Response to Transport Select Committee inquiry into Freight

Definition of Freight on Rail

Freight on Rail is a campaign working to get goods off roads and onto rail as an important step in developing a more sustainable distribution system.

 The members are as follows: - Rail Freight Group, EWS, Freightliner, RMT, ASLEF, TSSA, UNITE – AMICUS Section and Campaign for Better Transport.

 
The following questions have been asked by the committee

 
1. Is the Department’s investment in logistics programmes—including the Sustainable Distribution Fund—good value for money and meeting the objectives?

Rail freight grants are an important mechanism and represent good vaule for money. DfT grants do have an important role to play in promoting sustainable freight transport and compensating for the fact that the road haulage does not pay for all the external costs it imposes on society such as congestion, pollution, road accidents and road maintenance costs. 
We believe that taking away significant amounts of support for the mode would have the following repercussions

• Damage industry confidence in rail freight
• Result in more road congestion on key trunk routes especially the ports
• Be unpopular with the general public

The resumption of Freight Facility Grants is most welcome as capital grants are particularly important in offsetting the initial start-up costs of the modal shift to rail.

 
2. International distribution patterns involving air freight increase carbon dioxide by up to 30 times that of sea transport—what more can be done to promote modal shift from road and air freight to inland waterway, shipping and rail? How can the Government encourage and incentivise further efficiency improvements.

 
How to encourage modal shift to rail freight

a) Reject trials of longer heavier lorries (LHVs)

Government evaluation of longer heavier lorries runs counter to its stated policy to encourage rail freight which would be seriously damaged by the introduction of these vehicles.

This month Government ministers will receive a report outlining whether the Government should allow trials of longer and heavier lorries (LHVs), ranging from 25.5 to 30.5 metres, 60 to 84 tonnes,  on the UK’s roads. The most favoured option, at 25.5 metres long and 60 tonnes, would be fifty per cent longer and over a third heavier than existing 44 tonne lorries.

Photo shows a LHV with other traffic during German trial which shows scale of vehicles

 
Longer and heavier lorries (LHVs), have serious safety and environmental implications and could seriously damage the prospects for rail freight growth,

We believe that plans to consider the operation of 60 tonne lorries, and any consideration of trials should also be opposed on the following grounds. 
                                                           
i Research, undertaken by independent transport consultants MTRU, found that rather than reducing the number of lorries needed, all previous increases in vehicle dimensions did nothing to halt heavier, larger lorries doing more mileage and driving around with ever lower load efficiency. Heavier lorries use more fuel and so the lack of any efficiency improvements has meant more CO2 emissions as a result.  This evidence undermines the Government’s justification for permitting previous increased lorry dimensions and questions the validity of current arguments for LHVs.  see Figure 2 page and figure 5 page or total HGV traffic (measured as vehicle kilometres). (See figure 4 page 8 in attached MTRU report – Heavier lorries and their impact on the economy and the environment October 2007

Despite several increases in maximum weight and volume, the average payload has fallen instead of rising which means that emissions per tonne carried have increased rather than decreased  see figure 2 page 5 and Fig 5 Page 9 in report. The claimed environmental benefits of LHVs rely on very high levels of load utilisation – in excess of that routinely achieved within the haulage sector.  Therefore at lower levels of utilisation the environmental performance of LHVs would be worse. German trials found that utilization below 77 per cent in LHVs used more fuel and therefore more emissions than in HGVs1.

ii Cheaper HGV travel would encourage more use for a combination of reasons.

It would undermine rail2 and water freight which have far lower carbon dioxide emissions, better safety record and have the advantage of reducing road congestion 
Detailed examination of rail’s bulk freight flows by EWS in May 2007 found that up to 40% of aggregates currently carried by rail could switch to road and almost 20% of metals traffic. Freightliner research found that the introduction of a ‘B-double’ LHV capable of carrying a 40’ and 20’ box would precipitate the loss of up to  66% of existing rail volumes in the deep-sea container market.

Create extra HGV traffic through longer journeys, for example through more centralised distribution systems

iii Emissions from HGV traffic have grown significantly since 1990, by 25-30%, using the revised DEFRA assessment. HGV traffic is an important source of greenhouse emissions from transport, second only to cars/vans and to international aviation, (see figure 1 page 3 in attached MTRU report – Heavier lorries and their impact on the economy and their environment - October 2007

iv LHVs have safety dangers due to their size and lack of manoeuvrability.

