Scottish Parliament - Local Government and Transport Committee Freight Transport Inquiry

Joint submission from Freight on Rail & TRANSform Scotland

2nd December 2005
 

1. Introduction

Freight on Rail and TRANSform Scotland thank the committee for the opportunity to comment on freight issues affecting Scotland.

Background to Freight on Rail & TRANSform Scotland

Freight on Rail, a partnership between transport trades unions, freight operating companies, Network Rail, the Rail Freight Group and Transport 2000 works with regional and local authorities to promote the economic, social and environmental benefits of rail freight both nationally and locally. The members of Freight on Rail are EWS, Freightliner, Rail Freight Group, RMT, TSSA, ASLEF, Network Rail and Transport 2000.

TRANSform Scotland is the Scottish sustainable transport campaign, bringing bus, rail and shipping operators, local authorities, environment and conservation groups, consultancies and local transport campaigns.
 

2. Why we need local government to set the framework for rail freight

The nation needs the right land use planning framework to cater for demand for rail freight. The regional and local planning systems are vital instruments for achieving modal shift to rail. They need to provide an enabling, supportive context in which rail freight can develop but ensure that new terminals are located in the right place for the right people. Without the appropriate national, regional and local planning framework the rail freight industry can neither obtain planning permission to develop new rail freight interchanges, nor protect potential rail lands, nor justify long-term investment to increase freight carried by rail.
Scottish government, at all levels, has four key roles to allow the shift to rail freight to be realised:

• Planning for rail freight through national, regional and local strategies, and through their inter-relationship with Network Rail’s strategies.
  
• Protecting rail lands and interests such as track beds and sidings through local plans. This includes the identification and protection of sites, lines and siding with existing or possible future rail potential. SPP17 enables councils to protect disused railway land for future potential railway use, even where there is no immediate evidence of future possible rail use as long as the land is safeguarded in the structure plans or local plans. It is important to remember that once sites are lost they are gone forever to the rail industry.
  
• Promoting rail freight through facilitation and grants
  
• Participating in partnership such as the North East Scotland Rail Freight Development Group (which is local government-led and supported by Scottish Executive).

The new statutory Regional Transport Partnerships, in particular, should make delivery of rail freight a key objective. Members of the rail freight industry would participate in partnerships.
 

3. Planning permission for rail freight interchanges

The policy of subsidiarity means that local authorities which are responsible for granting planning permission for interchanges, also are faced with balancing the local disbenefits of such a development against the wider regional and national benefits.

Consequently it is crucial that there are national and regional policies supporting the shift to rail freight so that local authorities can support applications by promoting the wider environmental and economic benefits and mitigate any impacts by appropriate design.

Authorities need to:

• Consult, understand local concerns, and promote the wider environmental benefits

• Choose the right location and size; use green vehicles, sustainable building design and landscaping – measures which can help mitigate any local impacts

• Take advantage of the industry expertise of Freight on Rail members
   

4. Availability of terminals in Scotland

Scotland needs more terminal capacity and there is a strong case for expansion of existing terminals as well as new interchanges. The Scottish Executive through its regime of Freight Facilities Grants (FFGs) has helped to improve the situation.

5. The role of the Scottish Executive in promoting rail freight

The rail freight capital and revenue grants awarded by the Scottish Executive are hugely beneficial to the industry, the environment and society as a whole (as illustrated below in section 6). Grants show the industry and local authorities that government is committed to rail - which enables industries to invest long-term and authorities to broker partnerships. In particular, FFGs offset the initial start up costs of the shift to rail.
 

6. Rail freight needs to be evaluated at national and regional levels

Most rail freight flows cross at least one regional boundary and in many cases are cross-border, going to and from Scotland to England and beyond.
 

7. Why do we need rail freight?

7.1 To protect the environment

Rail freight makes a vital contribution to protecting the environment and helping the Government to meet its commitments to improving air quality and tackling climate change. Overall rail produces less than one per cent of the total U.K. emissions of carbon dioxide, the principle greenhouse gas, compared with 21 per cent from road transporti.

