Rail plan final funding secured

A funding package to reopen a railway track and build a rail freight terminal in Shropshire has been secured, a regional development agency said.

The Donnington Railfreight Terminal is due to be built next to Hortonwood Industrial Estate, Telford, as part of a multi-million-pound project.

Advantage West Midlands said it had approved the final funding of £770,000.

The terminal will be completed by the end of 2008 and is expected to be fully operational by spring 2009, it said.

Other money is coming from Telford and Wrekin Council and the European Regional Development Fund with English Partnerships involved in the development of sites next to the terminal.

The project involves reopening two-and-a-half miles (4.02km) of track from an existing spur off the main Shrewsbury-Wolverhampton line near Wellington, which has been closed since 1991.

The terminal will be capable of handling all types of freight and four trains a day, the agency added.