Daventry International Railfreight Terminal
Encyclopedia
Daventry International Rail Freight Terminal (DIRFT) is a rail port and logistics centre located near Rugby, Warwickshire
and Crick, Northamptonshire
just south of the beginning of the M6 Motorway
and near junction 18 of the M1 motorway
. It is on the Northampton loop
of the West Coast Main Line
.
DIRFT is located between three main roads, the A5, A428
and M1, and with links to the A45
, M6, A14 and A426
.
The centre is 79 miles (127.1 km) from London
, 40 miles (64.4 km) from Birmingham
, 36 miles (57.9 km) from Leicester
, 121 miles (194.7 km) from Manchester
and 127 miles (204.4 km) from Southampton
. It is within a 4.5 hour drive of 85% of the UK
's towns and cities. The site is about 500 acres (202.3 ha) in size.
The recent growth in distribution centres across Northamptonshire
earned it the title of 'England's Pancreas
' in Alan Titchmarsh
's television series The Nature of Britain
.
. Crick Industrial Estate is just east of the motorway junction .
A large extension (DIRFTII), featuring a new rail port, is under construction along the A428 between Hillmorton and the Halfway Garage. Planning consent has been obtained to build the 1.945 million sq.ft. development, which will have both distribution and manufacturing sections. Work began in 2010 on the project by contractor VolkerFitzpatrick Contractors, a British privately owned civil engineering company. As part of the development, a rail tunnel was built under the A5 in a single weekend. The first of four plots was due to be occupied by retailer Tesco
in summer 2011.
, Northampton
, Lutterworth
and Daventry
.
and Freightliner (UK)
. There is a small group of services which are provided by English Welsh & Scottish Railway (EWS
), and also FirstGBRf. Destinations range from Mossend
in Scotland to Marcroft Engineering in Stoke-on-Trent
. The planned DIRFTII extension should see a large growth in rail freight traffic to and from Daventry
.
Rugby, Warwickshire
Rugby is a market town in Warwickshire, England, located on the River Avon. The town has a population of 61,988 making it the second largest town in the county...
and Crick, Northamptonshire
Crick, Northamptonshire
Crick is a village in the Daventry district of the county of Northamptonshire in England. It is close to the border with Warwickshire, west of Rugby and north-west of Northampton. The villages of Crick and West Haddon were by-passed by the A428 main road from Rugby to Northampton when the...
just south of the beginning of the M6 Motorway
M6 motorway
The M6 motorway runs from junction 19 of the M1 at the Catthorpe Interchange, near Rugby via Birmingham then heads north, passing Stoke-on-Trent, Manchester, Preston, Carlisle and terminating at the Gretna junction . Here, just short of the Scottish border it becomes the A74 which continues to...
and near junction 18 of the M1 motorway
M1 motorway
The M1 is a north–south motorway in England primarily connecting London to Leeds, where it joins the A1 near Aberford. While the M1 is considered to be the first inter-urban motorway to be completed in the United Kingdom, the first road to be built to motorway standard in the country was the...
. It is on the Northampton loop
Northampton loop
The Northampton loop is a railway line serving the town of Northampton. It is a branch of the West Coast Main Line, deviating from the faster direct main line which runs to the west....
of the West Coast Main Line
West Coast Main Line
The West Coast Main Line is the busiest mixed-traffic railway route in Britain, being the country's most important rail backbone in terms of population served. Fast, long-distance inter-city passenger services are provided between London, the West Midlands, the North West, North Wales and the...
.
DIRFT is located between three main roads, the A5, A428
A428 road
The A428 road is a major road in central and eastern England. It connects the cities of Coventry and Cambridge by way of the county towns of Northampton and Bedford.-Coventry - Northampton:...
and M1, and with links to the A45
A45 road
The A45 is a major road in England. It runs east from Birmingham past the National Exhibition Centre and the M42, then bypasses Coventry and Rugby, where it briefly merges with the M45 until it continues to Daventry...
, M6, A14 and A426
A426 road
The A426 road is a road in England which runs from the city of Leicester to the market town of Southam in Warwickshire via the towns of Lutterworth and Rugby.-History:...