The impact of these vehicles if they are involved in an accident will be proportionately greater because of their extra weight, with severe implications on braking distances, stability, manoeuvrability at roundabout for example, possible jack-knifing, overtaking and reversing complications. The DfT Focus on Freight Dec 2006 stated that because of their size and weight, when they are involved in accidents the level of injury tends to be higher with HGVs, (this is at the existing weight and length limits); In 2005, HGVs were twice as likely to be involved in fatal accidents as cars3. For example on major non built up single carriage roads a staggering 76 per cent of articulated HGVs exceeded their 40 mph limit by 6mph on average, with 28 per cent exceeding the limit by more than 10 mph in 2005. Even Bendy buses, which are 18 metres long, cause more than twice as many injuries as any other bus4.

v Restricting LHVs to dual-carriageways and motorways simply will not work as there is no mechanism to keep them to this. The reality is that these vehicles will need local access to distribution hubs

vi The poor record of compliance with existing road regulations needs to be factored into any decision on increasing the existing weight and lengths of HGVs. For example on major non built up single carriage roads a staggering 76 per cent of articulated HGVs exceeded their 40 mph limit by 6mph on average, with 28 per cent exceeding the limit by more than 10 mph in 2005.

See Freight on Rail LHV report April 2007 for more details

 
b) Government national support for rail freight

The support shown for rail freight in the Rail Strategy of July 2007 is most welcome. In particular the commitment of £200m towards the Strategic Freight Network. This level of support gives the industry confidence to make long term investments.

Network Rail produced the Freight Route Utilization Strategy in March 2007 which outlined in detail the schemes it deemed necessary for rail freight to play its full role in servicing the economy and reducing carbon emissions from freight distribution.

The Rail Freight Operators’ Association has devised a series of schemes. These increase the capacity and capability of the national rail network, allow an increase in freight services and help productivity. In addition they will help the environment by allowing more freight to be captured by rail and provide better connection to the UK’s international gateways.

CHANNEL TUNNEL ROUTES – GAUGE ENHANCEMENT TO W12 AND FULL EUROPEAN GAUGE-

FELIXSTOWE TO NUNEATON – CAPACITY*
This work is even more important since the announcement that Crossrail will go ahead as Crossrail, as currently planned, will take away rail freight paths on the Great Western and Great Eastern mainlines making this route a vital alternative.

SOUTHAMPTON TO WCML - CAPACITY

SOUTHAMPTON TO WCML - DIVERSIONARY CAPACITY AND GAUGE

SOUTH HUMBERSIDE MAIN LINE - CAPACITY AND FLEXIBILITY

TRANSPENNINE ROUTES AND NEWCASTLE TO CARLISLE - GAUGE

FELIXSTOWE AND SOUTHAMPTON - TRAIN LENGTH

BARKING TO GOSPEL OAK TO WILLESDEN - CAPACITY AND ELECTRIFICATION
This work is even more important since the announcement that Crossrail will go ahead as Crossrail, as currently planned, will take away rail freight paths on the Great Western and Great Eastern mainlines making this route a vital alternative

OXFORD TO BLETCHLEY – REOPENING TO PROVIDE ADDITIONAL CAPACITY AND DIVERSIONARY CAPABILITY

STOURBRIDGE TO WALSALL - REOPENING

HOPE VALLEY – CAPACITY

There is also an additional list of enhancements needed for Scotland which is on www.freightonrail.org.uk

c) Integration between land use planning and transport policy

As well as support in national policy for rail freight  the planning framework needs to promote and protect rail freight in Regional Spatial Strategies and Local Development Frameworks so that suitable rail sites and alignments are protected.

Planning White Paper - National Policy statements needed for freight.
Need so that regional and local authorities will make policies which protect and promote rail freight. That is why Freight on Rail believes a national policy statement for rail freight is important to be used by both schemes under IPC and existing Town and Country Planning Act. 

Lack of sites for Strategic Rail Freight Interchanges
Rail freight cannot prosper without a network of Strategic Rail Freight interchanges to enable more freight to transfer from road to rail.

When considering rail freight it is important to take into consideration that rail freight crosses local and regional authority boundaries and take account of regional and national benefits of rail freight interchanges as well as the local effects.

Protection of railway lands
Protection of disused alignments for possible rail freight services and diversionary routes is important as outlined in PPG13. Once railway sites and alignments have been lost they have gone for ever and society is now looking at ways of reducing carbon emissions for which the railways have an important role.

Regional Government changes  
After the Government announcement that RDAs will take over the responsibilities for all regional strategies it is important that regional spatial strategies are fully integrated into the work of the RDAs. RDAs will need to have policies which in principle promote and protect rail freight and to give direction  to local authorities to protect suitable sites for terminals and rail alignments for future possible use.

 
d) Partnerships needed to expand the railways

All the parties such as Network Rail, the local and regional authorities, the unions, the TOCs, FOCs, and private sector including developers need to work together to achieve investment in the railways.

