HS2 confirmed that the new facility is expected to take the equivalent of 300,000 lorry movements off local roads as the first freight train arrived

Situated on an existing freight line north of Aylesbury, the new railhead will welcome approx. 1,800 freight trains over the next three years as construction of HS2 – which will improve links between London, Birmingham and the north - gathers pace.

Delivering this material by rail instead of HGV is expected to save 27,903 tCO2e (tonnes of carbon), the equivalent of 126 million miles driven by an average petrol car - or 156,408 return journeys between London and Edinburgh.

The new site near Quainton, will allow HS2 to continue shipping material by rail as construction ramps up and is expected to handle 3 million tonnes of material – mainly aggregates used for construction.

Once on site, most of the material will be stockpiled before being moved up or down the trace of the new high speed line on a series of dedicated haul roads to keep it away from local road users.

Welcoming the news, HS2 Ltd Senior Project Manager Paul Marshall said:

“We are serious about reducing the impact of construction on the local community and promoting sustainable construction methods. That’s why we started delivering materials by rail two years ago and this new railhead will help us continue to take huge numbers of trucks off local roads.

“We’ve been working closely with Network Rail, EKFB and the Freight Operators for a number of years to make this possible, and to deliver not only low carbon journeys for our passengers, but also cut carbon in construction.”