The Lyons Inquiry Local GovernmentDecember
9th 2005 Definition
of Freight on Rail Freight on
Rail, a partnership between transport trades unions, freight operating
companies, Network Rail, the Rail Freight Group and Transport
2000 works to promote the economic, social and environmental benefits
of rail freight both nationally and locally. It advocates policy
changes that support the shift to rail and provides information
and help on freight related issues. In particular, it aims to
help local authorities through all stages of the process such
as planning a rail-freight strategy, accessing grants and dealing
with technical matters.
The nation
needs the right land use planning framework to cater for the demand
for rail freight. The regional and local planning systems are
vital instruments for achieving the modal shift to rail. They
not only 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. Government has four key roles to allow the shift to rail freight to be realised:
3. Granting planning permission for rail freight interchanges The policy of subsidiarty means that local authorities which are responsible for granting planning permission for interchanges, also are faced with balancing the local disbenefits such as increased local lorry movements, 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 give permission for applications and promote the wider environmental and economic benefits and mitigate against local opposition by appropriate design. Planners need to be conversant with the issues around local losers versus wider national benefits and handle projects sensitively. In particular, authorities need to:- Understand local factors
4.
Existing Local Government Structures Freight on Rail believes that the existing regional structures
in England with regional assemblies producing Regional Spatial
Strategies enables authorities to plan for rail freight at regional
levels while taking into consideration cross regional and national
freight flows. These statutory documents inform members and officers
at local levels in both protecting rail sites and track beds and
granting planning permission for interchanges. 5. Why we need rail freight? 5.1 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 green house gas, compared with 21 per cent from
road transport.i Tonne for tonne rail freight produces 90 per cent less carbon dioxide than road transportii “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 5.2 To relieve road congestion Rail freight, acting as a freight by-pass, can reduce road congestion which according to the Government is set to grow by up to 37 per cent by 2010. “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 An aggregates train can remove 120 HGVs from our roadsiii 5.3 Roads are expensive to maintain 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. Sending
goods by rail can lower road maintenance costs for authorities. 5.4 To help transport safety Rail is a safer way for society to distribute freight than by road. In 2004, five passengers were killed on the railwaysiv, 3,221 people were killed on the roadsv.
Philippa Edmunds Freight on Rail December 2005 |