Granite from Lafarge's Mountsorrel Quarry in Leicestershire will be keeping the country's railways on the right track for the next five years, after the company secured a prestigious contract.

Network Rail, which owns and operates most of Britain's rail infrastructure, has awarded a framework contract to Lafarge Aggregates & Concrete UK to provide ballast and other crushed rock material from the quarry, near Loughborough.

The ballast forms the track bed on which railway sleepers are laid, keeping the track stable and ensuring trains can travel smoothly.

It is compacted between, below, and around the sleepers to distribute the load of the sleepers, facilitate drainage of water and keep down vegetation that might interfere with the track structure.

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The contract continues a 20-year partnership with Network Rail, during which volumes in excess of one million tonnes of ballast have been supplied annually from Mountsorrel.

John Bradshaw, national key account manger (Network Rail) for Lafarge, said: "We are absolutely delighted to see our long-standing relationship with Network Rail continue for a further five years. This contract award gives us the opportunity to provide, potentially, similar quantities as we've done previously, and ensure Mountsorrel Quarry benefits from an investment of £2m in processing equipment.

"The potential value of the contract to Lafarge over the next five years is worth somewhere in the region of £35 million.

"We are immensely proud of our link with Network Rail and of the contribution we make to the nation's transport infrastructure.

"There is a good chance anyone who has ever been on a train and looked down at the track will have seen Mountsorrel granite, as historically, Lafarge have supplied something like 50 per cent of the ballast used by Network Rail."

(CD)