A pioneering new ‘green’ rail trunking service between the company’s Kirkby Thore works in Cumbria and customers in Central Scotland, is helping to secure the future of the famous Settle to Carlisle railway line and contributing toward a reduction in vehicle-based carbon dioxide emissions for plaster and plasterboard market leader, British Gypsum.

The service is being developed in conjunction with Carlisle-based rail operator Direct Rail Services and freight specialists W.H. Malcolm Logistics Services, who are responsible for all finished product deliveries from the Kirkby Thore works. It will operate with 24 rail-adapted containers per day, transporting freight to W.H. Malcolm’s rail operations depot at Elderslie, Scotland. From here the containers will transfer to road to complete their journey to British Gypsum customers.

With rail-based carbon dioxide emissions around 80% less than the equivalent road transport, the new scheme, which will remove 1.76 million lorry miles per year from the road network, offers clear environmental benefits. It will also improve delivery reliability for British Gypsum and its customers, at a time when road transport is under increasing pressure as a result of road congestion, escalating fuel costs and the impact of the Working Time Directive, which is further restricting haulier flexibility.

The Settle to Carlisle railway line was selected for the initial phase of the rail project following significant investment by Network Rail, which has improved its suitability for finished product delivery. The move follows British Gypsum’s earlier decision to use the line for transporting reclaimed gypsum raw material from Drax Power Station in East Yorks. This was the first commercial contract for the then struggling line, which today runs a daily passenger service between Leeds and Carlisle through what is considered to be some of the most picturesque landscape in the country.

Trials of the new service, which have been underway for a number of weeks at the Kirkby Thore works, have proved extremely successful and investigations are now underway to see if it can be extended to other areas served by the Kirkby Thore works, as well as to British Gypsum’s four other major manufacturing sites in the UK.

Douglas Kinnear, Operations Manager at Kirkby Thore, is pleased that his works has been selected to pioneer the new service. Douglas comments “British Gypsum is one of the companies leading the drive for sustainability in the construction industry, and the work we are doing at Kirkby Thore is just one of a number of projects currently underway to reduce our impacts on the environment.

“It is particularly pleasing that, by working in consultation with Direct Rail Services and W H Malcolm Ltd, we have been able to make a significant reduction in road usage. This will benefit every road user, and particularly the local community, with whom we work very closely. I am also delighted that we have been able to further secure the future of the Settle to Carlisle railway line, which is enabling thousands of rail passengers every week to view the beauty of a landscape that we simply must preserve for the generations to come.”

Email: paul.smith@bpb.com