Bescot to become a Sleeper factory

[59CosG95]

http://www.theconstructionindex.co.uk/news/view/sandwell-sidings-to-become-sleeper-factory

Network Rail has earmarked a site in Sandwell railway sidings for the construction of a sleeper factory.


If approved, the new facility is expected to produce up to 600,000 concrete sleepers a year, accounting for 60% of Britain’s supply of a million sleepers. Network Rail’s other factory in Doncaster will provide the remaining 40%.
The proposed site at Bescot will be directly connected to the rail network making it quicker and easier to transport the sleepers around Britain,...

Saw this earlier while trying to trawl through various websites for dissertation research; any thoughts? Could be NR eyeing a potential replacement site for sleeper production, what with Washwood Heath set for demolition prior to HS2's arrival.

 

[The Planner]

No eyeing about it, the CEMEX factory gets demolished as part of HS2 and it provides a significant amount of our sleepers so it needs replacing.

 

[DarloRich]

took long enough to show up here

 

[rebmcr]

I thought CAF were making the sleepers in Spain?

 

[The Planner]

Bit of a trek from Spain to get them on the LNW for NR!

 

[causton]

I must admit my first thought was Sleeper carriages, not railway sleepers

 

[edwin_m]

If it's a sleeper factory, won't it just do nothing until someone wakes it up?

 

[james60059]

Briefly, I believe the old Daw Mill Coliery site was mentioned for a new sleeper production site but was quickly shelved because of land contamination.

 

[DarloRich]

ps the whole of Bescot isn't becoming a sleeper factory

 

[59CosG95]

ps the whole of Bescot isn't becoming a sleeper factory

Well that seemed blindingly obvious! Cemex (or whoever ends up running the show) will just take as much space as they need, probably the same amount as the WWH plant currently has (or a little bit more). This can probably allow the yard to be massively reorganised too.

 

[The Planner]

Briefly, I believe the old Daw Mill Coliery site was mentioned for a new sleeper production site but was quickly shelved because of land contamination.

No, the locals kicked up a massive fuss over it and we backed out.

 

[The Planner]

ps the whole of Bescot isn't becoming a sleeper factory

DB shed end from what Ive been shown.

 

[snowball]

Press release

https://www.networkrail.co.uk/feeds...cure-manufacturing-jobs-in-the-west-midlands/

Sleeper factory plans will secure manufacturing jobs in the West Midlands

A railway site in Sandwell has been identified to build a new factory that will supply sleepers to the rail network across Britain for years to come.

Network Rail has highlighted the railway sidings at Bescot as the preferred location for a new concrete sleeper factory which will secure up to 100 jobs in the West Midlands and ensure Bescot remains a key location on the national railway map.

Sleepers are a vital part of the railway, and if approved, the new facility will produce up to 600,000 of them a year, accounting for 60 per cent of Britain’s supply. Network Rail’s other factory in Doncaster will provide the remaining 40 per cent.

As part of Network Rail’s ongoing commitment to be more efficient and cost-effective, the proposed site at Bescot will be directly connected to the rail network making it quicker and easier to transport the sleepers around Britain.

Network Rail remains committed to the West Midlands economy which is why Bescot has been identified as our preferred location for the new factory that will retain the bulk of our sleeper manufacturing presence in the region.

Bescot is ideally placed at the heart of the rail network to provide sleepers across Britain. We are in discussion with the local council to carry out an environmental assessment of the proposed factory and its impact on the surrounding area before we fully consult with local people and stakeholders on our plans.

Martin Frobisher, route managing director of Network Rail’s London and North Western route

Network Rail will award a 15 year contract to manufacture concrete railway sleepers in spring this year.

 

[The Planner]

Gotta love a good press release, it's not like CEMEX at Washwood Heath isn't rail connected..

 

[route:oxford]

Gotta love a good press release, it's not like CEMEX at Washwood Heath isn't rail connected..

Best to put it in there, otherwise people get all excited.

 

[sneaky_1982]

wasnt there talk of tallinton near perterborough becoming a place that made sleepers?

 

[randyrippley]

Bescot doesn't stand out as a place with much in the way of either limestone or aggregate for making the concrete.
I would have thought somewhere close to Clitheroe would have made more sense, given the existing rail infrastructure at the existing cement works.

 

[mcmad]

The locals around Bescot are going to love that.

Wasn't there a new NWR sleeper plant just opened, around Doncaster but not by CEMEX.

 

[Elecman]

The locals around Bescot are going to love that.

Wasn't there a new NWR sleeper plant just opened, around Doncaster but not by CEMEX.

Yes, this one is even bigger

 

[DarloRich]

wasnt there talk of tallinton near perterborough becoming a place that made sleepers?

The factory is still there but is old and possibly mothballed now

 

[DarloRich]

Bescot doesn't stand out as a place with much in the way of either limestone or aggregate for making the concrete.
I would have thought somewhere close to Clitheroe would have made more sense, given the existing rail infrastructure at the existing cement works.

Neither is Doncaster - plus you don't make this kind of product in those kind of quantities in a normal concrete works nor do you put it in the back end of no where - there is one rather obvious reason for Bescot.......

 

[AndrewE]

I can think of half a dozen reasons why Bescot, but the stand-out one? I would guess that you mean the fact that on one side its neighbour is the M6 (which won't complain about noise or night-time activity.) Am I right?

 

[richieb1971]

Bescot 1960's foot print is very large for what its used for today. It seems to have too much land space occupied by track and not doing much of late. Perhaps thats why it was identified apart from the geographic reasons. It you took all those 60's out of Toton you could quarter the size of the site.

 

[edwin_m]

Bescot has good rail connections in several directions so should be easy to get raw materials in and sleepers out by rail. This is particularly important if the plan is to take sleepers direct to engineering worksites, which may be at times when some routes are closed for other engineering work.

 

[AndrewE]

Come on Darlo (and others), tell us why Bescot is the obvious candidate when Toton has almost the same benefits!

I accept the excellent route options available to get away from Bescot (and on top of that it is in LNWR rather than MR territory) but Toton is closer to the hard rock aggregates available from Leicester, and is almost as isolated. ...Well, there are lots of houses around, but if I remember right it's in a deep cutting which should help.

(By the way, I seem to remember that limestone aggregate isn't very good in concrete, alkali/silica reaction maybe?)

The railway ought to be able to schedule trains of sleepers to where they are needed well in advance of use, so I wouldn't have thought that line closures for engineering would be relevant in any way.
A

 

[The Planner]

If CEMEX win the contract to carry on with production why would they want to go to Toton?

 

[AndrewE]

If CEMEX win the contract to carry on with production why would they want to go to Toton?

I though that extra capacity was required anyway?

 

[The Planner]

Yes, but why shift their operation 50 miles when they can move 5?

Bescot is already a LDC with paths from Washwood Heath amyway (bizarrely class 7 ones)

 

[edwin_m]

Toton is planned to become the HS2 station but there is still some uncertainty about the details. So a sleeper plant built there might have to be moved in 10 years or so, just when the demand for sleepers for HS2 was greatest. On completion of HS2 the land around Toton will become very valuable so the plant would probably move elsewhere anyway.

This is the situation that arose at Washwood Heath, unavoidably in that case as the plant was there before any HS2 planning started. It would be a bit silly to do the same thing again at Toton despite having foreknowledge that it was going to happen.

 

[AndrewE]

Thanks for the last 2 points, I'm not particularly interested in the East Midlands and I hadn't spotted the implications of HS2 for Toton. Also useful that Bescot has lots of paths for PWay materials trains already.