Rail freight sell-off on track for a monopoly
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by Karen Miles
• Road hauliers look set to compete with a near-monopoly in the rail freight sector following British Rail's decision to dispose of its last freight company to English, Welsh and Scottish Railway (EW&S).
The move to sell Rai!freight Distribution to US-owned EW&S has provoked criticism that the Government is breaking its promise to inject competition into the rail freight market.
The sale is expected within weeks if approved by the European Commission and will mean that the Wisconsin-based company will control almost all UK and international rail freight.
"It is a poor day for competition in the rail freight industry," says Bill Shiplee, commercial director of Freightliner, which also bid for RfD.
The Freight Transport Association's rail freight policy officer Sarah Crockford says: "It would be premature to say we will be kicking up a fuss' but we will certainly be looking out very soon for the benefits that privatising BR's rail freight business was meant to bring."
EW&S has already bought from BR the giant Trainload companies which haul aggre
gates and petroleum products and Rail Express Systems, the letters carrier. That only leaves Freightliner, the domestic container carrier.
Last year RID lost £59m on a £70m turnover but it is attractive because it is the only UK company with the right to put whole freight trains through the Channel tunnel. It runs 150 trains a week and owns terminals in north London, Trafford Park, Wakefield and Glasgow.