HS2 has confirmed that the equivalent of 101,000 HGV movements have been taken off roads thanks to a small railhead.
Through the Quainton construction hub, more than a million tonnes of construction material has been moved by trains, rather than on the roads around Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire, and Northamptonshire.
646 trains have contributed to this, with the construction hub being situated on an existing freight line north of Aylesbury. Over the course of the next two years, HS2 Ltd expects the railhead to bring in a further 3 million tonnes of material. This will be dropped off by an additional 1,400 freight trains.
Senior Project Manager at HS2 Ltd, Ben Sebastian-Green, commented on the milestone saying:
“We know that the local community are concerned about construction traffic, so it’s great to be able to get so much material into site by rail. Not only does it take traffic off local roads, but it also saves carbon and helps to streamline our logistics.
“Once complete, HS2 will improve journeys between London and Birmingham and free up space on the existing West Coast Mainline for more local services – and it’s great that, alongside delivering zero carbon journeys for passengers, we’re also cutting the amount of carbon in construction.”
HS2 has so far taken a combined total of two million tonnes of material, with a further 217,000 HGVs being taken off the local roads. Alongside this, 22,378 tonnes of carbon have been saved, which is the equivalent of 22,300 passenger flights from London to New York.
The site holds construction materials for the HS2 project, with it being stockpiled in advance of being moved to the areas where it is needed. As the project approaches the height of the construction process, the hub will become increasingly important to the delivery of the central section of the programme. This includes 15 viaducts, 81 bridges and two ‘green tunnels.’
Image credit: HS2 Ltd
