From the pages of the Railnews.

[locojoe]

From the pages of the Railnews.
Tunnel restrictions show ‘economics of a madhouse’, says RFG chairman
Posted: 4th November 2008 | From Railnews Nov 2008 print edition
Engineering blockades on the West Coast have highlighted the need for extra routes and a 24/7 railway.
A STRONG warning that rail freight companies will run out of the number of train paths needed to cope with forecasted traffic growth was delivered during a rail summit in London.

By 2028 there will be a shortfall of some 200 freight train paths a day, Lord Tony Berkeley, chairman of the Rail Freight Group, told delegates at the summit held at the Olympia conference centre.

The figures are based on projected freight volume growth, particularly in the deep sea containers market.

Lord Berkeley said that in little more than 20 years, rail freight volumes would at least double and more likely treble.

Within the overall picture, domestic intermodal and deep sea intermodal might even quadruple. At the same time passenger kilometres were expected to grow by 22.5 per cent by 2014.

This would bring even more pressure on the capacity on routes such as the West Coast, East Coast and to Scotland, plus those from Southampton and Felixstowe.

Forecasts show that coal, currently the biggest traffic, is expected to drop from 51.4 million tonnes moved in 2006 to 41.1 million tonnes in 2030.

But freight container traffic is expected to grow from 12.8 million tonnes moved in 2006 to 55.9 million in 2030.

Lord Berkeley added that the freight business was looking for movement from the Government to allow more freight trains to use High Speed 1 and the Channel Tunnel.

“For the second time in two years there has been a fire in the tunnel which has caused a great deal of damage. This was a lorry fire, not a train fire,” he said.

“At the moment we have half a dozen freight trains going through the tunnel while 200 lorries go up the M20. These are the economics of a mad house.”

He reminded delegates that the Channel Tunnel Rail Link had taken 20 years to build from planning stage.

“If we are going to build a new line, let’s get on with it now or we will have got ourselves a lot of trouble.”

Welcoming the Conservatives’ announcement that the Opposition is now looking at options to build on the success of HS1, Lord Berkeley said: “A new high-speed line north from London would mean that higher speed traffic could be taken off the existing lines and that would provide more capacity for freight trains.”

He said that if nothing was done to ease the capacity issues there would be “a bit of a problem”.

Solutions might be offered by longer, 750-metre freight trains, longer loops, faster trains, extra tracks, faster turnouts, better signalling and grade separation.

Lord Berkeley also called for more terminals to be built, particularly in areas such as London, where there were high levels of consumerism. And he stressed the need to persuade the retail industry to integrate distribution centres with rail.

Responding to the decision by a planning inspector to refuse permission for a new rail freight distribution centre at Radlett, Herts, next to the Midland main line, the RFG chairman told the summit that it was a “great shame”.

- In his speech, Lord Berkeley also stressed a need for the ‘24/7’ railway.

“The West Coast modernisation has been a disaster for freight. Freight does not go by bus if the line is blocked. Freight needs diversion routes of similar capability and capacity that can be easily used.

“The present West Coast blockades are very bad for freight and for passengers – does Network Rail really need 37 days total blockade in addition to what has been done already this year to complete the work?”

However, he welcomed the Office of Rail Regulation’s draft determination on how much Network Rail will have to spend on the railway for the next five years as “good for freight”.

The draft shows a 35 per cent reduction in access charges on mixed-use lines, a 25 per cent improvement in Network Rail attributed freight delays and progress on creating a 24/7 railway.

He was also pleased to see investment in the strategic freight network, Reading station remodelling – which has implications for freight – work on the North London Line and also at Shaftholme Junction, north of Doncaster

[paul miller]

I know hindsight is a wonderful thing, but does'nt the majority of the Beeching Plan now look a disaster.
Paul.