At last road haulage can implement rail trunking plans
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FROM OUR INDUSTRIAL CORRESPONDENT THE agreement by the National Union of Railwaymen to remove their three-year-old ban on the admission of private hauliers to Freightliner terminals, reached last week after long negotiations, has opened the way for implementation of road haulage plans for trunking by rail—on the lines already experimentally adopted by BRS.
An RHA statement on Friday welcomed the successful outcome of the campaign which it had been "waging for a long time in the interests of the national economy as well as of members".
The Association said the terms of the agreement for freeing Freightliner terminals would have to be examined in detail to assess the effect on the commercial and operating welfare of hauliers, and hoped the national chairman and the secretarygeneral would be able to have early talks with BRE to further road-rail co-operation.
British Railways has given assurances that the situation now is that hauliers with traffic for Freightliners will be dealt with in just the same way as any other customer: rates will be quoted and c. and d. timings arranged for each load. It is likely to take a little time for hauliers and BR to complete initial plans for introducing traffic.
Although the terminals are now open it appears that the RHA-supported appeals by hauliers to the Transport Tribunal against grants to BR for Freightliner artics in Glasgow and Manchester will still go ahead.
In anticipation of the terminals eventually being opened, the Scottish and Metropolitan and South Eastern areas of the RHA have for some time been working on plans to provide coordinated collection and delivery services by and for members interested in using rail for trunking.
However, it is now likely that this plan will be shelved in favour of partaking in the more extensive schemes developed by Transport Development Group, who have reportedly proved very willing to admit outside hauliers to whatever operation is eventually mounted—as discussed below.
The negotiations
After three days of talks with the NUR in which she achieved the breakthrough, Mrs. Castle was "dazed and happy". Mi. Harold Wilson was cock-a-hoop.-The Conservatives, who had days earlier campaigned bitterly for an end to "industrial blackmail", held their judgment.
And the immediate reaction from many quarters was: "Just what was offered to the railwaymen in those marathon talks?" Three years of bitter resistance crumpled without any sensational gimmick from the Minister, in public at least.
What can be stated is that she probably lifted the veil on Labour's policy vis-a-vis road haulage further and higher than. ever before. It was being said that she offered the railwaymen the prospect of grabbing no less than 30,000,000 tons of traffic from the roads.
She also offered these assurances:— • That no railway cartage men or other BR • workers would lose their jobs because of open terminals.
• That earnings would be safeguarded.
• That British Railways could own half the Tartan Arrow Service alongside the THC.
• That railway workshops would be equipped to manufacture containers on favourable terms with private enterprise. (A 4,000containers-a-year production line is being set up at Derby.) • That the money would be forthcoming for a £7m. stage 2 development of the Freightliner system, including eight new and extended terminals and 17 new services.
But she also told the union that she wanted the NFO to take over the Freightliner assets (except the trains) and merge them with the railway-owned goods vehicles and BRS. And the NFO would also take over the new road and rail parcels service run by the nationalized sector— after another £2m. worth of new vehicles had been bought by the railways.
As a result of all this, the NUR executive also agreed to allow the Tartan Arrow plan to hire its own goods trains to go ahead.
Union voting to drop their opposition to open access is said to have been 18 to six, a dramatic reversal of the 13-11 decision for continuing the ban a year ago.
Even the decision in favour of new talks with Mrs. Castle, taken earlier, was only 14—ba The Minister is understood to have been very
tough indeed with the union executive during the first two days of last week's talks, which lasted a total of 284hours.
Mrs. Castle was Mr. Wilson's pin-up girl during the whole weekend. He was expected to make a public tribute to her as generous as the phone tribute he paid in person.
New TDG subsidiary
Although the NUR has given the now wholly State-owned Tartan Arrow Service the go-ahead for its Glasgow-London services due to start early next month, extensive plans by Transport Development Group to operate chartered liner trains through new terminals of its own in London, Glasgow and Manchester will not be pushed ahead until the NUR attitude towards these services is known to be favourable.
It is understood that the union is to hold urgent meetings to discuss the matter, not only in respect of TDG but also as it affects any private company or group which wishes to operate rail trunk without employing BR's own terminals and Freightliners.
TDG itself will not have any part in the operations. It has formed a wholly owned subsidiary, Liner Train Services Ltd., which is intended to conduct all negotiations and operate as the contractor to individual TDG companies wishing to use the service. It would run the terminals, arrange rates and traffic and charter trains from BR.
The intention is to link the three cities with six trains each night, fed by mainly TDG haulage companies. Already Glasgow Corporation planning committee has given planning permission in principle to Liner Train Services for development of an 11-acre site at Govan as a terminal; this lies between Govan Road, Broom Loan Road and Greenhaugh Street.
Glasgow would handle one train daily at first, to be supplemented by a second and then increased to four each day handling up to 140 containers.
The terminals
The present BR Freightliner terminals are in London (York Way); Glasgow (Gushetfaulds); Manchester (Longsight); Liverpool (Garston) and Aberdeen. Due to open this year are Edinburgh, Stockton, Newcastle upon Tyne, Hull, Cardiff, Dundee, Birmingham, London (Stratford), Leeds and Sheffield (Rotherham).
Container lengths in regular use on the Freightliners are 10 ft., 20 ft. and 27 ft. with load capacities of 7+, 15 and 20 tons respectively.