3. Air freight in the South-East is forecast to grow from 2.2 million tonnes a year in 2003 to 14 million tonnes by 2030. Has the Department adequately planned for the capacity and access implications of this very significant growth? How will transport networks need to adjust to serve the growing air freight market?

Having rail freight links at the main airports is an important start to reducing the carbon footprint of some of the products flown into the UK airports. With the exception of Heathrow which has a rail freight terminal set up to handle construction materials for the building of Terminal 5, no other airports have rail freight access. 

4. Should the Department have more responsibility for planning and delivering integrated infrastructure which might promote ‘free movement of goods’? How is this to be balanced with the Department’s other commitments? What should be the priorities for the Transport Innovation Fund productivity stream?

TIF Funding
We believe that the 4 existing rail freight schemes put forward for TIF funding represent good value for money

We are awaiting the outcome of 4 proposed key rail freight schemes

• Gauge enhancement Southampton-West Coast Main Line near Birmingham.
• Gauge and capacity enhancements Peterborough-Nuneaton
• Humber ports/Immingham rail capacity enhancements
• Olive Mount chord, including Chat Moss, Liverpool

We also believe that it is important that capacity improvements on the Gospel Oak to Barking and Felixstowe to Nuneaton route are included in the enhancements.

5. How can the road safety record of haulage vehicles be improved?
Better enforcement and stiffer penalties for contraventions of traffic regulations would lower the risks to the general public.

Examples of HVG speeding

On single carriage way roads, 5 axle or more HGVs with a speed limit of 40 mph had an average of 46mph. Rates of speeding increase with vehicle size with vehicles of 5 or more axles 33 tonnes and over the worst offenders 29 per cent of 5 axles HGVs exceeded the limit by more than 10mph. Single carriageway roads with a 60mph limit are in absolute terms our most lethal roads.

The survey also reveals a high incidence of speeding by HGVs on 30 mph roads. 44 per cent of 2-axle HGVs exceeded the speed limit, 15 per cent by more than 5 mph. This compares with 46 per cent and 18 per cent respectively in 2005.

Speed cameras not measuring speeding lorries on many road types
Speed cameras are calibrated to enforce the speed-limit that applies to cars, not lorries. This allows lorries to exceed their own speed-limits with impunity when these are lower than those for cars. This is indicative of the general behaviour of HGVs and of the difficulty in enforcement.

Rail freight success story

• 66% growth in tonne kms in past 10 years
• Surface market share now 12%
• One third of metal products in the UK are delivered by rail
• 25% of deep sea containers move by rail
• 80% of London construction stone is supplied by rail

Environmental benefits of rail
The report by the Logistics Research Centre of Heriot-Watt University for the Climate Change Working Group of the Commission for Integrated Transport has examined recent emissions data for the domestic freight transport market.  In 2004, the best year for analytical results, all modes of domestic freight transport emitted a combined total of 33.7 millions tonnes of CO2 into the atmosphere.  HGVs accounted for 78.5% of these emissions, while vans contributed 13.3%.  This is compared with waterway emissions which accounted for 6.8% and rail freight which contributed just 1.1%.  Pipelines accounted for 0.3% and air, as a minor player in this market but with high emission levels, accounted for 0.1%.  The report also stated that freight transport is responsible for just over 21% of all CO2 emissions in the transport sector and roughly 6% of the total CO2 emissions in the UK.  In examining opportunities to cut CO2 emissions, the report states that average CO2 emissions per tonne-km are substantially lower for rail and waterborne transport than road and air.  The reports author, Professor McKinnon, writes that “shifting freight to these more environmentally-friendly modes can therefore cut CO2 emissions.”

Road congestion relief

• An average freight train can remove 50 HGVs from our roads
• An aggregates train can remove 120 HGVs from our roads – Network Rail

Philippa Edmunds Freight on Rail – 8th October 2007

Attached reports
1. Heavier lorries and their impact on the economy and the environment - MTRU October 2007
2. Freight on Rail LHV Report April 2007 

 

1. Umweltbundesamt 2007 Hinterfrundpapier, Langer und schwere auf Deutchland Strassen: Tragen Riesen-LkW su einer nachhaltigen Mobilitat bei? www.umwelbundesamt.de.
2. Oxera Research for EWS found that up to 40% of aggregates and 20% of metals carried by rail could switch to road May 2007. Freightliner research showed that up to 66% of container traffic could revert to the roads.
3. Focus on Freight December 2006 chart 5.2b Deaths/KSIs in accidents involving HGVs per million km travelled.
4. From the Evening Standard June7th 2007