Hauliers Sceptical About 10-hour Rail Service
Page 38
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
BY A SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT
I ONDON hauliers engaged on the London-Glasgow trunk route view 1-4 with some scepticism the announcement that, from March 16, British Railways London Midland Region are to introduce 75 m.p.h. diesel-electric locomotives hauling 200 tons of freight on the London-Glasgow service. It is stated that the journey will take 14 hours in each direction and 4-ton containers will be carried at £.16 and £1 8, according to their volume.
Hauliers doubt whether a 10-hour journey time will have any significant effect on the time of travel from door to door, and point out that a customer who hires a 4-ton container and is unable to load it to capacity is paying a high rate.
Road haulage rates from the London area to consignees in Glasgow vary, according to the nature of the load, from £3 15s. to £5 per ton. J. and H. Transport Services (Peckham), Ltd., for example, quote the lower rate, In their case, doorto-door delivery occupies 36-38 hours.
Road Services (Caledonian), Ltd., quote from £3 10s. to £5 per ton, the journey from the London depot to the Glasgow consignee taking some 20 hours. J. and A. Smith of Maddiston, Ltd., charge £4 10s. per ton and are two nights on the road.
Atlas Express Co., Ltd., Rotherhithe, as parcels specialists, would welcome the 10-hour rail journey, giving the customer a much speedier service than exists at present. They believe, however, that not all railway depots are sufficiently well equipped with cranes of adequate capacity to deal with heavier traffics. Mr. R. E. L. Lawrence, divisional traffic manager, British Railways, giving details of the new service, said: "There has never been a surface freight movement so fast as this in this country. We are out to get all the traffic off the road we can." The Condor (" container door-to-door ") service will operate on five days a week.