Rail freight sector demands Government commitment

Government needs to provide certainty to the rail freight industry with infill electrification programmes and continued access to the network, Rail Freight Group Director General Maggie Simpson told the House of Commons Transport Select Committee on

July 8.

The TSC quizzed Simpson, as well as Freight Transport Association Director of Policy Elizabeth de Jong and Road Haulage Association Chief Executive Richard Burnett, on the implications for transport (freight and maritime) as a result of COVID-19.

Simpson told MPs: “We are in an unpredictable financial outlook. We are asking Government to do things to give confidence back to the rail freight market. We need that certainty around capacity. We cannot buy bi-mode and electric locomotives and new terminals without certainty of access to the network.”

She added: “It’s clear that the big diesel alternatives, hydrogen and battery, are not suitable. Overhead line electrification helps, and we have operators who will buy locomotives if there is the certainty.

“First, it’s about Government committing to infill electrification so we can do things with the locomotives we already have, and then a rolling plan of electrification.”

De Jong told the TSC that Heavy Goods Vehicle traffic had dropped 40%, vans had dropped 60%, and rail was down by around a third during the lockdown. This has now started to pick up, with HGVs and vans back to 90%.

Simpson confirmed that rail freight was now “85% of where it should be”. But she warned: “We are not through this [COVID-19]. The road to recovery is long and uncertain.”

She revealed that the construction sector dropped to half of where it should be on rail during lockdown, while there was a sustained loss of a third of traffic for imported intermodals.

As for the overall number of freight trains running, Simpson said: “We dropped probably 40%, sometimes 50%.”

She told the TSC that Network Rail was exceptional in the early days of the crisis, highlighting how it kept the railway open for freight and allowed longer trains to run. However, she raised concerns that with more passenger trains returning these benefits could be lost.