Freight on Rail going online & getting goods on track

Article published in ATCO (Association of Transport Co-ordinating Officers) 1 January 2002

Freight on Rail wants to help change the beleaguered image of the rail industry and get rail freight projects out of the 'too difficult basket' and into operation. The aim of Freight on Rail, a partnership between the rail freight industry, the transport trade unions and Transport 2000, is to promote the economic, social and environmental benefits of rail freight both nationally and locally to those involved in land-use planning and economic development.

Freight on Rail recognises the vital role local and regional authorities have to play in converting this wish into reality and does not underestimate the problems associated. That is why Freight on Rail was set up to act as a facilitator. We urge council officers and councillors to use us, plug into our expertise across the industry and networking ability to sort out the problems. We are keen to make presentations, sort out technical problems and respond to consultation documents. We have produced a range of literature to help outline best practice and examples of success stories. Both 'Goods without the Bads' a detailed guide to rail freight planning and our summary leaflet 'Getting goods on track' are available from us free or downloadable from our web site.

We have recently launched our web site at www.freightonrail.org.uk to help authorities locate information easily. We found that considerable data is available but dispersed, making it difficult to track down. Our web site which brings together information such as loading gauges, routes, existing and potential freight interchange location as well as contact details for all the key players in the field enables us to meet this objective. For example Railtrack have two excellent freight web sites at www.freightcommerical.co.uk and www.railfreightsites.co.uk . The latter is a new site which includes all potential rail freight sites available subject to planning with details, plans and photographs especially designed to help local authorities in drawing up rail freight strategies.

The environmental and social arguments for rail freight are well rehearsed, but are still worth emphasising because they are so strong and often not fully appreciated. Freight on Rail commissioned a Mori poll survey which proved 80% of us want to see more goods going by rail and/or heavy lorries restricted. Here are some telling statistics:-

An average freight train can remove 50 HGV journeys from our roads
EU figures show that rail is 27 times safer than road
Per tonne carried, rail produces around 80% less carbon dioxide than road
The distance that goods travel increased by 24% in the past 10 years
Recent research indicates that heavy goods vehicles only pay for around 59% - 69% of the full (including the social and environmental) costs they impose upon society. These costs include greenhouse gas emissions, air pollution, noise, congestion, accidents and deaths.
A 40 tonne, 5 axle lorry causes over 10000 times more damage to road surfaces than an average car.
Road transport as a whole accounts for 34% of the UK's total energy use.
Although accounting for only 6% of vehicle kilometres travelled, lorries are responsible for 18% of road deaths. In 1999 HGVs caused 617 out of 3423 fatalities.
Almost £0.7 billion annually in social and environmental benefits can be attributed to the current level of freight traffic on Britain's railways.

A shift to rail makes commercial sense too. Our road network just can't cope any more, as the findings of the latest Commission for Integrated Transport show. Congestion already costs UK companies around £20 billion a year, and with van and lorry traffic set to grow by 44% and 25% over the next ten years, we're in danger of seeing business grind to a halt.' But as we all know converting this wish into reality needs strong action from the industry, councillors and council officers.

Rail freight is a growing UK industry which commands over 10% of the UK surface freight market with net tonne kilometres showing an increase of 3% above the corresponding quarter one last year. Comparisons with our European partners are sobering though, with rail freight commanding 18% and 20% of the German and French markets respectively. However, a 20% share of the surface freight market is attainable, given that the Government has promised over £3 billion funding over ten years to achieve a growth rate of 80% by the year 2010. More positive news is that freight track access charges are to be reduced by 50%, which will go some way to offset the subsidies given to road transport last year in the form of V.E.D. and fuel reductions. The Strategic Rail Authority (SRA) rail-freight strategy defines how this Government funding will be used. It will protect existing business with measures to increase train lengths, weight, loading gauge and speeds, upgrade major lines and remove bottlenecks on the network. It will also lay the foundations for new business with funding for new terminals, interchanges and line enhancements. In addition, very importantly, it can retain the land inherited from British Rail, if it believes that there may be a strategic use for it in the future. The Rail Regulator has recently modified Railtrack's License to control its disposal of land for non-railway purposes.

As well as traditional bulk freight movements, rail freight has made significant penetration in other markets. Examples include premium parcels for Securicor Omega, first class mail for Consignia, Jaguar car transportation across the channel and perishable food items for Safeway over varying distances. Rail can also be competitive over short distances, depending on the nature of the market. Privatisation has led to a choice of rail freight operating companies for potential customers to chose between.

In recognition of the importance regional policies play in promoting rail freight, after discussions with the SRA, and advice from Doug Hamilton, Chair of the English Regions Transport Officer Group, we are planning rail freight seminars in all regions alongside other interested parties and are currently working on events in the West Midlands and the North West. Doug Hamilton highlighted the importance of discussing the requirements of the logistics and transport industries and identifying the role of the local transport and planning authorities in locating rail freight interchanges. Please do contact Philippa Edmunds, our campaign co-ordinator on 020 7613 0743 or email Philippa@Transport2000.demon.co.uk to get involved.

