-
Our new ticketing site is now live! Using either this or the original site (both powered by TrainSplit) helps support the running of the forum with every ticket purchase! Find out more and ask any questions/give us feedback in this thread!
Sizewell c construction traffic
- Thread starter spotter62
- Start date
- Status
Sponsor Post - registered members do not see these adverts; click here to register, or click here to log in
R
RailUK Forums
londonmidland
Established Member
I asked something similar here
There seems to be these two workings which haven't run:
6L81 1808 Avonmouth Hanson Agg. (Fh) to Parkeston S.S.
https://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/service/gb-nr:H00177/2025-05-30/detailed
6L82 1854 Avonmouth Hanson Agg. (Fh) to Parkeston S.S.
https://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/service/gb-nr:H00178/2025-05-30/detailed
6L81 1808 Avonmouth Hanson Agg. (Fh) to Parkeston S.S.
https://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/service/gb-nr:H00177/2025-05-30/detailed
6L82 1854 Avonmouth Hanson Agg. (Fh) to Parkeston S.S.
https://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/service/gb-nr:H00178/2025-05-30/detailed
Class15
Established Member
Yes, looking through it’s those and a couple of returns towards Avonmouth via London.
dk1
Veteran Member
Sizewell C traffic when it starts will be assembled at Parkeston. Up to 4 trains each night are planned to operate from there to the East Suffolk line.
dk1
Veteran Member
Really not sure on that personally.
Adrian Barr
Member
I was delving into this yesterday when Sizewell was mentioned in the other thread about paths from Parkeston to Leicester.
There's a 2021 planning document on Sizewell which gives some idea of the rail traffic likely to be involved. In that document they hadn't yet decided between Ipswich Yard and Parkeston Yard as the rail hub, but presumably decided on Parkeston in the end. The intention was that some materials would be railed from there along the East Suffolk Line to an "Ancillary Construction Area" (perhaps similar to the temporary Quainton Railhead for HS2), and other materials would be railed to Ipswich Griffin Wharf for transhipment to marine vessels (similar to how Avonmouth receives aggregate for onward movement to Hinckley Point).
Judging from this snippet from a 2024 visit to the Port of Ipswich, Griffin Wharf (on the west bank of the River Orwell) is still on the cards to be involved with the project:
Edit: The planning document refers to a "Green Rail Route" (GRR) without clearly explaining what it is, but according to Network Rail it involves building a short connection (off the Sizewell branch) to a "Temporary Construction Area" (TCA), not to be confused with the Ancillary Construction Area (ACA) which will probably be next to the existing line.
https://www.networkrail.co.uk/runni...he-railway-in-anglia/sizewell-rail-programme/
Last edited:
Class15
Established Member
Forgive me if I’m misremembering something but isn’t the plan to build a temporary freight line near Leiston branching of the existing one, running close to the abbey, and heading towards Sizewell C?
dk1
Veteran Member
Yes an extension and sidings that must all be removed in around 12 years time and returned to nature.
Class 170101
On Moderation
- Joined
- 1 Mar 2014
- Messages
- 8,661
Assuming the construction is on time, which if its anything like Hinckley Point I would not hold your breath.
Class15
Established Member
I agree about Ipswich, at some times the yard is empty but at other times there are 4 Intermodals all sitting there.
Class 170101
On Moderation
- Joined
- 1 Mar 2014
- Messages
- 8,661
Griffin Wharf may be used as a Port of Entry for the materials before being tripped to Harwich Parkeston Sidings then reverse and remarshalled before being sent on its way to Sizewell C Construction Sidings
Is there a new branch as part of the permanent construction, separate from that for delivery of material? I recall seeing some proposed plans at my last employer about ten years ago and a new rail link was shown (to the north of the current site?). Obviously this could have changed!
Class15
Established Member
This is still planned, see posts 12 and 13.