.
The centre is 79 miles (127.1 km) from London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, 40 miles (64.4 km) from Birmingham
Birmingham
Birmingham is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands of England. It is the most populous British city outside the capital London, with a population of 1,036,900 , and lies at the heart of the West Midlands conurbation, the second most populous urban area in the United Kingdom with a...
, 36 miles (57.9 km) from Leicester
Leicester
Leicester is a city and unitary authority in the East Midlands of England, and the county town of Leicestershire. The city lies on the River Soar and at the edge of the National Forest...
, 121 miles (194.7 km) from Manchester
Manchester
Manchester is a city and metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. According to the Office for National Statistics, the 2010 mid-year population estimate for Manchester was 498,800. Manchester lies within one of the UK's largest metropolitan areas, the metropolitan county of Greater...
and 127 miles (204.4 km) from Southampton
Southampton
Southampton is the largest city in the county of Hampshire on the south coast of England, and is situated south-west of London and north-west of Portsmouth. Southampton is a major port and the closest city to the New Forest...
. It is within a 4.5 hour drive of 85% of the UK
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
's towns and cities. The site is about 500 acres (202.3 ha) in size.
The recent growth in distribution centres across Northamptonshire
Northamptonshire
Northamptonshire is a landlocked county in the English East Midlands, with a population of 629,676 as at the 2001 census. It has boundaries with the ceremonial counties of Warwickshire to the west, Leicestershire and Rutland to the north, Cambridgeshire to the east, Bedfordshire to the south-east,...
earned it the title of 'England's Pancreas
Pancreas
The pancreas is a gland organ in the digestive and endocrine system of vertebrates. It is both an endocrine gland producing several important hormones, including insulin, glucagon, and somatostatin, as well as a digestive organ, secreting pancreatic juice containing digestive enzymes that assist...
' in Alan Titchmarsh
Alan Titchmarsh
Alan Fred Titchmarsh, MBE DL is an English gardener, broadcaster and novelist. After working as a professional gardener and a garden journalist, he established himself as a media personality through appearances on gardening programmes...
's television series The Nature of Britain
The Nature of Britain
The Nature of Britain is a nature documentary series made for British television by the BBC Natural History Unit. It was first broadcast on BBC1 in October and November 2007...
.
History
The site was designed in early 1990 and construction began in 1996. It was officially opened in 1997 by The Princess RoyalAnne, Princess Royal
Princess Anne, Princess Royal , is the only daughter of Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh...
. Crick Industrial Estate is just east of the motorway junction .
A large extension (DIRFTII), featuring a new rail port, is under construction along the A428 between Hillmorton and the Halfway Garage. Planning consent has been obtained to build the 1.945 million sq.ft. development, which will have both distribution and manufacturing sections. Work began in 2010 on the project by contractor VolkerFitzpatrick Contractors, a British privately owned civil engineering company. As part of the development, a rail tunnel was built under the A5 in a single weekend. The first of four plots was due to be occupied by retailer Tesco
Tesco
Tesco plc is a global grocery and general merchandise retailer headquartered in Cheshunt, United Kingdom. It is the third-largest retailer in the world measured by revenues and the second-largest measured by profits...
in summer 2011.
Present
Companies with centres at DIRFT include:- TescoTescoTesco plc is a global grocery and general merchandise retailer headquartered in Cheshunt, United Kingdom. It is the third-largest retailer in the world measured by revenues and the second-largest measured by profits...
- DHL Supply Chain
- Eddie Stobart
- WH Malcolm LogisticsThe Malcolm GroupW. H. Malcolm Ltd is a British logistics company. It operates mainly in the logistics and construction industries, and is one of the leading companies in the UK in these areas...
- Royal MailRoyal MailRoyal Mail is the government-owned postal service in the United Kingdom. Royal Mail Holdings plc owns Royal Mail Group Limited, which in turn operates the brands Royal Mail and Parcelforce Worldwide...
