It was once the biggest munitions factory in the world. Now, the owners of Eastriggs, in southwest Scotland, have revealed ambitious plans. They want to turn the sprawling site into a brand new multi-purpose rail freight terminal. Rail Sidings Limited, the operator of Eastriggs, now designated Borderlands Rail Hub, has unveiled plans for a radical expansion of its services.
The proposals were revealed by the Scotsman newspaper over the weekend.Currently, the site is best known as a stabling point for off-lease and off-duty rolling stock. It’s often noted for the ranks of snow ploughs, lined up in the warmer months, of which Scotland has a few. That may change to rakes of container traffic in future.
Military and maritime side by side
Eastriggs is comfortably close to the West Coast Main Line, long recognised as the freight backbone of Britain. It occupies part of a former military railway site, which served a munitions factory, built to answer the prodigious demands of the British Army during the 1914-1918 war. The site history is retold locally in a visitor centre, but Eastriggs has remained an active military installation, alongside its more recent peacetime use. The UK Ministry of Defence does not discuss its own operations, but the site is no longer involved in explosives manufacturing.
Today, the site is popular with a growing list of clients who use the stabling sidings for a variety of rolling stock requirements. However, Rail Sidings Limited has long-held ambitions to make more use of the site, particularly as a freight terminal. The company has recently acquired further standard-gauge infrastructure to help support those ambitions.
Truck route staging post
Gary Draisey, the Managing Director at Rail Sidings Limited, confirmed to RailFreight.com that reports of expansion plans were accurate, and he put forward his reasoning behind the plans. “There are already intermodal flows between Manchester and Mossend near Glasgow. That’s a viable truck route of around two hundred miles [320km], but there is no facility for rail freight in the middle. That’s exactly where Eastriggs lies,” he said.
Rail Sidings, says Draisley, has been approached by several companies, across haulage and manufacturing, enquiring about the possibility of using Eastriggs as a trunk route staging post. “We are located right in the centre, at the junction of trade routes between England, Scotland and Ireland,” he explained. “There are several potential commercial customers who think this is a good idea.”
Agenda for economic development
The cost of road transport is continuing to rise. Draisey observes that the diverse nature of mainly rural industry in the region lends itself to a central point that eliminates a long-distance truck haul to market distribution centres. He considers a modest facility, similar to the recently opened terminal near Inverness, could radically change the logistics profile of the region.
“The southwest of Scotland has always been low on the agenda for economic development,” said Draisey. “The establishment of a rail freight terminal here could have a significant positive effect beyond the yard gates. While our plans would provide jobs and opportunities here, there are collateral benefits for the region as a whole. There is a market for rail terminals around the UK, and there is plenty of business to be had. Draisey doesn’t expect an explosive turn of fortune for the region, but an Eastriggs rail freight terminal, on the back of the existing operations, could be a real blast.