Adrian Barr
Member
Good point. In post #11 I was thinking that Ipswich Griffin Wharf might function in a similar way that Avonmouth does for Hinkley Point, where aggregate or cement arrive by rail for transhipment to vessels. The difference is that Hinkley Point has a jetty in the Bristol Channel for receiving materials, but no local rail access. The coast around Sizewell C looks more like a shallow, sandy beach. The 2021 planning document I linked in my previous post mentions a proposed Marine Bulk Import Facility (MBIF) at Sizewell, but it would only be able to receive shallower coastal vessels, and would be closed over the winter months (almost half the year in fact) due to the weather. I'm not sure if this MBIF is still going ahead or when it would be built:
So receiving materials by ship is less practical at Sizewell than at Hinkley point. But unlike Hinkley, rail access is feasible at Sizewell, so as per your post, the intention is that some materials would arrive by ship at Ipswich Griffin Wharf for transfer to rail. There are some regular WTT schedules now in place for these movements. The timing loads are 715 tons into Griffin Wharf (empty), and 1760 from Griffin Wharf (loaded).
Trains at IPS GRFNW
Selected trains from 00:01 to 24:00 on 01/07/25
Lc Arr Dep Wttid Origin Destination Typ Days From To TC
05:54 ***** 6Y00 PRKSTSSGB 05:12 IPS GRFNW 05:54 WTT EWD 190525 131225 B4
***** 10:05 6A01 IPS GRFNW 10:05 PRKSTSSGB 10:54 WTT SX 190525 121225 B4
11:06 ***** 6Y01 PRKSTSSGB 10:15 IPS GRFNW 11:06 WTT SX 020625 121225 B6
***** 14:10 6A02 IPS GRFNW 14:10 PRKSTSSGB 15:00 WTT SX 190525 121225 B4
15:05 ***** 6Y02 PRKSTSSGB 14:17 IPS GRFNW 15:05 WTT SX 190525 121225 B4
***** 17:43 6A03 IPS GRFNW 17:43 PRKSTSSGB 18:32 WTT SX 190525 121225 B4
18:42 ***** 6Y03 PRKSTSSGB 17:56 IPS GRFNW 18:42 WTT SX 190525 121225 B4
***** 22:35 6A04 IPS GRFNW 22:35 PRKSTSSGB 23:25 WTT SX 190525 121225 B4
It seems surprisingly difficult to find a decent map of this...
This "transport strategy" document for the Sizewell project (58 page PDF) is quite old (2012), but has a couple of good maps which help me to visualise what they are doing:
https://www.sizewellc.com/wp-conten...e1_transport_strategy_supporting_document.pdf
Page 37 has two maps. The first shows the red outline of the current terminal used for flask trains. The second map shows a couple of sidings superimposed in blue, which must be the proposed Ancillary Construction Area (ACA). This would be the initial railhead for materials, before the additional "green rail route" is built to the "Temporary Construction Area" (TCA).
The map on page 39 shows three potential routes they were considering for the new line, shown in blue, red, and green. It looks like they chose the green option which is probably how it acquired the name of the "green rail route" (which also has the benefit of sounding environmentally friendly).
This short planning document is more recent (from 2020) and shows the detail of the green rail route, with detailed drawings of site boundaries e.t.c
I saw this video from the Sizewell C Project recently. It's mostly corporate fluff, but from 0:50 it shows the kind of earthworks taking place at the site, and gives a general idea of how things are progressing.
At 0:53 a map comes up on screen showing the three main sites - the power station site itself, the Temporary Construction Area (which will eventually be served by the new line), and the smaller Ancillary Construction Area (next to the existing line, which will come into operation before the TCA and probably be used to receive materials for the construction of the TCA itself and the "green rail route").
Powering Britain’s Future | A Tour of Sizewell C
I noticed the other day a couple of class 20s rounding up the last of the wagons in Parkeston yard, went to work the following day to find the yard completely empty! Not seen Parkeston empty like this before! Would anyone know if they are clearing it to make room for the Sizewell traffic?