How you can help promote, protect and set agenda and framework for rail-freight

Make sure that regional & local planning and transport plans evaluate rail-freight thoroughly. E.g. West Midlands region has issued its rail-freight strategy. SEEDA has consulted on a freight strategy.
Identify and protect existing and disused sites, lines and sidings with existing or possible future rail potential, taking into account the latest PPG13, which robustly supports protection for future rail freight use,(once sites are gone, they are gone for ever). e.g. Norfolk CC published a list of potential sites for freight sidings and terminals
Know the major freight flows, the rail infrastructure, who the players are and what could go by rail
Set targets such as number of lorry journeys saved & growth of rail's share in local freight market to measure progress. e.g.Lincolnshire CC wants to increase rail-freight usage by 20%
Presumption that new distribution and manufacturing facilities should be rail as well as road connected
Promote new terminals & the upgrade of existing ones, with good road and rail access, both large & small.
Plan new industrial developments to be accessible by rail
Disseminate information across business promoting rail-freight benefits to business
Develop personal contacts and talk to the experts
Organise events which bring together rail operators, key councillors, trades union members and local environmental groups and potential customers, Cumbria CC organised a 'Meet the Customer' event, & North Yorkshire CC & Welsh assembly hosted rail awareness seminars
Raise awareness of government grants and help with the paperwork
Nominate an individual in the planning team to be responsible for rail freight issues
Share your expertise in applying for external funding for infrastructure projects.

Negotiate the Nimby Factor

This is undeniably a thorny issue. In cases where there is local opposition to terminals and activity, Freight on Rail can help inform the debate and replace ill-founded perceptions with reality. We all know that this element, if wrongly handled, can kill a project and suggest the following guidelines can help defuse the problems.

Consult, & understand local opposition and promote the wider environmental benefits
Encourage promoters to choose the right location and size, use green vehicles, with overall environmental design.

Sheffield Hallam University Research

Joint sponsorship of research into rail freight growth, regional and local transport plans and the land-use planning system by EWS, the Rail Freight Group, Railtrack and Derbyshire County Council, has identified issues which need to be overcome if rail freight is to thrive, namely the lack of hard data in plans about existing and potential rail freight facilities and flows and a general absence of targets. The benefits of rail freight tend to be expressed in fairly generalised terms unrelated to concerns about environmental problems arising from road haulage. There are few signs of authorities getting directly involved in bids for works associated with specific rail freight projects.

Some good stories

Derbyshire County Council, which won this year's National Transport's award for Freight, sponsored by Freight on Rail, has an outstanding story to tell with eight million tonnes back on the railways each year. Eight years ago, officers were looking to reduce lorry movements of quarry materials and at the same time councillors were being petitioned by locals about this issue. Through negotiation and working together and the support of the DETR rail freight facilities grants, a win/win transfer to rail was achieved and 100 lorry movements were removed from the roads each week. The connections were already there at both ends, which made the transfer smoother, but it was the will on both sides to work together which has resulted in a spiral of enhancements including grants for modern handling facilities, resulting in seven/eight trains daily now. The desire among stone producers to move by rail has also resulted in traffic for general road building and construction of the new runway at Manchester Airport. In addition, the Council has worked with several open-cast coal producers to move freight on rail.

National Power and Powergen move limestone for flue gas desulpurization by rail. Derbyshire also managed to get agreement with Stockport to reopen Bredbury Terminal and thus removed significant lorry traffic from the A6 to and within Stockport. Looking ahead it plans to open up the line between Matlock and Buxton, which rejoins Railtrack at either end, freeing up much needed capacity on the line between Manchester and Sheffield. It is currently working on a plan to re-open a rail freight terminal for general cargoes, east of Chesterfield, by opening a new M1 motorway junction. Derbyshire Council has also been a joint sponsor of Sheffield Hallam University rail freight research, mentioned previously.

Norfolk County Council has written an excellent rail freight strategy which identifies disused track beds and some terminal sites for protection against development for other than rail related uses. Current freight flows include a daily train carrying a 1000 tonne load of condensate from North Walsham to Harwich, timber traffic from Brandon, imported hard stone and limestone (for the sugar-beet industry), irregular Ministry of Defence cargoes from Wymondham to Dereham and sand traffic from Middleton Towers destined for the north of England via Kings Lynn.Other traffics are using the Potter Group's rail terminal at Ely. In addition to emergent plans for new rail freight terminals at key locations within the County, also in the pipeline are plans to construct a new outer harbour at Great Yarmouth to cater for a roll-on-off ferry service and larger container vessels and to re-connect the harbour with the town's existing rail freight terminal.

Knowsley rail freight terminal run by the Potter Group has a shared user road and rail distribution centre located on a 36 acre site, with excellent rail and road connections. Knowsley Borough Council has not only contributed funds of its own towards the construction of the new £7 million rail connected terminal, but also used its expertise to submit bids for European, government English Partnership and private contributions.

Birmingham City Council has gained approval for European regional development funding for projects which encourage the switch of freight from road to rail.

Waste Management

With UK waste production of around 400 million tonnes a year, 28 million of which are municipal waste, rail can play an increasing role in this market, particularly at a regional level. In line with government guidelines, on recycling, composting, and waste to energy there can be large quantities of materials to be moved over long distances. Bristol, London, Manchester & Edinburgh all use rail. To compete with road tonnage needs to be at least 150,000 per year. However, your waste contractor can apply to the Strategic Rail Authority for a freight facilities grant of 50 - 75% against capital costs.

Multi-modal studies

Freight on Rail believes that rail freight can play a real part in relieving roads of long distance or bulk flow lorry traffic, but fears that often the studies are done on the need for new roads basis and do not reflect the rail freight potential. In particular it has the following concerns:-

Not all MMS use consultants with rail-freight expertise
Limits of freight measurement models.
Freight on Rail advises that a bottom-up approach with on the ground interview-based work is the preferred freight analysis method to identify the major movers of freight in an area
There is also concern that the SRA attendees are not freight experts and may not be able to present rail-freight interests in depth
It is felt that in some cases the MMSs may not take into account long-distance flows and infrastructure outside the immediate study area. A Multi-Modal Study could look at freight flows with neighbouring regions.

Let's hope that the current industry restructuring will benefit rail freight.

Freight on Rail would like to hear your views from the sharp end.