Rail freight
Longer freight trains boost efficiency by carrying more goods and will further reduce carbon emissions, reveals NR analysis.
TRAINS measuring up to half a mile in length are helping rail freight to further reduce UK carbon emissions, while at the same time delivering more goods.
Analysis by Network Rail also reveals that running more efficient freight schedules improves air quality. It found that trains often looped on their journey emit 14% to 20% more NOx and particulates than non-stop services.
Operators and Network Rail worked together through 2020 on a number of schemes that enabled longer trains to run. NR was also able to reschedule a number of freight services, due to the reduced passenger timetable as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. While passenger numbers struggle to reach even half that of the preCOVID era, freight has returned to 90% of pre-pandemic levels.
Schemes include running 775-metre intermodal trains that enable 12-14 extra containers to be carried. These trains are running between Southampton-Leeds, Trafford Park-Lawley Street and Daventry-Grangemouth. NR said these save an extra six million road miles and 12,600 tonnes of CO e 2 per year.
Another trial involved eight aggregates trains from the Peak District and Herefordshire into city centres being lengthened to carry 2,200 tonnes of product rather than 2,000 tonnes. This saved 750,000 miles and 1,400 tonnes of CO e per year, said NR. 2
Steel trains between
Scunthorpe and Teesport have been lengthened, while a daily intermodal train between Mossend and Daventry has had a temporary journey time reduction of one hour. NR said if that was maintained in the long term, it would release ten twin-platform intermodal wagons through better utilisation.
These findings will be used to develop the December 2021 timetable. In the meantime, NR and train operators will continue working on ways to identify shortterm opportunities for longer and heavier trains, faster schedules, and using additional capacity caused by the thinning of services.
“Allowing freight trains to carry more goods and operate more efficiently on the network is an important measure for decarbonisation and for UK productivity,” said Rail Freight Group Director General Maggie Simpson.
Charlene Wallace, NR Interim Director of Freight and Director of National Passenger and Customer Experience, said: “During the pandemic we’ve seen the crucial role that rail freight plays for our economy. That is why we’ve listened to what our customers and their end users have asked for, and we’re committed to getting more goods onto Britain’s rail network over the next 12 months.”
Neil McNicholas, Freightliner Managing Director of UK Rail Services, added: “Transporting more freight on each train and speeding up journey times supports improvements to the productivity and efficiency of services, and drives further environmental benefits by reducing the carbon emissions of each tonne of freight moved.
DB Cargo UK Head of Sales
Roger Neary said: “We are delighted to be working with our customers and Network Rail to make the concept of jumbo freight trains become a reality.
“Such services have allowed us to increase capacity for our customers, while making our operations more efficient through reduced train driver and terminal resources and increased wagon utilisation.”
And Direct Rail Services
Managing Director Chris Connelly said: “Our Mossend-Daventry trains use Class 88 locomotives to haul the equivalent of 38 lorry loads of vital goods the 310mile distance with zero exhaust emissions, making it the greenest way to transport goods by far.”