Sir Reginald Hammers It Home
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OVER 90 PER CENT OF GENERAL FREIGHT GOES BY ROAD: NO NEED FOR NATIONWIDE CO-ORDINATION ROAD haulage now plays the dorninant role in the movement of the country's freight. That was the theme Sit Reginald Wilson, deputy chairman, Transport Holding Company, pungently affirmed when speaking at the inaugural luncheon a the National Traders' Traffic Association in London on Friday. (Since January 1, this Association has replaced the Mansion House Association on Transport and the Traders Traffic Conference.)
The swing to road transport was happening faster than most people realized, asserted Sir Reginald. The latest figures revealed that over 90 per cent of freight now went by road, excluding the special case of coal traffic. So the railway was no more the basic provider. Whatever feelings one might have about it this was a trend that could not be substantially reversed, he continued, adding: "The old order has gone and a great deal else with it ".
Against this changing background the emergence of a small but efficient unit of freight transport like the road vehicle had brought to an end the sharp distinction between user and provider of transport. Many could be users and providers at one and the same time. There was great virtue in such an overlapping and intermingling of interests.
Rails—Archaic, Inefficient . By contrast, the railways could only be used by the railways. So, inevitably, they led a separate and specialized existence. There was a reserved track which could be used by nobody else and for nothing else. The carrying unit was conditioned absolutely by two rails of steel. That. Sir Reginald added. was an archaic aad inefficient arrangement. Moreover, such technical isolation reinforced the railways' urge towards selfsufficiency. and ultimate uniformity. Such a situation tended to react adversely on customer relationship. It was a position into which no road haulier would want to get.
The T.H.C. and the road haulage concerns within the group had learned from past experience. Their aim was to keep life simple. Units would be small, well distributed and have their own local boards. Above all .they would be units which did not separate themselves from the rest of the road haulage industry. Rather'would they actively and effectively participate in the industry. The T.H.C. did not ask for special privilege—they could and would stand on their own feet. But in return there should he no discriminating action against them or " knocking " merely because of their pedigree.
• Sir Reginald thanked the Road Haulage Association for their statesmanlike attitude in admitting them to their fold. Whilst recognizing the principle of freedom of choice, he claimed there were areas of operation where co-ordination was possible--containerization was an example. But that was no argument for nation-wide co-ordination of all freight services.
Commenting on road congestion, Sir Reginald said that 78 per cent of the mileage of their general haulage vehicles was done at night. Rejecting a proposal for a congestion tax on lorries, he wryly added that there was a case for lower charges for off-peak users.
Clinging to Old Things
• Any transport co-ordination should be limited to basic planning, he said, and not concerned with details of daily operation. But planning control mast be watched. It was only too easy to refuse to invest in new things because old ones were not yet exhausted. For instance, there were still plenty of willow trees to support the production of bows and arrows. .
Published Rates for Chunner Commenting on the Channel (railway) Tunnel, Sir Reginald asked if there was to be a .published tariff of charges and who was to control it. . Similarly, on liner trains Sir Reginald had this to say: Users of transport would wish the railways well in their 1:100m. liner train venture, but if it succeeded the railwavs would have a monopoly in that traffic. So would there then be publication of rates to ensure no undue preference? Still more difficult was the railway subsidy, now around £120/i 130m. a year and likely to remain in nine figures for a long time ahead. How, in effect, was this subsidy being spent, Sir Reginald queried. and was one competitor deriving ito advantage over another?
But if closer control over railway services and tariffs should consequently emerge, that should not involve going back on the proposition that this type of regulation was unnecessary in the world of road freight. Here there was full competition based on a totally different structure of ownership, cost and service.
Subsequently, Sir Reginald elaborated this week on the points be had raised with a representative of The Commercial Motor. He said many people imagined congestion on the roads and deficit on the railways were two skles of the same coin and that diverting freight traffic from road to rail will cure both • difficulties. Yet congestion was mainly in towns where even rail freight must take to the road. Moreover, such congestion was chiefly due to private cars, Forcing traffic onto rail was no general solution, Sir Reginald maintained. It might help their deficit, of course, but only at great economic cost and without curing congestion,
Danger of Controls • . The railways were a great single aggregation of economic power. If they were to he subsidized on a big :scale some public control of services and charges would be re-introduced, he continued. The danger was that the same controls would be applied to road haulage by false analogy, despite the operation of a free market and all-out competition. A " railway " solution would not only be unnecessary but had and incapable of application. In road passenger transport, however, Sir Reginald agreed that the position was quite different, in that it was logically. and precisely regulated.
Sir Reginald stressed that the problems of a subsidized railway system were quite special and ought to be treated separately. Otherwise the country's preoccupation with the problem of railways could cloud judgment on what the nation's transport policy should be Reeching's Trunk Survey MEAT week the results of British
I/ Railways' survey of main-line goods and passenger services are to be published—this survey having been foreshadowed in the Beeching Report in 1963.
it is expected to recommend closures where uneconomic duplication or underutilization occurs.