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Hauliers beat rail for freight quail
Page 6
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BRITISH RAIL will have to provide as high a standard of service as road transport if it is to gain a larger share of the freight market, Freight Transport Association director general Hugh Featherstone said this week.
Speaking at a BR presentation in London, he said: "Quite simply, the user wants a high standard of service at a competitive price. And that means competitive with road transport."
He said that quality of service is critical, and pointed out that the common denominator for every user is absolute reliability. "If the reliability and quality of service are not there, price is irrelevant. It's not much good knocking 15 per cent off the rate if the goods don't arrive."
But Mr Featherstone did add that economic reality meant that price played its part, and here he 3imed his blows at British Rail. 'There seems to be a sharp :iontrast between road and rail in he way they are responding to he recession.
"The haulier is cutting in order to be competitive, whereas there have been some pretty hefty increases in rail freight rates. I know this has been the cause of some of the recent movement from rail to road."
Mr Featherstone went on to appeal to British Rail for stable treatment of new customers. "If a company redesigns its distribution system to use rail, which often involves considerable capital investment, it wants some assurance of price stability.
"Or, more accurately in these inflationary days, some assurance that increases will be kept under control."
And he appealed for BR to be flexible enough to adapt to its customers' requirements, and not to expect its customers to make all the running, "This is particularly important for the railways because of the inherent inflexibility of rail as compared with road."