HUNDREDS of lorry journeys will be taken off the roads from Shap Beck Quarry thanks to the £250,000 restoration of a rail link, says quarry operator Hanson.

The company plans to run three freight trains a week from its quarry works north of Shap village to its site at Ashton-in-Makerfield, Greater Manchester.

More than 200,000 tonnes of material are expected to by transported by rail each year along the new route - taking around 1,500 truck journeys off the road and saving the fleet around 500,000 miles a year.

Hanson has spent £250,000 restoring the railway siding at its Ashton plant, and it is the first-time rail freight has been run into the depot for some 10 years.

Working in partnership with GB Railfreight, the first service ran last week using recently purchased class 60 locomotives.

Simon Day, Hanson UK’s regional general manager for the North, said: "We are working to try to increase the tonnage of aggregates we transport this way across the UK.

"These three trains a week will take around 1,500 truck journeys off the road each year and mean we only need to put the material onto road transport for the last five to 10 miles rather than the 60 to 80 miles we do now.

"This will reduce the distances travelled on the road by our truck fleet by around 500,000 miles per year.”

The rail-freighted material will be used by Hanson's asphalt and concrete plants as well as supplying the construction market in the North West of England.

As well as refurbishing the rail track serving the Ashton site, money is being spent on upgrading the depot including the installation of a new weighbridge and offices.

Shap Beck Quarry supplies around 650,000 tonnes of crushed kiln-feed limestone from Shap Beck to Shap Fell processing plant nearby. It is used in the large-scale production of lime for steelmaking.

The quarry also has an on-site plant for making asphalt for road surfacing.

The site extends to 118 hectares and is dominated by exposed bare ground, buildings and machinery.