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the Mill.
The end of the signal workers' strike coincided with the launch of a new rail service, Enterprise, which is flexible enough to take loads down to 50 tonnes.Will this small loads scheme take business away from hauliers, or will it complement the service they offer?
By sheer coincidence the conclusion of the signalmen's strike last month was followed a day later by the first run of Transrail's new freight service, "Enterprise".
The first consignment to he handled by Transrail (formerly British Rail's Trainload Freight West) was 300 tonnes of steel coil from the Co-Steel plant at Sheerness to Mossend near Glasgow. It would otherwise have been trunked northward on 15 vehicles supplied by subcontactors.
On arrival, haulier and terminal operator Peter D Stirling distributed the coils by lorry to a variety of users within a 20-mile radius using vehicles from his own 17 had focused on whether the rail operators could win back business lost to road hauliers during the strike, the rail lobby will have been heartened by this move in the opposite direction, "It's the first attempt to run a rail service on a hub and spoke concept. We watch with interest," says David Mitchell, distribution co-ordinator for the Freight Transport Association.
However, many hauliers will be concerned to hear that traditional long distance road traffic is considered a legitimate target for Enterprise: Transrail plans to remove 100,000 freight movements from the road in its first year.
Enterprise offers a rail service for loads as small as 50 tonnes. This is particularly attractive to manufacturing plants like CoSteel which previously had to come up with whole train loads of nearer 1,000 tonnes. "We used to run a rail operation from here, but in the run up to privatisation we could not guarantee the size of the trainloads which were being specified," says Ernie Gibbons, distribution and customer services manager at Co-Steel. "Enterprise gives us that extra bit of flexibility." For example, while Co-Steel's first load was 300 tonnes the next was 650 tonnes; still far short of a conventional trainload.
Some long-haul operators will inevitably lose work to this flexible rail service but local hauliers with access to rail terminals along the Enterprise routes could benefit because Transrail needs hauliers to make Enterprise a door-to-door service.
Local operators will also become involved with Enterprise through the tendering process; subcontractors will probably make their initial contact with Enterprise traffic through operators which have their own terminals and already do business with Transrail. As well as Peter D Stirling, these operators include Gilbraith Transport in Blackburn, Otis Transport Services in Salford and Deanside Transit in Glasgow.
Peter Stirling explains why it made sense for Co-Steel to switch to Enterprise: The Sheerness Road is black with lorries," he says. "You can't see the road for them. At Co-Steel, the rail cars go straight into the loading area."
Stirling had experience of the previous CoSteel involvement with rail, when the coils were moved by the ill-fated Speedlink service which handled domestic groupage for British Rail's Railfreight Distribution. Like Enterprise, Speedlink accepted consignment smaller than full trainloads. It closed in 1991 after making massive losses.
Many operators had received grants to help with investment in rail sidings; many of these were completed just in time for the withdrawal of the service.
At the time a parliamentary select committee heard that Speedlink failed to attract enough customers because it had become too complex. "Enterprise is likely to succeed where Speedlink failed because it (Speedlink) did anything anywhere," says Transrail. "We will be setting up with very little overhead costs and will be very disciplined because we will only operate on two established routes."
A relatively new name, but an experienced operator, Transrail is already handling bulk movements for commodities including steel, building aggregates and chemicals. Current turnover of £180m a year is generated from 35 million tonnes of freight with 57,000 train movements. Enterprise business will travel as part of full trainloads, keeping overheads low. Transrail owns 340 locomotives and, thanks to the virtual absence of coal from the tracks these days. has plenty of capacity.
No comparison
Otis managing director Roger Boughton says there is no comparison with Speedlink. "It (Enterprise) will not be feeding 600 odd rail terminals," he says. "It is intended to be a regular daily liner service feeding specific terminals on a daily basis and it is possible that one of the dropping off points could be us. If the service is successful the chances are that it is going to be not just a casual load but a regular flow of business. We would be looking to provide a handling and re-distribution service for traffic into the Manchester area." This could increase the demand for haulage subcontractors.
Henry Gilbraith, managing director at Gilbraith, agrees that subcontractors could benefit through links with operators with terminals, and he mentions the environmental angle: "There are certain groups which say everything must go by rail," he says. "There are certain hauliers who say everything must go by road. Loads should travel by the modes which best suit them where it makes economic sense." However, Deanside Transit managing director Kenneth Russell says: "We have been hauliers longer than we have been rail terminal operators and we know that longdistance haulage rates are tight. This means that if we can find a more economic route rather than use the road haulage vehicles, we will."
For Enterprise to reach its target of 100,000 truck journeys it will need hauliers at estch end of each journey. In the meantime it is in a chicken-and-egg situation of not needing the hauliers until it has the traffic.
Transrail says it will only expand the service if sufficient business is generated, but there is every reason to suggest that the idea will develop further.
Freight forwarders, wagon owners and terminal operators are
already funding research into the feasibility of using other UK routes for a similar project called Core-Net. This is being conducted by Dewsbury-based consultants Rail Management Services, which has already compared notes with Transrail, Even if systems like Enterprise flourish, the move to rail will not be be massive. In the past 40 years road-borne freight has risen to 63%, while the proportion travelling by rail has fallen to 6%. Some long-haul loads will be lost, but local distribution work will increase. As always it will be a case of offering the right service at the right price.
El by Steve McQueen