Rail Freight
TRANSPORTATION OF intermediate level nuclear waste (ILW) has led to the revival of a limited number of freight workings on the single-track Southminster branch line in Essex.
Until the closure of Bradwell-A Magnox-type nuclear power station in March 2002, there was a regular Thursdays-only freight working on the line. Trains originated at the British Nuclear Fuels plant at Sellafield and were tripped via Willesden Brent Yard, with flasks of new fuel rods for Southminster as well as the other Magnox power stations at Sizewell-A and Dungeness-A, which ran as separate trains. These workings with spent rods returned to Willesden to form a single train back to Sellafield. From Willesden the train ran to Southminster late morning with an early afternoon return, requiring the cancellation of a return passenger service on the branch. Following closure, the power station was de-fuelled, the flask trains continuing to convey the fuel rods and other highly radioactive material to Sellafield but on a much less regular basis, allowing the unpopular branch train cancellation to be dropped in the summer of 2004.
Since then, the flask trains ran to Southminster in the early hours prior to the start of pa…
