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Post trains lose out to trucks
Page 10
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• Road haulage looks set to bail out the railfreight sector again after Consignia announced it is replacing several mail trains with a truck-based service.
The company, formerly known as the Royal Mail, says delays to the service it has received from English Welsh and Scottish Railways (EWS) on certain routes has forced it to review its operations. According to a spokesman, trucks and aircraft will replace trains on three routes, London to Swansea and a depot outside Glasgow, and third running from Glasgow to Bristol—early in the new year.
However, more changes could be in the pipeline when the mail company announces the tndings of a complete review of its transport needs over the next few months. It has been forced to review its operations in the light of recent criticism about post times.
In the short term. Consignia will continue to rely on its remaining 55 nightly mail trains across the UK. Although EWS has the contract to move the mail until 2006, poor-performance clauses in the contract have allowed Consignia to make the changes.
EWS itself has faced considerable problems while vast sections of track had to be replaced and speed limits were imposed last year, although a spokeswoman for the company says recent delays on Consignia deliveries are at an all-time low.
The review of Consignia's delivery services comes two months after its decision to outsource its fleet of 40,000 cars, vans and trucks in the biggest deal of its kind (CM 6-12 Sept). It will also sell its leasing and maintenance operation.