Freight
has seen is an increasing number of retailers looking to rail to carry goods to their distribution centres. Major brands such as Tesco and Asda are using rail transport to increase their environmental credentials. Marks & Spencer has been using rail for several years to cut the number of lorries it has on the roads, in accordance with its environmental policy. Clothing and retail goods are carried by rail from Daventry to Grangemouth in Scotland, which is close to one of M&S’s regional distribution centres. Wine, beers and spirits are also carried on this route. Emile Naus head of logistics at M&S also spoke at the event. ‘There’s a whole series of reasons to chose rail. You can carry large volumes, it’s efficient, the cost is good, if you get the set up right,
and the environmental impact is a lot better, again, if you get the set up right. If you can get a full train, if you can get the volumes, it’s fantastic,’ he said. ‘There’s a perception that trains are slower than road, but that’s actually not true if you do it well. So why don’t more retailers use it? At the moment there’s a perception that it’s difficult and it’s an unknown quantity – they don’t know how the service will be. The key word there is perception, we’ve got to work with the industry to explain to people what can be achieved.
‘If rail wants to play a big role in
retail it needs to provide a really flexible solution.’ He also spoke about the importance of getting the service levels right, when it comes to retailers deciding to use rail – it’s not just about getting the price as low as possible, he explained. Infrastructure is also key, as ‘the economic case for rail disappears very quickly’ if you don’t have a terminal close by. Naus also explained how Marks & Spencer has been utilising rail in Paris to get around traffic laws that prevent lorries accessing the city centre between 07:00 and 19:00, making it difficult to re-stock its shops. Yet freight trains can arrive in the centre of Paris at any time. So M&S has been looking into the possibility of using rail to get goods closer to its stores in the UK.
Nigel Jones, head of planning and
strategy for DB Schenker Rail UK, spoke about how far rail freight has come since the last days of British Rail. ‘Where we are today is based on
16 or 17 years of growth, change and development since privatisation. We’ve seen the development of the strategic freight network over the last five or six years, which started under the last government and has seen the development of distinct routes for moving freight by rail. And most unusually in the UK, the current government have decided to carry on with it. We’ve seen government investment in rail freight already confirmed for the next control period. And we’re seeing the beginnings of a long-term strategy for freight, based on more electric haulage of trains. So we, as a community, see a great deal of potential for growth, but we do realise that we need to make some changes to facilitate that growth, some of which is down to us responding to customers’ needs.’ Maria Eagle MP, shadow secretary of state for transport, also spoke at the meeting. ‘I think it is tremendously important
that we recognise that a thriving rail freight sector is crucial to helping future economic growth. To me it’s perfectly clear that there are benefits to using rail
– reduced congestion on our roads, and that congestion can cost us up to £1 a mile; making our roads safer, by having fewer HGVs (particularly for cyclists); and cutting emissions that contribute to climate change, with freight carried by rail generating up to 70 per cent less carbon than freight carried by road. Rail freight is already a success story, with consumer rail freight growing 29 per cent in the last five years, and even managing to grow, and increase market share, in the last year, despite tough economic conditions. I’ve seen the benefits in my own constituency. I’ve got Jaguar Landrover, which now moves 70 per cent of the output of their plant in Halesworth by rail.’ She continued: ‘I want to see more
companies take advantage of the benefits of freight, but we all know there’s a huge untapped potential for future growth. Industry forecasts show a potential for volume to double by 2030, or even to a fivefold growth with the right infastructure. That’s why I think there is a role for government to play. Government interventions can work when they’re properly done.’ She added that the current moves to
increase access charges for freight were ‘worrying’. She also called for planning processes to be made simpler and faster to allow more freight terminals to be built. Labour has asked former Network Rail CEO John Armitt to look at how long term infrastructure planning, decision making, delivery and finance can be radically improved, to benefit passenger rail and freight. If all those with an interest in rail freight – operators, customers, logistics companies, Network Rail and the government – continue to work together to make rail more and more appealing as a way to transport goods in the future, there’s no reason why the impressive growth figures that have been achieved since privatisation cannot continue as the 21st
century progresses. DECEMBER 2012 PAGE 43
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76