A five-year contract between DB Cargo and Mendip Rail will deliver more than 100 aggregates trains per week.
The deal continues an existing relationship, and includes the operation of ‘Jumbo trains’ that are 44 wagons long and transport more than 3,300 tonnes of aggregates.
DB uses a single Class 59 for these trains - either one of its own six, or one of the eight Mendip Rail locomotives that it operates. DB serves 33 depots for Mendip Rail, loading material at seven points: Aggregates Industries Torr Quarry (Somerset), Aggregate Industries Isle of Grain, Hanson Aggregates Whatley Quarry (Somerset), Hanson Aggregates Machen Quarry (South Wales), Hanson Aggregates Dagenham Wharf (East London), Midland Quarry Products Cliffe Hill Quarry (East London), and Avonmouth Docks (Bristol).
DB has introduced a dedicated management team for the contract, and daily joint performance management centres are held at Merehead to focus on performance.
The ‘Jumbo train’ runs from quarries in Somerset to Acton, where it is split into two or three shorter trains for delivery into London and the South East. DB says this maximises the use of paths into the capital, as well as being ‘greener’.
FrankH - 30/06/2016 23:56
The Jumbo trains to Acton have been running for years, 1986 to be precise and used to be 4300 tons. Why doesn't the headline say DB Cargo signs contract to continue moving aggregates (yes I know boring) instead of making out everythings a new idea/concept.