[domeyhead]

I understand the tanker flow from Fawley to Plymouth Cattewater has now transferred to road. If this is true it is a calamatous indication of the state of railfreight economics. Here is a flow that is rail connected at both ends with all transfer infrastructure in place, and where the total road connection alternative is far from brilliant, and where Enterprise services were used for at least part of the total trip, yet it seems road is cheap enough to warrant abandoning all prior investment in rail. Are there any other factors involved here? Was a large investment in the rail alternative necessary which predicated the switch? Have Network Rail levied a huge access charge for the Cattewater branch? I know volumes were declining but I understand the tanks were carried on an EWS Enterprise service for a large part of the journey - at least down to Taunton anyway. Maybe now Cattewater will lose its rail line completely? Maybe even the Fawley rail link itself is in peril. If anyone out there has some real financial data it would be good to analyse why railfreight just isn't making a good case right now. If this doesn;t pay then I don;t see any hope for other growth in the West Country