Company further enhances sustainable rail operations with summer investment programme
CEMEX have continued to invest in their nationwide rail operation, as part of their ongoing efforts to reduce truck movements and utilize more efficient methods of transport. This aligns with the company’s global sustainability strategy ‘Future in Action – Committed to Net Zero CO2’.
Over the summer months, CEMEX made significant investments in track improvements and extensions at three of their depots – Attercliffe, Small Heath, and Bletchley. The work was completed in partnership with MLP Railway Maintenance Ltd, CEMEX’s chosen provider for these developments.
At Bletchley, 152m of new track with a different alignment to reduce drainage issues and increase the turning circle for delivery vehicles was installed, while 330m of track was laid at the new depot at Small Heath as part of the new siding, alongside storage bays for efficient offloading.
At Attercliffe, life-expired track has been replaced with 196m of track embedded in concrete, so that delivery vehicles can safely use the same area during the day as the train does at night. The prefabricated track, supplied by CEMEX’s Urbanisation Solutions business, was chosen for this development to ensure a quick turnaround of work, reduce outages, and minimize the impact on the customer.
Mark Grimshaw Smith, rail and sea manager for CEMEX UK, commented: ‘The summer months have provided us with the perfect opportunity to complete a considerable programme of investment into track at three of our rail depots. These sites are all very different and spread out across the country, but they are all important parts of our rail network and ripe for development.
‘As our use of trains to transport our materials increases, it is vital that we have the infrastructure in place to support this. Further investment is planned at some of our other UK railheads over the coming months.’
CEMEX’s use of trains to move their building materials is growing year on year, with considerable efforts being made by the business to switch from road freight to rail and sea. In 2020, increased use of rail transport saved 150,000 road movements and 17,500 tonnes of CO2 from being released into the air.
