Bulk Material Deliveries to EKFB Railheads on HS2

Fishbone is supporting the EKFB project programme through the delivery of materials by rail direct to on-trace railheads. Initially Calvert North, Calvert South and the PRA railheads and currently operating the fourth railhead at Quainton Road, delivering around 1m tonnes of bulk aggregates per annum.

HS2 and the EKFB senior management team and works teams have encouraged and supported the rail operation which will continue until the needs of the EKFB’s section of the HS2 build programme requirements are met, forecasted to end in 2026.

Our approach

The initial approach saw the establishment of the Calvert North Railhead which was commissioned and receiving materials within 13 weeks of the order to proceed, taking cognisance of the environmental, ecological and planning requirements of local authorities and HS2 so as to maximise the use of rail within the short delivery window available.

The Fishbone team and EKFB project delivery team engaged with the materials supplier, the selected rail operators, Buckingham Group and plant providers and operators to establish feasibility and resource capacity. Action plans identified critical path issues to be resolved, Safe Systems of Work, Risk Assessments, planning constraints in which train services had to arrive and depart within certain timeframes with all-party buy-in to resolve these quickly.

In parallel, the key rail industry partners, Network Rail Freight Commercial, Network Rail Western Route, Other HS2 Contractors, Great Western Railway TOC, Chiltern Railways TOC and affected FOC partners all played crucial roles in identifying network capacity and adjusting plans to identify the required train paths, in extremely short timescales, to accommodate the delivery trains from Tytherington to Calvert, thus providing a positive economic and environmental case to import material by rail rather than by road.

As the rail project gained momentum and further opportunities for rail were identified, these teams have supported the establishment of the additional railheads. Further options are also being considered for deliveries via the new OXD line to the area of the planned new Infrastructure Maintenance Depot site close to Calvert.

Establishment of the new railheads at PRA and at Quainton Road presented different challenges. Neither site had a discharge siding which required a solution based on taking possession around the trains on arrival and discharge from trains stood on the running lines. The rail team, in collaboration with Network Rail, introduced the FTAP (Flexible Train Arrival Point) process for the site which enabled the commencement of discharge operations within 2 minutes of the train being positioned at the railhead. Further refinement of the method of discharge the equipment used and the skill of the machine operators has resulted in average discharge times of 100 minutes which equates to just over 4 minutes per wagon, each carrying 75 tonnes of material.

From the initial one train per day, this quickly increased to two and now three trains per day, delivering 24,000 tonnes per five-day working week.

A comprehensive performance management dashboard has been developed at multiple levels that captures and measures all aspects of the materials by rail operation for EKFB.

Drill-down capability allows the reader to interrogate the system at individual site level and even down to individual train level if required. There are further dashboards that measure train service performance and a detailed analysis of train timings, short sets and a separate dashboard measuring carbon savings. These have been extremely useful in demonstrating the benefits of rail but also in providing the rail team with the necessary information to manage the rail operation and identify and mitigate against issues impacting service.

The benefits

Rapid response – Mobilisation in less than three months

Efficient use of assets – three trains per day using three wagon sets each carrying 1650 tonnes 178 miles in each direction.

Economic – significant cost saving versus the available alternative source option (by road from supplier railhead stockpiles

Good neighbour – The trains have operated within agreed time limits each day and have attracted positive comments from local communities, local authorities, HS2 and the media.

Safety – The services have operated with minimal disruption and a 100% safety record with zero incidents. As of April 2024 date, trains have replaced 111,000 rigid 20t capacity truck loads (222,000 truck movements) from the local rural roads, minimising the risk of accidents/incidents involving vehicle interfaces with the general public.

Environmental – The net carbon benefit differential between this rail option, delivered direct from the source quarry near Bristol, versus the truck option, delivering from the supplier local rail stockpiles, has been calculated at 23,000 tonnes to date by EKFB Carbon Manager. By end of project, this is expected to approach 50,000 tonnes saved.

By Mick Tinsley, Commercial Director, Fishbone Logistics