Railmen prepare to fight back
Page 6
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
by Karen Miles
• A defiant British Rail has warned hauliers that the party's over: the exodus from rail to road has ended.
Trainload Freight says the painful process of forcing its contracts to at least cover their operating costs has now been completed.
The BR subsidiary has been boosted by National Power's decision to stay on the rails for the core of its coal movements.
Up to 2.8 million tonnes of freight a year have switched from rail to road in the past two years. The remaining 5.5 million tonnes identified as uneconomic in the review will be retained by Trainload: the companies concerned have accepted contract changes and rate increases.
"Our remit from Government is to cover costs: says Trainload. "By doing that we've only lost 2.5% of our business—hardly the haemorrhage of traffic some have suggested."
National Power has agreed to stick with rail for the next five years as part of the deal between Industry Secretary Michael Heseltine, British Coal and the electricity generators. Most of the tonnage bought from British Coal will go by Trainload Freight and, from next April, by
its privatised Buxton Line successor.
But PowerGen, which has given BR notice to quit from its contract for 20 million tonnes of coal a year, is holding back. If the company decides to join the move to road, it could
Stanlow Refinery to Aberystwyth Taunton Cider to Glasgow
need up to a mil lion truckloads a year. Within the next few weeks the Government is expected to announce how BR's freight businesses will be sold off.