Construction work at the CLIP intermodal terminal halfway through!

Although the contract for the second stage of construction of the CLIP terminal in Swarzędz has recently been signed, the works are already at the halfway point! The investment will increase the handling capacity of the terminal. On eight tracks, it will be possible to handle up to 20 trains a day.

The storage yard will also be expanded.

“We are expanding the terminal in the form of a storage plate and we are adding railway tracks from reused materials. The scope of works includes the construction of 28,620 thousand square metres of reinforced concrete slab and the addition of approximately seven kilometres of railway tracks. In addition, we are expanding the water and sewage network, electric power network, as well as the overhead line,” says Joanna Żygowska, project coordinator from the NDI group. “We are already halfway through the construction works, although we signed the contract for this investment 2.5 months ago. What is essential for such an efficient course of work is good logistics and the potential of our company NDI Energy, which we used in the contracting and selection of subcontractors for this task.”

The general contractor is tasked with connecting the existing system of roads, tracks and terminals with the newly constructed stage of the investment. The scope of works also includes the removal of installation and field clashes and the construction of accompanying infrastructure elements.

International importance of the terminal

Importantly, the CLIP Terminal in Swarzędz has a chance to become an intermodal hub of international importance. It is situated at the intersection of two pan-European transport corridors: the Baltic-Adriatic Corridor and the North Sea-Baltic Corridor. It is also located along a European thoroughfare, the E-20 railway line, connecting Moscow with Rotterdam and constituting an important part of the so-called “New Silk Road”, a trade route between China and Europe.

The expansion of the terminal is a response to the needs of the growing intermodal transport market and an attempt to meet the expectations of customers who are looking for modern solutions in this industry.

“The investment, the total cost of which is over PLN 202 million, will allow us to increase the handling capacity of the terminal from the current 136,000 TEU (Twenty-Foot Equivalent Unit) to almost 550,000 TEU per year,” says Tomasz Lange, manager of the CLIP Intermodal Terminal. “On eight transfer tracks, each of which will be 750 metres long, we will be able to handle up to 20 trains a day.”

The expansion is to enable entry, passage along the terminal over a several-kilometre-long section of electrified tracks and exit from the terminal under the overhead line.

“Thanks to this, intermodal trains do not have to change from an electric line locomotive to a diesel shunting locomotive. They can drive along the terminal and enter the generally accessible network of Polish Railways all the time being under the overhead line. This greatly improves the transport process,” explains Daniel Ryczek, Commercial Director of CLIP Intermodal.

In turn, the new reloading yard, the size of which will resemble four football fields, will allow the terminal’s capacity to be increased from the current 4.5 TEU to 10 thousand TEU.

Overnight concreting

“Currently, we carry out reinforcement works during the day, and concrete works at night, due to the lower temperature,” says Łukasz Baumgart, Site Manager from NDI. “In addition, we have already completed three kilometres of track, the western turnout head and about 60% of the storage plate. We still have to do the eastern turnout head, track number 601, along the E-20 line, and the rest of the storage plate.”

The investor is Centrum Logistyczno Inwestycyjne Poznań II. The investment is to be ready by the end of this year. The expansion is co-financed by the European Union from the Cohesion Fund, from the Operational Programme “Infrastructure and Environment” for 2014-2020. The total cost is over PLN 202 million. The value of the contract with NDI is almost PLN 30.5 million net.