Network Rail’s £15M Barking Eurohub move: terminal design notes for rail engineers
Reviewed by Joe Ashwell

First reported on New Civil Engineer
30 Second Briefing
Network Rail and its property arm Platform4 are acquiring long-term control of the Barking Eurohub site in east London from Legal & General in a £15M deal to revive regular rail freight flows through the Channel Tunnel. The site, already connected to HS1 and the wider UK rail network, is intended to handle intermodal trains linking Britain with continental European logistics hubs. For civil and rail engineers, the move signals renewed demand for terminal track layouts, sidings capacity, and loading infrastructure optimised for cross-Channel freight paths.
Technical Brief
- Legal & General exits ownership, with Network Rail and Platform4 moving from stakeholder to direct asset control.
- Long-term control structure implies scope for multi-phase redevelopment rather than short-term operating tweaks.
- Site control by the infrastructure manager simplifies consents for new sidings, crane pads and hardstanding expansions.
- Property arm Platform4 involvement suggests mixed rail/industrial land-use planning around the core freight terminal.
Our Take
Network Rail’s move at the Barking Eurohub site sits alongside its involvement in the £1bn Liverpool Street Station capacity upgrade (12 Feb 2026), signalling a coordinated push to relieve pressure on London passenger routes while strengthening rail freight corridors to continental Europe.
With Platform4 appearing in both this Barking scheme and the Liverpool Street redevelopment, our database suggests it is becoming a recurring delivery partner on complex London rail interfaces where operational rail, urban constraints and redevelopment value intersect.
Legal & General’s role at the Barking Eurohub site aligns with its pattern of backing large UK transport-linked regeneration plays, which typically seek to capture uplift from improved rail connectivity rather than pure infrastructure returns alone.
Prepared by collating external sources, AI-assisted tools, and Geomechanics.io’s proprietary mining database, then reviewed for technical accuracy & edited by our geotechnical team.
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