Telford International Railfreight Park (known as TIRFP) is rail freight depot and construction development site located in Donnington to the north of

Telford Telford () is a town in the Telford and Wrekin borough status in the United Kingdom, borough in Shropshire, England. The wider borough covers the town, its suburbs and surrounding towns and villages. The town is close to the county's eastern b ...

, on the former route of the Stafford–Shrewsbury line. The terminal was opened in 2009. The development of TIRFP was initiated through a partnership between

Telford and Wrekin Council Telford and Wrekin Council is the local authority of Telford and Wrekin in the ceremonial county of Shropshire, England. It was founded in 1974 as The Wrekin District Council, and was a lower-tier district council until 1998. The district was r ...

, the

Ministry of Defence A ministry of defence or defense (see American and British English spelling differences#-ce.2C -se, spelling differences), also known as a department of defence or defense, is the part of a government responsible for matters of defence and Mi ...

, and the

Homes and Communities Agency Homes England is the non-departmental public body that funds new affordable housing in England. It was founded on 1 January 2018 to replace the Homes and Communities Agency (HCA). HCA in turn was established by the Housing and Regeneration Act ...

(then

English Partnerships English Partnerships (EP) was the national urban renewal, regeneration agency for England, performing a similar role on a national level to that fulfilled by regional development agency, regional development agencies on a regions of England, region ...

) in 2001. Located on the former Wellington to Stafford railway line of the Shropshire Union Railway, the is located northeast of

Wellington railway station Wellington railway station, Wellington Central station, or simply Wellington station, is the main railway station serving Wellington, New Zealand, and is the southern terminus of the North Island Main Trunk, Wairarapa Line and Johnsonville Br ...

and is connected to the (

Network Rail Network Rail Limited is the owner (via its subsidiary Network Rail Infrastructure Limited, which was known as Railtrack plc before 2002) and railway infrastructure manager, infrastructure manager of most of the railway network in Great Britain. ...

) Wolverhampton–Shrewsbury line just to the east of that station. Located on the former MoD Donnington stores, it is adjacent to existing manufacturing and warehousing facilities in Hadley Park and Hortonwood Industrial Estates. Located off Hortonwood Roundabout on the A518, it closest

motorway A controlled-access highway is a type of highway that has been designed for high-speed vehicular traffic, with all traffic flow—ingress and egress—regulated. Common English terms are freeway, motorway, and expressway. Other similar terms ...

access is via Junction 5 of the M54. With development started in 2008, TIRFP was officially opened by Shadow Secretary of State for Transport,

Theresa Villiers Dame Theresa Anne Villiers (born 5 March 1968) is a British politician who served as the Member of Parliament (United Kingdom), Member of Parliament (MP) for Chipping Barnet (UK Parliament constituency), Chipping Barnet from 2005 United Kingdom ...

MP, on Wednesday, 10 June 2009. Owned by

, the site, when opened, was operated under lease by John G Russell Transport Ltd. In 2010 the sidings at the railfreight park have also been used to store redundant rolling stock, including Class 508

EMUs Emus may refer to: * Emu The emu (; ''Dromaius novaehollandiae'') is a species of flightless bird endemism, endemic to Australia, where it is the Tallest extant birds, tallest native bird. It is the only extant taxon, extant member of the ...

(taken to Telford using diesel locomotives), as the park is currently suffering from low freight usage. Wrockwardine Wood and Trench Parish Council approved the original planning application, forwarded to Telford and Wrekin Borough Council with only minor opposition. In 2012, John G Russell pulled out of running the terminal and

DB Schenker Rail (UK) DB Cargo UK (formerly DB Schenker Rail UK and English, Welsh & Scottish Railway) is a British rail freight company owned by Deutsche Bahn and headquartered in Doncaster, England. The company was established by Wisconsin Central in early 1995 ...

were appointed to take over control of the terminal. DB Schenker have been running the only regular service into and out of the terminal since it reopened (that of a once-a-week MoD train). Class 196 Diesel multiple units operated by West Midlands Railway were being stored here while awaiting service on their brakes which emit excess noise compared to other multiple units. Unused sections of the site have been utilised as long term van storage for hire firms. This has enabled the terminal to employ its first full-time worker. The vans arrived on site in March 2015 and DB Schenker Rail (UK) hope that incoming vehicles can be delivered via the rail connection.

References

External links

Telford International Railfreight Park
{{coord, 52.716, -2.455, display=title, region:GB_scale:5000 Buildings and structures in Telford Transport in Shropshire Railway freight terminals in the United Kingdom Donnington and Muxton