Why DIRFT III?
DIRFT is widely recognised as Britain’s most successful ‘Strategic Rail Freight Interchange (SFRI)’ and its rapid growth shows how increasingly important rail is to the quick and efficient movement of goods. This is central to the way we all lead our lives – it is a vital part of a more sustainable future and utilising rail can save costs, reduce carbon emissions and help to remove HGVs from congested highways.
The success of DIRFT has led to it nearing the capacity of goods that it can handle and businesses that it can accommodate. The current level of usage was not envisaged when DIRFT was first designed and this is resulting in continual and worsening damage to the surface of the intermodal area. The provision of a new intermodal area would provide efficient and state-of-the-art facilities, and, importantly, would enable additional logistics operators and local businesses to take advantage of the benefits of a rail served logistics park.
The proposed site for DIRFT III has unrivalled attributes in terms of its location. Sitting on the axis of the M1, M6, A14 and A5, it crucially has an existing connection to the ‘Northampton Loop’ branch of the West Coast Mainline railway. Its close proximity to key markets, and the ability to provide thousands of jobs close to areas of population growth, make DIRFT an appealing prospect for both businesses and employees.
