Chemicals lost to rail?
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by Karen Miles • The largest rail-freight grant application of all time is due to be placed next month in a move which could deprive Tankfreight of business worth £7 million a year.
Chemical producer Albright & Wilson is to request the Department of Transport to pay more than 80% of the company's £1822m grant application in a move which could switch up to 40,000 lorry journeys a year to rail. The application is likely to outstrip previous rail-freight awards by over £10tn.
NFC's Tankfreight, which carries a large chunk of the traffic, could lose revenue worth ,E7M a year if the project goes ahead. But the switch to rail— which could include the chemical giant running its own train and attracting other manufacturers to use free wagon space—is uncertain because a worldwide slump in sales has hit its freight volumes, affecting the project's viability.
The Government would also have to pay a capital grant of "at least" £14.5m for the rail scheme to come close to the cost of truck operations, says the company. A wholesale shift to rail is "not cut and dried by any stretch of the imagination", says Albright & Wilson.
A spokesman for Tankfreight says the company has been helping Albright run trials of a road/rail option, but would only say that the commercial impact to Tankfreight of such a move is, "as yet, unknown".
The application will also test the Government's already-flagging image on encouraging rail freight.
The future of the Piggyback Consortium project, which is aimed at removing 400,000 lorry movements a year from Glasgow to the Channel tunnel, should be formally announced within days by Rai(track. If—as expected—the rail infrastructure provider dumps the road/ rail trailer idea and opts to for smaller and cheaper tunnel alterations to allow 9ft 6in deep-sea containers on Euro-sized rail wagons, the Government and Rail. track will face embarrassment. Deputy prime minister John Prescott has personally backed the project.
Albright & Wilson wants to reopen a disused line to link its largest British factory at Whitehaven to Widnes and Crewe, for onward rail transport. The hope is to switch 95% of Whitehaven's production to rail and to carry other company materials north from Crewe.