000 new jobs.
Visiting the rail hub in Doncaster today, Princess Anne opened the iPort Rail Intermodal Rail Freight Facility designed to “open up the Yorkshire region with new road, rail and air connections for national and international freight transport.”
The state-of-the-art freight terminal will run up to six times a day, six days a week, and the first train to use the new facility is due to arrive next week.
Steve Freeman, managing director of the rail hub, said: “It's got the potential to boost the economy hugely in this area.
"For each train that we can get in here, we take about 70 lorries off the road and we can take about five or six trains a day at this current state."
The facility allows occupiers to move goods in and out of the site via rail, and it’s estimated that an average train at iPort will remove 60 HGV lorries of the road, resulting in 70% less CO2 emissions.
Verdion, the company behind the iPort rail terminal, hosted Princess Anne in a ceremony on the site.
Michael Hughes, CEO of Verdion said: “This is an historic moment for iPort. We are delighted to welcome Her Royal Highness The Princess Royal to the iPort site and see our operations first hand and meet the teams behind its success.
“iPort Rail is the first inland rail freight terminal to open for ten years, and we are honoured that The Princess Royal is coming to open the site.”
The rail hub is based near the M18 motorway and Doncaster Sheffield Airport.
iPort Rail are sponsoring TransCityRail North, RTM's Manchester event on 4 October.
Click here to find out more about how to attend the event.
Enjoying RTM? Subscribe here to receive our weekly news updates or click here to receive a copy of the magazine!
Image credit - Verdion