Royal Mail plans to desert railways for congested UK road network
6th June 2003
Freight on Rail is dismayed by the Royal Mail’s decision to desert the railways in favour of the congested UK road network. Freight on Rail, a partnership of the rail freight industry, the transport trade unions and Transport 2000, views this action as short term and ill conceived after the Government admitted it could no longer meet previous traffic reduction targets and issued higher revised forecasts of two to three per cent annual increases in road traffic.
The proposal by Royal Mail threatens 500 jobs within EWS. In addition, Royal Mail jobs at eight dedicated rail terminals and 27 other loading facilities will be lost. We estimate it will mean an extra 30.5 million lorry miles per annum and release an extra 15 thousand tonnes of pollutants, mostly CO2, into the atmosphere each year.
Campaign Co-ordinator Philippa Edmunds said, "This business should stay on the railways in order to protect the environment, avoid many unnecessary deaths on the roads and control road congestion. Society will have to pay for these road accidents, suffer the misery caused as well as the increased health service costs associated1. It is a shocking decision. We already have the most congested roads of any of the leading Western European nations."
She added, " We cannot comprehend why Royal Mail has made this decision. Last year’s YouGov survey, commissioned by the Rail Freight Group, showed that there is huge public support for removing freight from our roads. 91 per cent of people stated that more freight should transfer from motorways to rail, and 58 per cent said that the Government should subsidise the companies to move their goods by rail."
Ends
Notes to editors:
Freight on Rail is a partnership between transport trades unions,
ASLEF, RMT and TSSA, the rail freight operators EWS, Freightliner
and GB Railfreight, the Rail Freight Group and Transport 2000.
It 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.
Congestion
An average
freight train removes 50 HGvs from our roads – How
we are measuring up Railtrack 1999
Environmental benefits of rail
Per Tonne carried rail produces around 80 per cent less carbon
dioxide than road - How we are measuring up Railtrack 1999
Safety record of rail compared to road
Transport accident figures for 2001 show that 32 people were
killed on the railways, not including trespassers and suicides
while there were 3,450 people killed on the roads in same period
- Transport Statistics DfT 2002
1. International Railway Union research in 2000 showed the external costs, ie excluding congestion, are four times less by rail than road
For further information contact:- Philippa Edmunds, Freight
on Rail campaigner
Tel:
0208 241 9982: email philippa@freightonrail.org.uk