Carbon cutting milestone – 10m tonnes

Major milestone, way ahead of target, carbon emissions by removing

UK HIGH-SPEED rail project HS2 has delivered 10 million tonnes of material to – and removed from –construction sites by rail, a major milestone in HS2’s plan to cut carbon emissions by removing lorries from roads.

Businesses involved came together to celebrate at an event at Tarmac’s Tunstead Quarry, including HS2 Ltd, Network Rail, aggregate suppliers, transport solution companies, and four freight operators –along with a unique line-up of locomotives from each company.

When HS2 launched its ‘Materials by Rail’ programme in 2020, the target by 2030 was to haul 10 million tonnes of aggregate to and from sites, taking up to 1.5 million lorries off the roads using up to 15,000 freight trains.

Working strategically with joint venture partners, Network Rail, freight operators and building materials companies, HS2 has already moved over 10 million tonnes of materials by rail in just over a two years period.

It is now expected that HS2 will move 20 million tonnes of aggregate across the Phase One programme, removing three million lorries from the strategic road network on 30,000 freight trains.

During the event, Robert Largan, MP for High