Rail Minister opens Kilbride Group´s Rail Terminal at Swindon Keypoint
Announcement, 28th October 2008
See also: http://www.swindonweb.com/office/?m=580&s=587&ss=0&c=4288&t=Honda+on+the+right+track+for+exports
Specialist infrastructure developer, Kilbride Group has taken over the Keypoint Swindon rail terminal and invested in an improved road access to allow cars from the neighbouring Honda car plant at Swindon direct access to the terminal. This has resulted in Honda committing 23,000 cars per year to rail service in the initial phase, which has been developed with rail logistics group STVA UK. The cars will be moved by rail via the Channel Tunnel to mainland Europe.
Honda´s car factory in Swindon has begun exporting cars by rail to allow faster transportation of vehicles and reduce the associated environmental impact. Almost 3,000 trucks a year will be taken off the road following the re-opening of an existing rail head next to the Honda of the UK Manufacturing site at Swindon. Replacing trucks with trains will halve the annual CO2 emissions for one of the key deliveries into Europe.*
The rail head was officially opened earlier today by Rail Minister, Under-Secretary of State, Lord Andrew Adonis. Up to two trains a week will run from the rail head, with each service transporting over 200 Swindon-built cars to Honda´s European Vehicle Logistics Operations in Gent, Belgium. It´s estimated around 23,000 cars will be exported this way over the course of a year.
“We export Civics and CR-Vs built in Swindon to 60 countries across Europe,” says Simon Stacy, Manager – Logistics Operations at Honda Motor Europe. “The new rail head and the service it allows will not only deliver Honda cars into Europe faster, but will minimise the amount of trucks travelling in and out of the factory.”
The new rail freight terminal links directly to the Honda facility, and has been developed jointly between Honda and Kilbride Group. Vehicle logistics company STVA operates the movement service for Honda.
“This new rail option achieves operational improvements combined with quality service delivery,” says Ian Brown, Managing Director of STVA. “It demonstrates that rail can meet a transport logistics challenge while simultaneously minimising environmental impact.”
