WORK is progressing well on a new �40 million rail terminal at Britain’s biggest port and which will take up to 750,000 lorries a year off the A14.

Cranes for the tracks for the complex, being built at the northern end of the Port of Felixstowe, will be shipped over later this year from Ireland in sections to be put together on site.

Head of corporate affairs for port owners Hutchison Ports UK, Paul Davey said: “Work is progressing well and everything is on schedule.

“The appalling weather hasn’t made any difference at all to the construction programme.

“Everyone is very happy with the progress and we are looking forward to the extra capacity it will bring.”

The new terminal will ultimately double the capacity of the port for rail.

One of the advantages Felixstowe has over its rivals is being able to offer shipping companies much greater choice of destination and frequency for freight services than at other ports, and the extra services the new terminal – and, in due course, dualling of part of the Felixstowe-Ipswich line – will provide will enhance customer service.

The port has 58 train movements a day currently and connections with 17 inland destinations.

The rail terminal will be the third at Felixstowe and the first in the UK designed to handle 30-wagon long freight trains, capable of carrying 90 standard-sized containers.

Work began in March when Mike Penning MP, under-secretary of state for transport, carried out the ground-breaking ceremony, watched by rail freight industry representatives, local dignitaries, and officials from contractors Volker Fitzpatrick.

The port currently moves around 750,000 standard-sized containers every year by rail.