Goods transport company GB Railfreight (GBRf) has opened a new maintenance facility at its site in Tonbridge in Kent.

GBRf’s Chief Executive Officer, John Smith, and Director General of the Rail Freight Group, Maggie Simpson, formally opened the site today.

Design and construction contractor Cairn Cross built the facility, at a cost of around two and a half million pounds.

It is a purpose-built centre for maintaining GBRf’s Class 73, 69 and 66 fleets.

EMD, Wabtec and St. Leonard’s Railway Engineering are among the companies that will be running the facility.

GBRf hopes that the new building, which is larger than nine double-decker buses, will make its locomotive maintenance regime in the southeast of England more efficient.

It will complement existing sites in Doncaster and Peterborough, where it opened a new sidings last year.

The company expects that the reduction of journey length for maintenance work will bring about significant carbon savings.

GBRf believes that the expansion of its locomotive maintenance programme will make its services more reliable, which will drive jobs, growth and investment across the UK.

The freight operator’s site at Tonbridge provides rail head treatment services for Network Rail, which clean fallen leaves, snow and ice from the track, ensuring safer and more reliable journeys for passenger rail services across southeast England.

“Our new facility at Tonbridge demonstrates our commitment to continued investment and innovation in the rail network. The Tonbridge site will lead to increased efficiency for our locomotive fleet, which will benefit our customers, and operation of rail head treatment services will improve passenger experiences and safety across the region.”
John Smith, Chief Executive Officer at GB Railfreight