Freightliner, a subsidiary of Genesee & Wyoming Inc. (G&W), is planning to build a new maintenance and fuelling facility at its existing Ipswich freight yard in the UK. Railroad locomotives and wagons will be able to make use of the services.

The facility is situated off Ranelagh Road, Ipswich. According to the company, it thereby benefits from a strategic location, close to the Port of Felixstowe. This is the UK’s largest maritime port, from which Freightliner operates 22 trains a day.

Strategic location

“As Freightliner’s existing Ipswich site was already connected to the rail network and had sufficient unused space, it made perfect sense to build the new facility there, resulting in minimum disruption to the wider railway, Freightliner’s train operations and the environment”, the operator commented.

The new maintenance facility will be a steel-framed building of 54 metres long. It will include an inspection pit, two overhead cranes and an extended on-site car park for staff. It will also house a wheel lathe used to maintain and re-profile wagon and locomotive wheel sets, the first of its kind in this part of the country.

Growing demand

“There is a growing demand from the government to move more goods by rail,” said Tim Shakerley, Engineering & Operations Services Director for G&W’s UK/Europe Region companies. “Each freight train takes up to 76 lorry journeys off our congested road network and is a far safer means of transport.