Their ambitions have hit the buffers a few times in recent years, but plans for a huge expansion of Mossend International Railfreight Park (MIRP) in Lanarkshire are now well on the way to becoming a reality.

Only dogged determination and belief they were on the right track for the future has kept the family-owned transport firm Peter D Stirling going through a lengthy gestation period during which it came up against local objections and planning appeals before eventually gaining Scottish Government consent for the proposed £260m development last October.

Substantial economic benefits to the Lanarkshire and Scottish economy, carbon savings from switching goods from road to rail, and removal of HGV traffic from local roads, were judged to outweigh loss of some green belt land and amenity for nearby residents.

One critical factor was the overbridge across the M8 motorway which Transport Scotland had the foresight to incorporate into the recent upgrading works, and which will provide an important infrastructure link from the park onto Scotland’s road network.

The company has operated a successful rail business at Mossend for 30 years, with direct access to the west coast main line, but a strategic, privately funded, move to revolutionise rail freight connections to and from Scotland has now been spelled out to transport industry leaders. At the heart of the 21st century facility will be the country’s only 775m international standard electric rail terminal, providing intermodal opportunities for logistics companies in growth sectors like retail distribution and food and drinks, as well as continuing to serve current markets for cars, construction materials and container work.

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Scotland will get its first inland “dry port”, a concept already familiar across the UK and Europe but new and radical here. Train pathways from Mossend already include daily movements to Daventry in the West Midlands and cover premier seaports including Teesport, London Gateway, Felixstowe, Liverpool, and Tilbury and the Channel Tunnel.
Already, around 70,000 cars a year – one third of Scottish total – pass through this Lanarkshire terminal and are held in an STVA compound before the Ford, Honda, Renault and other makes journey to the dealer on the back of a transporter.

Other materials brought in this way include Ibstock bricks from Leicestershire, Hanson cement from Clitheroe, steel from Cardiff, industrial coals, and limitless products in containers.

On carbon saving benefits alone, the figures are striking. While 8,400 44-tonne trucks pass down the M74 every 24 hours, and 3,500 clog up the A1 east coast route, Hanson, part of the Heidelberg group, is calculated to have saved 11m tonnes of CO2 in the last 10 years by moving its 1.4m tonnes of cement into Scotland by rail with co-operation from Peter D Stirling. PDS reckons each freight train removes 90 HGVs from local roads. The planned longer trains and heavier boxes can also deliver on cost savings. 

Director Andrew Stirling likes nothing better than to bring the arguments back to basics, claiming that up to 40 per cent of the cost of a tin of beans on the shelf is down to transport, which could be greatly reduced through more co-ordinated multi-modal planning.

His detective work includes once following a leading supermarket’s trail from English port to Midlands regional distribution centre, to Scotland by train, and lorry to the customer in Dundee, all in an effort to improve understanding of the role rail can play in changing things for the better.
Stirling is confident escalating fuel prices are playing into the hands of a rail alternative that can already prove cheaper and less environmentally damaging, but appreciates savings need to be shared between road hauliers at either end, the customer, and PDS.

Mossend’s enhanced rail facility includes introduction of new facilities with the latest technology, £7m autonomous cranes to offload containers, electric tugs, and room for up to 200,000 square metres of bespoke on-site warehousing.

Secure 24-hour scrutiny of movements at the CCTV protected operation will be further enhanced when the gatehouse moves 2km north across the 360 acre site to the new motorway linked access.

They also stand to benefit should Scotland win a share of the off-site construction for the potential third runway at Heathrow or HS2 high speed rail line up to Yorkshire, both of which are committed to bring in materials by this mode of transport.

There remain issues, principally the current lack of capacity on the rail network (due to ever increasing passenger traffic), which impedes faster progress for rail freight.

The firm likes to be conservative when claiming the new jobs which will be created to help the North Lanarkshire economy, focusing on a one step at a time approach, with major land platforming work likely to take 18 months before delivery of a first phase operational site by the end of 2020.

Nevertheless, this is a strategic £260m move for Scotland and the projections are impressive – 2,200 construction jobs and 2,700 full time jobs over time. This is a private enterprise scheme, without public subsidy, with pension funds like Aberdeen Standard and L&G a likely source of investment for significant parts of the infrastructure and warehousing facilities of the port.

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The firm is committed to an early start on a 50-acre buffer of woodland and community greenspace to further shield local residents from the impact. 

PDS is keen to encourage an apprenticeship scheme for young people to benefit from tree planting and management of the space. 

Rail freight to double by 2030

The fact that four of the five rail freight operating companies in the UK attended the launch of the MIRP is probably a good indication of how seriously the train industry is taking the expansion of the Mossend facility.

If you are going to run a commercially effective train, it needs to be as long as possible, and the provision of 775m long sidings is regarded as a game changer here – greatly increasing the amount that each goods train can carry.

David Cross, a rail and shipping expert with nearly 40 years in the international logistics sector who is helping PDS on the export side, said rail freight in the UK in 2018 was in pretty good shape, moving £30bn worth each year and handling 20 per cent of consumer goods.

He said between 30 and 40 services a week travelled from the terminal at Daventry in Warwickshire to and from Lanarkshire, with the electrically hauled trains proving a real success.

With traditional coal movements virtually gone, inter modal containerised freight and construction materials had taken their place: “The good news is that predictions from academics and the trade press seem to think rail freight is set to grow in this country by 100 per cent by 2030. 

“If this sector is to grow, it is very important there are proper, well run, professional interchanges and freight yards to handle goods quickly and efficiently, so terminals such as MIRP are absolutely crucial for the future of rail transport and indeed for Scotland’s economy.”

Cross said Scotland was of interest to the rail freight companies because, unlike the rest of the UK, it just about had a balanced flow north and south, and, given the level of whisky exports, there was always demand for container boxes worldwide out of Scotland.

His big beef was the average speed of freight trains, at around 30 miles per hour, which was hardly acceptable as part of a modern supply chain, particularly when operators like Freightliner and DB had invested in locomotives capable of 75 miles per hour.

He urged more dialogue with Network Rail to achieve better pathing and better management of the routes, which had suffered because of the rapid increase in passenger traffic.  “MIRP is independent, a private yard so that companies wanting to move heavy containers can do so without being limited by going on public roads, and its cross docking facilities will be important in the future,” he said.

Cross said automotive products, food and drink, aggregates, stone, cement and construction materials as well as consumer goods were already moving through Mossend, with more contracts being added in the months ahead.

A family firm founded on horse power

THE family business, Peter D Stirling has been delivering logistics for over 140 years and still hold very dear their original means of transport – heavy horses.
It was founded by Elphinstone Stirling in 1870 as a haulier and coal merchant in Kirkintilloch and at its height operated 26 horse and carts. 
At that time, the Forth and Clyde Canal stopped in the town because of the Luggie Water and everything was pack-horsed down to Bowling or Port Dundas.
Though the firm acquired its first mechanical lorry in 1926, a one ton model T Ford, fuel shortages in the inter-war period meant it was another 15 years before a second truck was bought and in fact horses remained in use by the company until 1950.
This background made it particularly poignant when the Ministerial visit on launch day was marked by a team of traditional Clydesdale horses being the first transport across the new bridge link over the M8 motorway which is a vital part of the rail freight terminal’s expansion.
This week’s Royal Highland Show at Ingliston is also an important part of the family story. As children, Andrew and David, the present fourth generation who run the business, competed in horse jumping at the event, and their father Billy, now retired, used to drive a team of Clydesdales in what is called the ‘heavy horse turnout’.
To this day, that participation continues as the family is among the sponsors of this category.