Stourton Freightliner Terminal

Stourton Freightliner Terminal (Stourton FLT), is a railfreight intermodal transport hub located in Stourton, Leeds, England. It is operated by the Freightliner Group, and has services arriving and departing for ports in Felixstowe, Southampton and Tilbury in the south of England. Stourton serves as a dedicated collection and delivery point for containers across Yorkshire, with a minor sub-service to Teesport in Middlesbrough by rail.

Stourton Freightliner terminal
A railway locomotive with containers at an unloading centre
Stourton Freightliner container terminal looking south eastwards
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Location
CountryEngland
LocationStourton, Leeds
Coordinates53.768°N 1.510°W / 53.768; -1.510
UN/LOCODEGB SYR
Details
Opened1967
Operated byFreightliner Group
Type of harbourIntermodal terminal
Land area14.3 acres (5.8 ha)
Rail linesHallam Line
Rail gauge4 ft 8+1⁄2 in (1,435 mm)
Street accessM1 motorway
M621 motorway
A639 road
Statistics
Website
Official webpage

The site was opened in July 1967 by British Rail as part of its dedicated Freightliner brand. Between the closure of many intermodal terminals in the 1980s, and the prospect of a resurgence in Channel Tunnel traffic, Stourton was the only intermodal terminal in Yorkshire between 1987 and 1994.

History

When the Freightliner brand was introduced by British Rail (BR) in the 1960s, three of the initial 17 terminals would be in the Yorkshire region (Hull, Leeds and Sheffield).[1] The site was built on the former Stourton sidings,[2] which were earmarked for investment as a marshalling yard under the 1955 modernisation plan, though this never came to fruition.[3] After the mass closure of Freightliner terminals across the UK in 1986 and 1987, Leeds Stourton remained the only Yorkshire based terminal.[4][note 1] Stourton is also one of only five of the original 1960s batch of terminals still in operation (the others being Garston in Liverpool, Lawley Street in Birmingham, Southampton Millbrook and Trafford Park in Manchester).[5]

Opened in July 1967, the site is located on the former Stourton steam shed, and at its opening covered over 11 acres (4.5 ha).[6]

Under British Rail in 1994, the prospect of Channel Tunnel traffic, led to BR developing a new intermodal terminal at Wakefield Europort,[7] which in the post-privatisation era has been operated by Freightliner Group competitor DB Cargo UK. During this period, the terminal at Stourton was handling an average of 65,000 containers every year.[8] Originally, British Rail wanted to develop Stourton into a single terminal for both deep-sea, domestic and Channel Tunnel traffic, so the site would be similar to that at Trafford Park in Manchester, where the two intermodal terminals are quite close. However, the upgrade at Stourton wasn't eligible for a European Economic Community grant, but the Wakefield site was.[9]

Throughout the 1990s and the 2000s, the typical destinations served by Leeds Stourton have been the ports at Felixstowe, Southampton and Tilbury, with feeder services to Crewe Basford Hall and Wilton, or Teesport terminals on Teesside.[10] After the opening of London Gateway in 2014, Stourton has been one of the new services from that location.[11] During the late 1980s, a feeder service operated between the Port of Immingham and Stourton.[12]

Future

In 2018, the typical number of train movements to and from Stourton was 14. The projected traffic growth in intermodal containers is estimated to increase to 47 trains per day by 2043.[13]

Access and layout

The terminal can only be operated by diesel trains as no electric wires (catenary) exist on this stretch of line. The section south has been mooted in the railway press as an 'infill' electrification project;[14] from Stourton terminal to Hare Park Junction (on the Doncaster to Wakefield Line), is 18 miles (29 km).[15] The electrification of the line between Whitehall Junction (Leeds) and Hare Park Junction (on the Leeds to Doncaster line), appeared as a desired future project in Network Rail's Freight Network Study of 2017.[16]

