Sizewell C Receives First Freight Trains on New Green Rail Route
A new 2.8km railway will help deliver around 100,000 tonnes of aggregate before Christmas
Sizewell C, the new nuclear power station being built on the Suffolk coast, has received its first freight trains. The first 270-metre train of box wagons, carrying aggregate from Tunstead Quarry near Buxton in Derbyshire, arrived in mid-September 2026 on a newly built 2.8km Green Rail Route. It is a rare example of an entirely new stretch of railway being built in the UK, and a key part of the plan to keep construction traffic off local roads.
A brand-new railway into a nuclear site
The 2.8km Green Rail Route links the Sizewell C site to the national rail network. As well as the new line, a railhead has been built to serve the project’s Ancillary Construction Area, where materials are unloaded. Balfour Beatty built both the line and the railhead.
Tom Emanuel, project lead at Balfour Beatty, said building a brand-new railway is a rare undertaking in the UK and that the milestone reflected years of planning, engineering and delivery. Projects like this call on track, drainage, earthworks and signalling expertise, all core parts of civil engineering.
Around 100,000 tonnes before Christmas
Rail operator Heavy Haul Rail is running the services using Class 66 locomotives. For now, two freight trains arrive each night, and at peak the route is designed to handle up to four trains a day.
Around 100,000 tonnes of material is expected to be delivered by rail between September and Christmas 2026, much of it aggregate for concrete and earthworks on one of the largest construction sites in Europe.
Taking construction traffic off Suffolk roads
Sizewell C aims to bring at least 60% of its construction materials by sea or rail, which reduces lorry traffic on rural Suffolk roads and cuts emissions from the build.
More rail work is planned. Saxmundham junction is due to be modernised between 24 October and 1 November 2026, with a new remote-controlled signalling system that will help the branch line handle the extra freight.
Engineering careers on Sizewell C
A nuclear new-build of this size needs engineers from almost every discipline: civil and geotechnical engineers for the marine and earthworks packages, rail engineers for logistics, and later mechanical, electrical and commissioning engineers as the power station takes shape.
If you are interested in working on major energy infrastructure, or you need to build a team for a nuclear or rail package, talk to Bernoullis.
Sources: RailFreight.com · Energy Live News · New Civil Engineer
Images are illustrative. Credits: Pontificalibus, CC0 via Wikimedia Commons; Hugh Venables, CC BY-SA 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons; kitmasterbloke, CC BY 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons.
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