132 November 2018 NEWSHelping ensure a sustainable future for UK rail freight www.rfg.org.uk P.3 Hanson restores quarry rail link in Cumbria P.4 DB Cargo UK opens Rail sector comes together to mark new £6m steel hub Remembrance Day Massive steel logistics terminal is open for business in Wolverhampton Over the past year DB Cargo UK has cant sums of money that will greatly benefit been working to more than double the British and foreign businesses. size of its existing facility at Knowles Road, Wolverhampton, which receives “There is buoyant demand for steel from imported steel from across Europe. engineering and manufacturing firms in the area and we are delighted to be in a P.5 The £6m project is one of the largest invest- position to work with our customers to help RFG Autumn Group ments in rail freight in the past five years meet this demand,” he added. Meeting: report and is seen as a major vote of confidence in the UK’s continuing ability to trade and The massive new rail freight centre stands attract inward investment post-Brexit. adjacent to the West Coast Mainline, span- ning 11,880 sq m and with the capacity to The new state-of-the-art logistics centre will store some 48,000 tonnes of steel - the be used by some of the world’s biggest steel equivalent of 3,324 coils. companies including ArcelorMittal, Tata Steel and SSAB, providing a major boost to DB Cargo currently transports steel to the local businesses that use their products in centre by rail from the ports of Immingham, their manufacturing processes. Hull and Boston, where it is then unload- Ken Russell elected ed before being transferred onto lorries for as new RFG Chair.DB Cargo UK’s CEO Hans-Georg final delivery by road. The steel is then used Werner said: “This is a fantas- in the manufacture of a range of products P.6 Details on P.2 tic investment story for the UK. including household appliances, heaters Second Teesport rail Despite all the uncertainty over and cars. link to Scotland open Brexit, here you have a large for business German-owned company willing to invest signifi- Continued on page 4. RFG News Nov 2018 Executive Director’s Update: Maggie Simpson email your comments to [email protected] ence of rail freight from his previous time at the Department for High hopes Transport, where he had responsibility for rail freight grants, (a role that presently sits with Roads Minister Jesse Norman MP) for incoming and we will be writing to highlight the benefits of rail freight and current challenges we are facing. Rail Minister Jones joins the DfT at an interesting point, with the Williams By Maggie Simpson, Director General, Rail Review now underway, HS2 Phase 1 heading towards Rail Freight Group (RFG) contract award and of course Brexit. Rail freight will need to be a key consideration in all these areas. Making sure that we Earlier this month we held our AGM and Autumn Group can highlight our successes, as well as our future needs, will Meeting in Sunderland and were lucky enough to have a therefore be particularly important over the coming months, tour of the Port of Sunderland, which has been busy re- and developments such as those in the North East will be key. instating and upgrading its rail connection that now runs down to the quayside. Although the port is only small by Our AGM also brought changes at RFG, with our outgoing comparison to others, it is clear that rail is a core part of Chair Tony Berkeley formally handing over the ropes. The its ambitions and to the economic growth and regenera- RFG Board have decided to have a non-executive chair, elect- tion that will come with port development. ed on an annual basis, and we were pleased that Ken Russell, a director of Russell Logistics, has been elected to serve as This is part of a trend that is seeing more trade, and rail freight, Chair for 2019. Ken will be supported by Neil Sime as Vice- from the regional ports, with a second daily service between Chair and we wish them the very best of luck. At the AGM Teesport and Scotland also starting this autumn. There is no Chris Swan of Tarmac was elected by members to become a doubt that changing trade patterns linked to Brexit are playing Board Director, and we welcome Chris to that role. He replac- a key part in this but an increased confidence in rail and the es Stuart Taylor of Potter Group who has stood down from the benefits it can bring is also a significant factor. Board after many years, and we would like to thank him for all of his support. Demonstrating how rail freight is helping to deliver these trade links is important as we make the case for