BOSSES at Castle Cement say they are giving "serious consideration" to transporting more of their cement by train.

In 1993 the Clitheroe firm transferred its loads of cement from rail to road, which led to complaints from Ribble Valley residents about the number of lorries thundering along the roads.

But since then there has been a slow shift back to rail transport delivering to the plant.

Bulk shipment of coal was put on to the rails in 1996 and 1,000 tonne monthly deliveries of iron ore returned to the railways earlier this summer.

Now, company chiefs say their 1993 decision may be reversed, with trains taking cement from the plant - although it will still not be making the full trip from Clitheroe to its various destinations by rail.

They say they want to follow the example of other plants in the country who have introduced so called "inter-modal" transport, with the journey completed partly by rail and partly by road.

Special containers which can be loaded both on to lorries and freight trains would be used if the company decided to go ahead.

Andrew Bridge, Castle Cement's general manager of distribution, said: "The distribution of cement by rail is often impractical as deliveries need to radiate to customers in numerous locations, often in small loads.

"However we dispatch 200,000 tonnes of cement annually from our works in Rutland to our depot in London, from where it is distributed by road in the immediate area.

"Looking to the future, for other movement of large tonnages of cement, we are giving serious consideration to inter-modal transport whereby specially adapted tank containers could be moved by rail for a significant part of a journey that would normally be 100 per cent by road."

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