The British infrastructure operator Network Rail is currently preparing to bid out a multi-year contract for the supply of rails. Companies wanting to take part in the tender are required to prove they are able to deliver long rails.
Austrian rail manufacturer voestalpine Schienen GmbH is partnering up with DB Cargo to tackle this challenge. Currently, voestalpine is conducting test deliveries. The transports start in Leoben Donawitz, Styria. They continue through Calais and the Channel Tunnel to Eastleigh, while completely under DB Cargo’s direction.
The first tests were successful, and others will follow in the coming months. Regular deliveries at three-week intervals would then begin in April 2020.
Transporting rails to Great Britain by train comes with a set of challenges. The rails are 108 m in length, stretching along six freight wagons. That means they have to bend along with the curves.
Since wagons in Great Britain are narrower than the ones used on the continent, only certain freight wagons can be considered for this transport.
The destination of Eastleigh is a long-established railway town. A station was built here on the Southampton–Winchester line in the 19th century. Wagon and locomotive manufacturers later set up premises there. Network Rail is headquartered in London and maintains a unit in Eastleigh dedicated to renewing the Wessex route, for which two billion pounds (roughly EUR 2.2 billion) have been earmarked over the next five years.
