HS2 is celebrating transporting one million tonnes of spoil at its Logistics Hub in London, a major milestone in the construction of the high-speed rail line.
The spoil, which is excavated material from the construction sites, has been transported by a network of conveyors to the hub, where it is loaded onto trains and taken to three destinations across the UK: Barrington in Cambridgeshire, Cliffe in Kent, and Rugby in Warwickshire. The spoil moved has taken 110,000 lorry movements off the roads since it opened.
At peak, seven trains per day will depart from the London Logistics Hub, with 3 per day departing at present. Each train takes 1,500 tonnes of material – the equivalent of 80 lorry loads. Over its lifetime, it is expected to transfer 5 million tonnes of spoil.
The use of the conveyor system has removed the need for one million lorry movements from the roads in west London, reducing traffic congestion and emissions in the local area.
“The London Logistics Hub is at the beating heart of the HS2 operation in the capital, keeping the project on track to deliver Britain’s new low-carbon high speed railway in the most sustainable way. Transporting one million tonnes of spoil at this one site is no mean feat and has been achieved through effective collaboration and planning.”
The hub has been designed to be as environmentally friendly as possible. The conveyor system is powered by electricity, and the spoil is recycled or reused wherever possible.
The logistics operation is managed inside the site’s control room which the team use to monitor the loading into the wagons and the timetabling using rail logistics software.
James Richardson from HS2’s logistics partner, Skanska Costain STRABAG Joint Venture said: "Every tonne of material is tracked by our state-of-the-art Logistics Hub, from the moment the material goes onto our 1.7mile-long conveyor towards our rail terminal and then onto the existing rail freight network to their final destinations in the UK.
While our geographic footprint stretches across London to Kent, Rugby and Cambridgeshire, we have achieved as low a carbon footprint as possible at each stage of our logistics operation.”
In addition to reducing traffic congestion and emissions, the London Logistics Hub has also created jobs in the local area. The hub employs around 200 people, and it is estimated that it has supported a further 1,000 jobs in the wider supply chain.
Photo Credit: Istock
Video Credit: HS2
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