Railtrack backs a£200m depot
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• Railtrack has given its backing to a £200m rail freight terminal west of London, which will take a projected 600 million tonne/km of freight off the road each year.
The rail infrastructure provider signed a joint-venture agreement with property developer Argent last week for the 213,000m2 site at the intersection of the M25, M4 and A4 near Colnbrook, Slough.
Railtrack will fund the investment needed in rail links at the site so that it can handle 150,000 international containers annually, as well as conventional freight when it opens in 2002.
It has been working with Argent for two years developing infrastructure plans to provide capacity and paths for the scheme. The proposed terminal project is currently the subject of a public inquiry. The site—called the London International Freight Exchange— is anticipated to reduce congesdon, air pollution, accident and mad damage and save the UK R.2.1bn per year. By 2010 it will help rail take 22,000 lorries off the UK's roads.
Railtrack hopes it will reduce the strain on the currently overstretched Willesden intermodal terminal in London.
Freight Transport Association spokesman David Russell says: "Even if rail were to double the volume of freight it handled overnight it would still be very small in relation to road. This site will not do the road haulage industry any damage — what is much more destructive is the high vehicle excise duty, fuel prices, congestion and insurance levels that our members have to pay." • Central Railway's £5.2bn plans for running trucks on trains between north-west England and northern France through the Channel Tunnel are being opposed by the Country Landowners' Association. The CLA says the new 600km rail link, planned for 2008 and currently under consultation, will blight the Kent countryside, bringing no environmental benefits. Central claims the railway will save hauliers lop per mile.