It’s great to see photos of the new weighbridge at the Dove Holes railhead all installed and operational. This new weighbridge is powered by wind and solar energy and offers a remote WiFi mast link to the rail office.

This is the first stage in a series of process improvements being made to the railhead; the next step sees considerable work being undertaken to implement new software which will greatly increase functionality.

The aim is to create a system that is similar to CEMEX Go, but for rail – customers at rail depots will be able to place orders through the system, while the software will also track the arrival and departure of trains, and individual wagons fitted with RFID tags and be able to identify their status in the loading terminal at Dove Holes. Arriving trains will be matched with services due for loading and the top loading cabin and loading shovels will also be interfaced into the integrated system.

Mark Grimshaw-Smith commented: “This is a very exciting project underway at our Dove Holes railhead. It’s going to take some time to be fully operational, but we’re pleased to see the new weighbridge in place as the first stage of the process.

Ultimately the new integrated process will not only improve customer service but will also help optimise safe wagon loading, avoiding overloads and lateral loading errors leading to improved safety and compliance on the network.  It will also help to better manage and audit despatched tonnages and stock variances at the receiving depots.

Thanks to Hayden Gill and his team for their support. We expect to be rolling this project out in modules in the coming months. Watch this space for further updates!”