- Ingram MicroIngram MicroIngram Micro, Inc. is a Fortune 100 company and the world’s largest information technology distributor, providing sales, marketing and logistics services for the IT industry in all corners of the globe.-Overview:...
- MothercareMothercareMothercare plc is a British retailer which specialises in products for expectant mothers and in general merchandise for children up to 8 years old. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 250 Index.-History:...
/Early Learning CentreEarly Learning CentreThe Early Learning Centre is a British chain of shops selling toys for very young children.-History:Originally set up as a mail order company in 1974 and was always based near Swindon; by 1980 it had ten shops; and it has grown to include 215 shops in the UK and over 80 in 19 other countries such... - Ibis Hotel & Restaurant Rugby East
Future
A further 7.5 million sq.ft. extension, DIRFTIII, is being considered on the former Rugby radio station site. It has not yet received planning permission.Towns and villages
Crick, Hillmorton, Lilbourne, Ashby St. Ledgers and Kilsby all lie within a few miles of the centre. Slightly further away are RugbyRugby, Warwickshire
Rugby is a market town in Warwickshire, England, located on the River Avon. The town has a population of 61,988 making it the second largest town in the county...
, Northampton
Northampton
Northampton is a large market town and local government district in the East Midlands region of England. Situated about north-west of London and around south-east of Birmingham, Northampton lies on the River Nene and is the county town of Northamptonshire. The demonym of Northampton is...
, Lutterworth
Lutterworth
Lutterworth is a market town and civil parish in the Harborough district of Leicestershire, England. The town is located in southern Leicestershire, north of Rugby, in Warwickshire and south of Leicester. It had a population of 8,293 in the 2001 UK census....
and Daventry
Daventry
Daventry is a market town in Northamptonshire, England, with a population of 22,367 .-Geography:The town is also the administrative centre of the larger Daventry district, which has a population of 71,838. The town is 77 miles north-northwest of London, 13.9 miles west of Northampton and 10.2...
.
Hotels, bars and shops
The Ibis hotel is located at DIRFT West, between the A428 and the M1. The Crick Holiday Inn lies in between the M1 and Crick-bypass junction. The Halfway House pub, which was located near the centre of the site on the A5/A428 junction and lay in both Northamptonshire and Warwickshire, has now closed with the building for sale.Rail services
Rail services to and from DIRFT are operated mainly by Direct Rail ServicesDirect Rail Services
Direct Rail Services is a freight operating company created by British Nuclear Fuels Limited. The company started rail operations in 1995 using five heavily refurbished Class 20/3 diesel locomotives. Since then it has expanded greatly, and has acquired many more locomotives, most bought...
and Freightliner (UK)
Freightliner (UK)
Freightliner Group Limited is a rail freight and logistics company, founded in 1995 and now operating in the United Kingdom, Poland, and Australia. It is the second largest rail freight operator in the UK, after DB Schenker Rail .- History :...
. There is a small group of services which are provided by English Welsh & Scottish Railway (EWS
DB Schenker Rail (UK)
DB Schenker Rail , before 2009 known as English, Welsh and Scottish Railway is a British rail freight company. EWS was established by a consortium led by Wisconsin Central Transportation Corporation in 1996 by acquisition of five of the six freight companies created by the privatisation of British...
), and also FirstGBRf. Destinations range from Mossend
Mossend
Mossend is a town on the A775, in North Lanarkshire, Scotland, to the east of its larger sister town, Bellshill, and near to the Strathclyde Country Park....
in Scotland to Marcroft Engineering in Stoke-on-Trent
Stoke-on-Trent
Stoke-on-Trent , also called The Potteries is a city in Staffordshire, England, which forms a linear conurbation almost 12 miles long, with an area of . Together with the Borough of Newcastle-under-Lyme Stoke forms The Potteries Urban Area...
. The planned DIRFTII extension should see a large growth in rail freight traffic to and from Daventry
Daventry
Daventry is a market town in Northamptonshire, England, with a population of 22,367 .-Geography:The town is also the administrative centre of the larger Daventry district, which has a population of 71,838. The town is 77 miles north-northwest of London, 13.9 miles west of Northampton and 10.2...
.