1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127
128
129
130
131
132
133
134
135
136 
Spirit of co-operation
Page 16
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
Can road and rail, freight operators exist in harmony? With rail looking to increase its market share, hauliers could benefit from last-mile distribution.
RAIL FREIGHT operators want to nearly double the amount of freight they carry in the next 30 years, increasing their national market share from 11.2% to 20%. 'This raises two obvious questions. First, is that desirable? And second, is it possible?
The aspiration was set out clearly in this year's Planning Ahead, a paper published by a number of rail operators, which aims to take millions of truck journeys off the road.
This has obvious environmental appeal. The Rail Freight Operators Association chairman, Graham Smith, argues that it would both reduce carbon emissions and increase the competitiveness of British industry.
Expansion
Would such an expansion damage the road haulage market? Not according to most hauliers, who, mainly, do not dislike rail freight.This may be because they are currently in the dominant position in the marketplace.
However, if anything, they are not so much unhothered as positively in favour of getting more freight onto the rail network. appears that few would stand in the way of rail freight expansion.
The Freight Transport Association's (ETA) head of rail freight, Christopher Snelling, says: "What matters most is how things move from A to B, while how they get there is dependent on a whole host of other factors."
He adds: "Most hauliers we speak to don't have any antipathy towards rail freight, they see it as just a useful part of the supply chain.
-They also like the fact it has the potential to free up space on the roads. Generally, they [road hauliers] are more concerned about congestion and each other than competition from rail freight."
Sensitive
Snelling concedes that rail freight operators tend to be "more sensitive" about road hauliers than vice-versa, hut stresses that the ETA tries to encourage "a more collegiate" attitude to the supply chain.
Snelling believes that rail freight has the potential to expand from about 10% of total freight carried to 15% in the next 20 years, although he thinks that the 20% aim of some in the rail freight industry may be ambitious.
He adds that to hit even the 15% target, rail freight will have to expand beyond its current core market of bulk goods carried long distances.
Growth
Snelling continues: "If growth comes, it will not be from bulk commodities because rail has those already it will be from general cargo of consumer products."
What Snelling has in mind are containers from deep-sea ports that need to be taken to distribution centres located inland, and perishables, such as food, which can be usefully carried by rail from English ports to Scotland, for example.
If there is a barrier to rail freight expansion, it is not from opposition from those in the freight industry, but the degree of capital investment an approach like this might require.
That said, investments are being made, such as Network Rail's £220m to develop the Strategic Freight Network. This should allow, among other things, longer trains to operate as well as increase capacity on key lines.
However, for the benefits to continue, the spending needs to be greater and last for longer. The pressure on public spending makes this unlikely. •
cpyFOR THE LATEST HEWS VISIT: www.roadtransport.comicm