The launch of HS2’s new fleet of freight trains is said to cut down the number of lorries on Buckinghamshire roads.
Thousands of cargo trains were announced to help with the construction of the high-speed railway near Aylesbury.
The newest Buckinghamshire construction hub located on an existing freight line north of Aylesbury in Quainton will see around 1,800 freight trains pass through the railhead over the next three years.
This means 300,000 less lorry movements on Buckinghamshire roads, HS2 Ltd said.
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Replacing lorries to transport construction materials is also expected to stop around 27,903 tonnes of carbon being released into the atmosphere – equivalent of 126 million miles drive by an average petrol car or 156,408 car journeys between London and Edinburgh.
HS2 Ltd’s senior project manager Paul Marshall said: “We are serious about reducing the impact of construction on the local community and promoting sustainable construction methods.
“That’s why we started delivering materials by rail two years ago and this new railhead will help us continue to take huge numbers of trucks off local roads.
“We’ve been working closely with Network Rail, EKFB and the Freight Operators for a number of years to make this possible, and to deliver not only low carbon journeys for our passengers, but also cut carbon in construction.”
Launch of the Quainton hub comes two years after HS2 first began shipping construction material to its other Buckinghamshire sites by rail.
A total of 655 trains have already delivered 1.1 million tonnes of construction materials to the other Bucks HS2 sites, meaning 116,000 less truck journeys and 13,000 tonnes less of carbon emissions.
The Quiainton railhead is operated by Fishbone Solutions on behalf of EKFB, while the trains will be operated by DB Cargo UK Ltd on behalf of Hanson.
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