Class15
Established Member
Yep. Here are some examples for ‘Leiston West Junction’ (can anyone confirm exactly where this is please?):
www.realtimetrains.co.uk
Realtime Trains | Departures from Leiston West Junction all day on 08/01/2026
Train information at Leiston West Junction all day on 08/01/2026. From Realtime Trains, an independent source of train running info for Great Britain.
www.realtimetrains.co.uk
ac6000cw
Established Member
The map below is from page 4 of this presentation - the dashed green line is the 'green rail route' into the SZC (Sizewell C) construction site, which splits off from the existing (dashed black) line from Saxmundham just west of Leiston. I'm guessing that's at ‘Leiston West Junction’, probably in roughly this location
Last edited:
geordieblue
Member
There was an aggregate train to Great Yarmouth earlier this week - as I understand it the first train for Sizewell C.
dk1
Veteran Member
Was this the one stored with Eastern Rail Services at Vauxhall carriage sidings?
Obar123
Member
Not the first train for Sizewell, they were sending two trains a day into Barham every day for a good 6 months. Then 40 lorry loads a day from there to Sizewell.
dk1
Veteran Member
Oh I’ve just seen it was actually a loaded aggregate service to Great Yarmouth 
That’s got to be the first freight handled here since the short lived Bunn’s fertiliser traffic in 1999. Another working booked for next Tuesday.
That’s got to be the first freight handled here since the short lived Bunn’s fertiliser traffic in 1999. Another working booked for next Tuesday.
Adrian Barr
Member
Interesting... this drone shot shows it being unloaded within the Eastern Rail Services site at the carriage sidings on October 29th:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/68729621@N03/54888309695/ (Photo: Ian Sharman)
The stone originated from Mountsorrel, running as 6F77 12:27 Mountsorrel - Wellingborough on 28th October before continuing that evening as 6L78 23:09 Wellingborough to Great Yarmouth CS.
Return working was 6L79 16:10 to Wellingborough
As predicted in the previous post, 6L78 ran again today (Tuesday 4th Nov) as 02:41 from Wellingborough to Yarmouth, with 66716 and 22 box wagons, returning as 6L79 16:09 to Wellingborough.
The stone was from Mountsorrel again, with the loaded wagons arriving at Wellingborough the previous day as 6F77 12:27 Mountsorrel - Wellingborough.
Today's 6L78 arriving into Yarmouth station: https://www.flickr.com/photos/tibshelf/54901925718/ (Photo: Keith Partlow)
And propelling into the carriaige sidings: https://www.flickr.com/photos/kl47576/54901960003/ (Photo: kingslynn47576)
---------
Railfreight.com reported the first train delivering materials directly onto the Sizewell branch during April:
https://www.railfreight.com/technology/2025/04/23/first-freight-train-to-sizewell-c-reactor/
Can't read much (paywalled) but the photo shows an excavator unloading a "Hawk" JNA wagon, indicating it was a possession train of some sort. Possibly this was ballast for tracklaying at the temporary construction area? I'm not sure what the latest progress is on the branch.
Adrian Barr
Member
The February newsletter of the Rail Freight Group reports the first delivery of aggregate to the "Ancillary Construction Area (ACA)" near Sizewell. Looking at the map in post #24, the ACA is the red hatched area where the line curves near the yellow caravan symbol. On google maps imagery, earthworks for the ACA are visible and the adjacent car park has the address "ACA site SZC, Eastlands Industrial Estate, King George's Ave, Leiston."
The accompanying picture shows 66795 and a "Hawk" JNA wagon conveying aggregate or ballast, and it looks like at least a couple of sidings have been laid next to the branch.
Some relevant snippets:
As I understand it, previous workings such as the Yarmouth service discussed upthread have delivered aggregate for the construction of the ACA (and possibly for other works around the Sizewell site), while the ACA will then be used to deliver materials for construction of the green rail route and TCA, which will then be the main railhead for the Sizewell project...
The accompanying picture shows 66795 and a "Hawk" JNA wagon conveying aggregate or ballast, and it looks like at least a couple of sidings have been laid next to the branch.
Some relevant snippets:
As I understand it, previous workings such as the Yarmouth service discussed upthread have delivered aggregate for the construction of the ACA (and possibly for other works around the Sizewell site), while the ACA will then be used to deliver materials for construction of the green rail route and TCA, which will then be the main railhead for the Sizewell project...
- Status