Tonne for tonne rail freight produces 90 per cent less carbon dioxide than road transportii

Freight Transport: Average emissions in grams per tonne-kilometreiii

Mode	PM10	CO	NOx	CO2	VOC
Rail	0.004	0.032	0.31	15	0.021
HGV	0.048	0.33	1.74	180	0.15

Key: PM10 particulate matter of less than 10 microns; CO carbon monoxide; NOx oxides of nitrogen; CO2 Carbon dioxide; VOC volatile organic compounds.

“The move from road to rail means greater speed and flexibility for our customers as well as less air pollution, which is great news for the environment.”- Dave Ansell DHL
 

7.2 To relieve road congestion

Rail freight, acting as a freight by-pass, can reduce road congestion which according to the UK Government is set to grow by up to 37 per cent by 2010.
In 2003/04, rail freight lifted was 8.3m tonnes, while, and in addition, 1.56m tonnes were delivered to Scotland from other parts of the UK and Europe. An aggregates train can remove 120 HGVs from our roadsiv
 

7.3 To offer an alternative to other issues facing road transport

• Road congestion is causing extended and less predictable journey times.

• Existing driver vacancies 47,000 with the average HGV driver age now 55.

• Working Time Directive is estimated to require another 30,000 and to cost the road freight industry an extra £1 billion per annum.

• Taxation by distance and tougher emissions regulations on the agenda.

“Rail will have to play a significant future role in moving cargo out of the British ports. … As an industry we need all the rail freight we can get.” Jens Holger Niesen MD Maersk Sealand 2004

“Rail to and from the UK's major ports is proving more reliable than road. Dedicated K&N rail services from Southampton and Felixstowe are recording 95% reliability levels, compared with 'low-mid 80%' for comparable road haulage”. Peter Ulber, Chief Exec. Kuenhe & Nagel 2005
 

7.4 To reduce road maintenance costs

Lorries cause significant damage to the roads, which has to be paid for by taxpayers. Transferring freight to the railways reduces this cost. The damage done by heavy vehicles increases with approximately the fourth power of the axle load. Using the fourth power law, one axle of 10 tonnes (HGV scale) is 160,000 times more damaging to a road surface than an axle of 0.5 tonnes (car scale). This is why road surface maintenance is generally taken to be almost exclusively attributable to the heaviest vehicles.
 

7.5 To help transport safety

Rail is a safer way for society to distribute freight.
There were 28,864 accidents involving HGVs and LGVs in 2003: 9,958 HGV and LGV drivers and passengers were injured in 2003: 2,474 pedestrians were hit by HGVs and LGVs in 2003: 1,194 HGV and LGV drivers and passengers were killed or seriously injured in 2003 - Transport Statistics Great Britain, 2004 Edition, DfT
No passengers were killed on the railways in 2003, while 3,508 people were killed on the roads (source: Transport Statistics 2003 & Health and Safety Executive - rail figure excludes trespassers and suicides).
 

8. Enhancing the rail network

8.1 Gauge

It is essential that the main routes in the Scottish network be cleared to allow them to carry the increasingly pre-dominant 9 foot 6inch high containers which are rapidly becoming the international norm on conventional wagons. Scotland has this clearance on the West Coast Main Line to Coatbridge/Mossend and the Executive has funded clearance on wards from Coatbridge/Mossend to Elgin via Aberdeen. Further work, detailed later, needs to be done to ensure Scottish industry remains fully competitive. We would recommend the clearance of at least one East-West route in Scotland, i.e. from the West Coast to the Edinburgh area and clearance of the Highland main line to Inverness.
8.2 Capacity

The capacity, i.e. the ability of the network to accommodate trains, is being produced by Network Rail Scotland in its Route Utilisation Strategy (RUS) which will make a detailed assessment of the capabilities of the network, where constraints exist and what can be done to remove them. This Scottish RUS will be facilitated by a nationwide Freight RUS: these two strategies will assist in decision-making and setting priorities.

Contacts:

Philippa Edmunds, Freight on Rail Campaigner - 020 8241 9982 - www.freightonrail.org.uk
Colin Howden, Director, TRANSform Scotland - 0131 467 7714 - www.transformscotland.org.uk
 

i. The Railway Forum 2005
ii. AEA Technology for Strategic Rail Authority, October 2004
iiii. SRA February 2005
iv. Network Rail 2005