Daventry International Railfreight Terminal

Crick - DIRFT. Entrance to container base off Rugby - Northampton line. Taken from A5 bridge.

Daventry International Rail Freight Terminal (DIRFT) is a rail port and logistics centre located near Rugby, Warwickshire and Crick, Northamptonshire just south of the beginning of the M6 Motorway and near junction 18 of the M1 motorway. It is on the Northampton loop of the West Coast Main Line.

DIRFT is located between three main roads, the A5, A428 and M1, and with links to the A45, M6, A14 and A426.

The centre is 79 miles (127 km) from London, 40 miles (64 km) from Birmingham, 36 miles (58 km) from Leicester, 121 miles (195 km) from Manchester and 127 miles (204 km) from Southampton. It is within a 4.5 hour drive of 85% of the UK's towns and cities. The site is about 500 acres (200 ha) in size.

The recent growth in distribution centres across Northamptonshire earned it the title of 'England's Pancreas' in Alan Titchmarsh's television series The Nature of Britain.

History

The site was designed in early 1990 and construction began in 1996. It was officially opened in 1997 by The Princess Royal. Crick Industrial Estate is just east of the motorway junction .

A large extension (DIRFTII),^[1] featuring a new rail port, is under construction along the A428 between Hillmorton and the Halfway Garage. Planning consent has been obtained to build the 1.945 million sq.ft. development, which will have both distribution and manufacturing sections. Work began in 2010 on the project by contractor VolkerFitzpatrick Contractors, a British privately owned civil engineering company. As part of the development, a rail tunnel was built under the A5 in a single weekend.^[2] The first of four plots was due to be occupied by retailer Tesco in summer 2011.^[3]

Present

Companies with centres at DIRFT include:

• Tesco
• DHL Supply Chain
• Eddie Stobart
• WH Malcolm Logistics
• Royal Mail
• Ingram Micro
• Mothercare/Early Learning Centre
• Ibis Hotel & Restaurant Rugby East

Future

A further 7.5 million sq.ft. extension, DIRFTIII,^[4] is being considered on the former Rugby radio station site. It has not yet received planning permission.

Local area

Towns and villages

Crick, Hillmorton, Lilbourne, Ashby St. Ledgers and Kilsby all lie within a few miles of the centre. Slightly further away are Rugby, Northampton, Lutterworth and Daventry.

Hotels, bars and shops

The Ibis hotel is located at DIRFT West, between the A428 and the M1. The Crick Holiday Inn lies in between the M1 and Crick-bypass junction. The Halfway House pub, which was located near the centre of the site on the A5/A428 junction and lay in both Northamptonshire and Warwickshire, has now closed with the building for sale.

Rail services

Rail services to and from DIRFT are operated mainly by Direct Rail Services and Freightliner (UK). There is a small group of services which are provided by English Welsh & Scottish Railway (EWS), and also FirstGBRf. Destinations range from Mossend in Scotland to Marcroft Engineering in Stoke-on-Trent. The planned DIRFTII extension should see a large growth in rail freight traffic to and from Daventry.

References

1. ^ DIRFTII official site, accessed 2011-11-02
2. ^ DIRFTII rail tunnel project summary, in Prologis News, Autumn 2011, accessed 2011-11-02
3. ^ "Tesco commits to rail", prologis.co.uk, accessed 2011-11-02
4. ^ DIRFTIII official site, accessed 2011-11-02

External links

• DIRFT home page

Coordinates: 52°20′59″N 1°10′04″W / 52.34972°N 1.16778°W / 52.34972; -1.16778