P LETTER OF THE WEEK
Page 20
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Rail isn't better than road
HERE WE go again; tired old arguments about rail vs road and, like many, Philippa Edmunds, manager at rail freight lobby group Freight on Rail, seems to have her head in the clouds. Nobody can doubt the benefits of rail freight, and some of Freight on Rail's statistics are impressive, if a little misleading.
If you're moving huge tonnages of coal, oil, aggregates and even container loads of consumer goods (providing it's convenient to take them all to the same place) then rail can't be beaten. Unfortunately, the society we live in demands maximum choice and immediate availability, which only the flexibility of road transport can respond to. After all, how does rail freight get to its final destination? Many road hauliers, like Stobart. WH Malcolm and others, have been very successful in merging the two modes rather than trying to make the wrong mode work. Maybe Freight on Rail should take notice.
As far as emissions are concerned the road transport industry and its vehicle suppliers are one of the few industries that can prove beyond doubt the massive progress made in cleaning up their act, You only have to compare Euro-1 with Euro-5 and the imminent Euro-6 legislation to prove the point. wonder if the rail freight industry can make the same claims for their locomotives over the same period? What's their contribution from fuel tax to the Treasury?
With regard to drivers' hours enforcement. I suggest Edmunds spends some time in a typical UK traffic office and driver's cab to see just how seriously compliance is taken by British operators despite all the hoops they have to jump through.
It's interesting that during the recent extreme weather conditions VOSA, which would normally hound an honest HGV driver over the smallest infringement of break periods and rest periods, suddenly decide it's OK to relax drivers' hours rules to enable the job to get done and supplies to reach their destination. I assume they complied with their health and safety risk assessment requirements!
And where were the trains with their 160-tonne loads? Snowed in and stuck on their heavily subsidised tracks with little hope of moving!
Mike Davies
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