Aside from the arrival siding, the main part of the terminal consists of three through lines with gantry cranes straddling all three.[17] The site covers 14.3 acres (5.8 ha), and has the capacity to store 1,150 standard containers (rated as TEU).[18] Stourton is located on Valley Farm Way in Stourton, a suburb of south Leeds, with road access to the M1 motorway, the M621 motorway and the A639 road.[19]

See also

Notes
  1. Of the original 17 terminals, one was in Stockton (then County Durham). It was deemed as being poorly sited for the Teesside industrial region and was moved to Wilton on the south bank of the River Tees in 1984. This placed it in the ceremonial county of North Yorkshire (then Cleveland). It has also since moved a second time, in 2014, now being located at Teesport alongside other railfreight intermodal operations run by competitors.

References
  1. "Freightliner Depots (Hansard, 25 March 1968)". api.parliament.uk. Retrieved 22 February 2020.
  2. "Explore georeferenced maps - Map images - National Library of Scotland". maps.nls.uk. Retrieved 28 October 2020. Use the transparency function to compare between 1905 mapping and modern day satellite imagery.
  3. British Railways progress May 1962. London: British Transport Commission. May 1962. p. 40. OCLC 1181298331.
  4. Rhodes, Michael; Shannon, Paul (1990). The freight only yearbook. Lancashire: Silver Link. p. 87. ISBN 0-947971-41-6.
  5. Shannon 2010, p. 8.
  6. Shannon 2010, p. 10.
  7. Haywood, Russell (2009). Railways, urban development and town planning in Britain, 1948-2008. Farnham: Ashgate. p. 227. ISBN 978-0-7546-7392-7.
  8. "Railfreight Distribution". Containerisation International. London: Informa. 27: 68. 1993. ISSN 0010-7379.
  9. Nash, C A; Fowkes, S A; Hopkinson, PG; Preston, J M; Wardman, M (1993). "A Review of Rail Research Relevant to the Case for Increased Rail Investment". Institute of Transport Studies. Leeds: Institute of Transport Studies, University of Leeds (392): 10. ISSN 0142-8942.
  10. Shannon 2013, pp. 32, 33, 53.
  11. "Freightliner announces London Gateway services". Railway Gazette International. 26 April 2014. Retrieved 29 October 2020.
  12. Shannon 2010, p. 25.
  13. Iggulden, Richard (2018). Continuous Modular Strategic Planning North of England; Freight Strategic Questions (PDF). networkrail.co.uk (Report). p. 56. Retrieved 24 October 2020.
  14. "House of Commons - Transport Committee - Rail 2020: Written evidence from West Yorkshire Passenger Transport Executive (Metro) (ROR 42)". publications.parliament.uk. Retrieved 22 February 2020.
  15. Worth, Julian (April 2018). "Charting an electric freight future". Modern Railways. Stamford: Key Publishing. 75 (835): 58. ISSN 0026-8356.
  16. "Freight Network Study" (PDF). networkrail.co.uk. April 2017. p. 41. Retrieved 28 October 2020.
  17. Padgett, David (2016). Brailsford, Martyn (ed.). Railway track diagrams, Book 2 - Eastern (4 ed.). Frome: Trackmaps. 36A. ISBN 978-0-9549866-8-1.
  18. "Leeds Freightliner Terminal - Freightliner". G&W UK / Europe Region Companies. Retrieved 29 October 2020.
  19. "High Speed Rail (Crewe to Manchester and West Midlands to Leeds) Working Draft Environmental Statement Volume 2: Community Area report LA17: Stourton to Hunslet" (PDF). assets.publishing.service.gov.uk. October 2018. p. 8. Retrieved 22 February 2020.

Sources
  • Shannon, Paul (2010). Rail Freight Since 1968: Containers, Cars and Other Traffics. Kettering: Silver Link. ISBN 978-1-85794-347-4.
  • Shannon, Paul (2013). Freightliner. Hersham: Ian Allan Publishing. ISBN 978-0-7110-3688-8.
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