UK: Winvic has begun work on a £29m contract to build an intermodal freight terminal in Northamptonshire as part of the expansion of Prologis’ DIRFT III logistics park.
The project requires significant earthworks, including installation of 79 000 m2 of concrete terminal slab. There will be 9 km of railway track connected to the existing terminal and the West Coast Main Line, including five 800 m long sidings. Mechan is to supply a traverser to eliminate the need for a headshunt.
There will be three complex bridges, including a prestressed concrete structure crossing the A5 which will have an effective span of 30 m over the road, and a bridge across the Clifton Brook which will be designed to give wildlife unimpeded access to sensitive ecological areas.
Completion is planned for mid-2021. The terminal will be capable of receiving up to 24 trains/day up to 775 m long, with space for the storage of 460 containers stacked up to four high and loaded to 21 tonnes each.
Rob Cook, Winvic’s Civils & Infrastructure Director, said ‘not only is the plot between the M1 and A5 vast, totalling 344 ha, but many elements of the scheme are complex and require specialist knowledge; from the diversion of and care for the local tributary and its wildlife to constructing adjacent to a live and busy highway.’