rail freight growth I look forward to seeing many of you at the RFG Christmas with Government. We have a new Rail Minister in Andrew Lunch in a few weeks’ time, and meanwhile do enjoy reading Jones MP who picks up the rail freight portfolio from Jo John- this edition of RFG News. • son who resigned in mid-November. Jones has past experi- supporter of the RFG, both on the Maggie Simpson said: “I am delighted RFG elects Ken Board since 2015 and as a corporate to welcome both Ken and Neil to the member since the start of the Group. new roles. They both bring with them Russell as new years of experience in the rail freight Chair He said: “I am delighted to be taking and logistics sector and I very much up this role. It has never been more look forward to working them.” The Board of the Rail Freight Group important to promote the benefits of (RFG) is pleased to announce that switching goods to rail and I look for- Tony Berkeley also formally stood Ken Russell has been elected as its ward to helping grow the RFG’s mem- down from his role as Chair. He will new Chair in succession to Tony bership and strengthening our com- continue to work for RFG as Euro- Berkeley who formally retired at munity across the sector. pean Advisor until the middle of next the Group’s AGM on 7 November. year. • Neil Sime, Managing Director of Vic- Ken is a director at Russell Logistics ta Railfreight, has also been elected RFG would also like to introduce and has been a long-standing to the new role of Vice-Chair. He has its full Board of Directors: been on the board since 2003 and is a tireless supporter of the sector. Simon Blake, Aggregate Industries Andrew Harston, ABP Under a new process agreed by the Richard Clarke, DB Cargo UK RFG Board, Ken and Neil will serve as Lindsay Durham, Freightliner Chair and Vice-Chair for a 12-month Duncan Clark, GB Railfreight period. The election for these posi- Chris Geldard, Geldard Consulting tions will take place each year, with François Coart, Getlink all qualifying Board Directors eligible Martin Woor, Hutchison Ports to stand. Peter Frost, Kilbride Group Mike Garratt, MDS Transmodal RFG is also pleased to announce that Maggie Simpson, RFG Chris Swan, Head of Rail for Tarmac, Ken Russell, Russell Logistics has become a Director of the Board, Chris Swan, Tarmac being appointed at the AGM. Maggie Neil Sime, Victa Railfreight Simpson, currently Executive Director Rob Brook, VTG Rail of RFG, has been appointed to the David Turner, WH Malcolm role of Director General, and will con- tinue to lead the RFG in its work. Ken Russell 2 RFG News Nov 2018 Andrew Jones MP News in brief: replaces Johnson • The Office of Rail and Road (ORR) has appoint- as Rail Minister ed John Larkinson, cur- Andrew Jones MP has been appointed Par- rently Director of Railway liamentary Under Secretary of State for Markets and Economics, Transport, with responsibility for rail, replac- as Interim CEO with im- ing Jo Johnson MP who resigned last week mediate effect following over Brexit negotiations. an internal competition. This follows the departure Andrew Jones was appointed on 12 November of Joanna Whittington, and was previously Exchequer Secretary to HM who left to take up the po- Treasury but before that served as a Minister at sition of Director General, the DfT from May 2015 to June 2017. Energy and Security at the Department for Business, He has also chaired the Northern Electrification Energy and Industrial Taskforce that directly advised the Secretary of Strategy (BEIS). State for Transport on the next steps for electrifi- cation of railways in the North of England. • DB Cargo UK has donat- ed a Breakdown and Re- covery truck to the Nation- al College for High Speed Rail to aid students with Hanson restores quarry rail link to take their training. The vehicle which can run on road and lorries off the roads rail and weighs around 17 Hanson has spent some Simon Day, Hanson UK’s re- GBRf’s MD John Smith added: tonnes will be used as part £250,000 in restoring the gional general manager for the “We are delighted to be part- of the Engineering cours- railway siding at its plant in North, said: “The investment in nering with Hanson on this new es at the college. Ashton-in-Makerfield. It is the site is an important part of service, which will be using the first-time rail freight has our rail strategy. We are work- one of GB Railfreight’s recent- • Network Rail has opened been run into the depot for ing to try to increase the ton- ly purchased class 60 locomo- applications for next year’s some 10 years, and will see nage of aggregates we trans- tives.