Daventry International Rail Freight Terminal

An extension, often referred to as DIRFT II, of about 130 acres (54 ha) received planning permission in 2005, and is designed to have all facilities rail connected, the first occupier of DIRFTII was Tesco, whose distribution centre reached completion in late 2011.

Daventry International Rail Freight Terminal is part of a land development project undertaken by Severn Trent Water on a 430 acres (174 ha) site near Crick in Northamptonshire.

[8] DIRFT was one of the earliest post-Channel Tunnel road-rail intermodal terminals – the site includes rail connected terminals and traditional warehousing was designed to act as a regional node for rail freight flows to and from the Port of Felixstowe and the Channel Tunnel,[9] it forms part of the UK network of the Trans-European Combined Transport network.

[19] In 2005 planning permission was granted for a rail connected 130 acres (54 ha) westward expansion of the original site with a built ground area of over 1,900,000 sq ft (180,000 m2).

[3] The DIRFT II expansion was designed for rail connected warehousing allowing transfer between sea or Channel Tunnel-borne rail-freight and road transport or warehouse storage.

A related development is the Sustainable Urban Extension (SUE) built to the west of DIRFT as a suburb of Rugby, with over 6,000 homes planned.