Rough ride for rail
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THE steel strike alone earlier this year cost British Rail £30m in lost orders, and freight carryings are continuing to decline as the economic recession bites harder.
These were the sombre results to emerge at the halfyear stage in the Board's accounts, and the latest estimate of freight tonnage BR expects to carry in 1980 is 157m tonnes, compared with 170m tonnes in 1979.
In an effort to combat losses, BR is scrapping more freight wagons and others are being stored to save on maintenance. BR ferries, hovercraft, Sealink, and hotels will all be up for sale.
BR chairman Sir Peter Parker summed up the prospects for the rest of 1980 like this:
"A rough ride. In the short term we shall be pressing on with our marketing effort to get new freight business and to sustain the growth we have enjoyed in the passenger business over the last few years.