Building materials firm Tarmac, part of the CRH group, has a new fleet of rail wagons operating out of its Mountsorrel Quarry in Leicestershire for delivering aggregates.

Above: New rail wagons

The 53 hoppers and 48 boxes, leased from French hire company Ermewa, each have the capability to haul more than 77 tonnes of material.

They increase Tarmac’s train capacity by more than 15%.

Chris Swan, senior manager rail and shipping at Tarmac, said: “The new rail fleet operating from Mountsorrel enhances our capacity to meet customer requirements for high quality construction materials and underlines Tarmac’s commitment to support more efficient, sustainable transport and a lower carbon built environment.”

Approximately 60% of the aggregate produced at Mountsorrel is supplied by rail through sidings at Barrow upon Soar.

Nationally, Tarmac transports nine million tonnes of material by rail across the UK each year.