The open day was organised to thank local residents for their support during the development and construction of the new recycling centre and to give them a chance to find out more about what goes on at the historic Whitemoor site.

The new recycling centre will help save thousands of tonnes of materials going to landfill every year, remove thousands of lorry journeys from the roads and help cut the cost of Britain’s railways.

Once it is fully operational, the centre is expected to deliver £7m of savings to Network Rail each year.

It will also help Network Rail achieve its goal to reuse, recycle or recover 95% of construction and maintenance waste by 2014.

Face painting, kids’ rides, community stalls, model railways and a locomotive naming ceremony, conducted by the Mayor of March, councillor Bernard Keane, was among the entertainment on offer for families who attended the open day.

A further event was held on Monday (August 15) where the official ribbon cutting ceremony took place. This event was attended by a number of officials including councillor John Powley, chairman of Cambridgeshire County Council.

Peter Henderson, director of asset management at Network Rail, who officially opened the new recycling centre along with councillor John Powley, said: “The open day was fantastic and the support we have had from the local community has been superb.

“The new recycling centre is at the heart of our efforts to make the railway greener, cleaner and more sustainable and will help us to continue to deliver value for money.

“It is vital in maintaining and improving the railway throughout Cambridgeshire.”

Principal contractor for the project was multi-disciplinary company, Spencer.

Raj Sinha, managing director of rail for the company, said: “We are delighted and very proud to have been core to a project which will stand as a beacon for sustainability. Whitemoor has raised the benchmark in how the design, construction and delivery of projects can cater for the environment and the sustainability agenda.”

Network Rail’s National Track Materials Recycling Centre at Whitemoor Yard opened for business in June, bringing 25 new jobs to the area.

The opening of the new recycling centre marks the second phase in the redevelopment of Whitemoor Yard depot, which reopened in 2004 after a £20m investment programme by Network Rail which created 40 new jobs for the town.

City.Mobi

Also in Europe today, City.Mobi is celebrating the success of its new guide to London.

City.Mobi offers the most comprehensive mobile travel guides available, with over 800 cities in 200 countries listed. Each is developed by the City.Mobi team to combine into a single global travel directory.

However, each city retains its own mobile identity via a dedicated domain. Already on offer are Brussels.Mobi, Paris.Mobi, Sanfrancisco.Mobi and Sydney.Mobi.

London.Mobi is the latest in this illustrious line up, offering click to call functionality – which means no scribbling down telephone numbers.

Most entries are also linked to websites where users can quickly access more detailed information if needed.

Other key features include information on accommodation, restaurants, attractions, entertainment, nightlife, shopping, and transport.

City.Mobi guides include user reviews and traveller utilities such as a translation guide, currency converter, news and local weather guide.