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Track 29 is British Rail's new parcels service. CM went to talk to one of the hauliers involved in the project, MS Freight.
Mi The 29 agents working for British Rail's new parcels service, Track 29, are in a very odd — position. On the one hand they are promoting a service which is designed to take trucks off the road. Yet on the other, they are continuing to run their own haulage operations.
"Hauliers know how to run trucks and British Rail knows how to run trains," says Mary Marshall, boss of Ashingtonbased MS Freight, and part of the Track 29 network.
This overnight freight service runs independently of Red Star and the Post Office operations. But unlike its sister services, Track 29 is aimed at businesses with parcels over 50kg.
As a door-to-door service, it is competing head-on with established road freight giants like TNT and Elan. Although it is more expensive, Track 29 is expected to win customers by offering a premium, environmentally friendly service.
COMPETITION
Marshall joined the scheme earlier this year after reading in Commercial Motor that BR was looking for agents nationwide. She beat off the local competition and won the collection and delivery rights for the Newcastle upon Tyne area.
Two vans have been added to the MS Freight fleet, a sales manager has been taken on to work exclusively on Track 29. and parcel deliveries and collections have just begun.
Marshall insists that her road transport experience makes her appreciate the benefits of this type of rail operation.
"Rail is the best way to get from A to B in the shortest possible time. We could not deliver pallets from Bristol to Aberdeen in one day; we would be stuck on the MI," she says.
All 29 agents are offering next-day deliveries. Marshall says that BR plans to expand the service to two and three-day deliveries and larger consignments.
OPPORTUNITIES
She is convinced that more opportunities will present themselves once the Channel Tunnel is open, and is predicting 51/2-hour deliveries to Paris.
All agents are paid based on a percentage of deliveries and sales; it is up to each firm to find new customers for BR.
BR has installed computers at the premises of each Track 29 agent to track parcel deliveries. It has also appointed signwriters and is about to launch a big advertising campaign.
Like other agents, MS Freight will not dedicate its entire operation to Track 29. As well as the two vans collecting and delivering parcels to Newcastle station twice a day, it runs a fleet of 20 HGVs for bulk distribution.
MS also undertakes some contract-hire work and hopes to extend its international service. Several loads have already been taken to Italy, France and Norway, and Marshall says she will soon he venturing into Spain.
A move to a new transport and warehouse depot will allow the company to expand its storage work.
But times have not always been so good for MS Freight.
The firm was set up in 1984. But Marshall's transport roots go back much further. I ler husband Ken had worked as an owner-operator and, to help his business, she had learnt many of the basic transport skills, such as roping, sheeting and loading. She took her Certificate of Professional Competence exam at the age of 17 to become the youngest person to pass the exam.
But Ken Marshall fell ill with Rheumatoid Arthritis, which forced him to give up driving.
"It was very frustrating for him to give up his job," says Mary Marshall. "He really enjoyed life on the road. Eventually we had to do something to get him out, of the house. So MS Freight was set up with a cousin, to give Ken a reason to get out and about again."
Ken Marshall's contacts in the road haulage industry helped the pair to establish the company, and within 18 months their two secondhand lorries had expanded to a fleet of six_ But then disaster struck. In just three months three trucks were written off and one young driver was killed.
"This really set us back," says Mary Marshall. "We thought about packing it all in. It was a hard decision to continue. We had to beg and borrow to keep our work going."
Through dogged perseverence the Marshalls managed to keep MS Freight running and for months they did not take any money out of the business.
FRUSTRATED
This hard work eventually paid off, and now MS is thriving, although there are still times when Ken Marshall longs to return to his driving days. He gets frustrated because he can't drive. "He has learnt to live with it — but he still can't help feeling annoyed when he cannot have a go on our new trucks," explains Mary Marshall.
The lean years with MS Freight have certainly made Mary Marshall appreciate the firm's present prosperity, because despite these times of rate-cutting and fewer contracts, business is booming for MS Freight. "We are really busy at the moment, too busy. But I sure am not complaining," she says smiling.
El by Tanya Cordrey