by business editor Trevor Sturgess

tsturgess@thekmgroup.co.uk

A new age of the train is returning to the former cement works at Northfleet in a £12.5 million project.

Lafarge Cement is restoring the old railway line that used to transport cement in a loop around the 104-acre site.

The project follows a deal between Lafarge and the massive Crossrail scheme to accept spoil from work on a tunnel at Paddington.

The spoil will be transported by ship to Wallasea Island and may be used later to raise the land for a proposed housing and business development. The spoil project could create around 20 jobs.

The new rail 5km freight loop was connected last weekend to the main North Kent line during engineering works that closed the normal Saturday and Sunday Southeastern services.

The new line, which is due to be completed early next year, will also be used to transport aggregate to and from the site.

David Simms, Lafarge land and planning director, said: "They needed a railway system fully operational by next March/April and to get the spoil to an area with good rail, road and water links."

He assured nearby residents that the 24/7 spoil operation would not create a noise problem. "It should be infinitely quieter because we've designed out a lot of curvature in the track. We will be using the latest locomotives which are much quieter."

Lafarge is working with Kent County Council and Gravesham council on developments to regenerate the site of the old cement works that dates back to the 1840s, as well as the Northfleet embankment.