Bright future for post-Covid rail freight growth
A report by the ORR finds freight has bounced back quicker than passenger traffic.
ALTHOUGH the forecast for passenger numbers in the recovery from Covid-19 is gloomy, a different picture has emerged for freight operations. The growth in online shopping has increased the need for rail served distribution centres to provide capacity for imported goods received from ports.
Rail has benefitted from this trend and despite the economic disruption caused by the pandemic, statistics published by the Office of Rail and Road (ORR) show that intermodal traffic recovered to a level above the previous year in the six months to March 2021.
Intermodal now top
Total rail traffic moved in 2020/21 was 15.16 billion net tonne kilometres (ntk), with intermodal the largest single component at 6.29bn ntk. The haulage of coal fell by 44% to just 0.21bn ntk, indicating the insignificant contribution it now makes to overall rail freight activity.
As well as the switch from coal-fired power stations as a source of energy production, the movement of other bulk commodities declined last year as a result of lockdown restrictions imposed by the Government.
There were falls of 24% for moving petroleum products and 11% for construction – but growth of 4% was recorded for uncategorised flows, which is a result of the inclusion of biomass in this classification.
ORR statistics include a breakdown of haulage by the individual freight operating companies, with figures available for the first three months of 2021. The once dominant position of DB Cargo (formerly EWS) has declined to a market share of 39.8%, with operations amounting to 2.82 million train kilometres, which represented a fall of 3.1% compared to the previous year.
Other statistics are Freightliner at 1.87 million train kilometres (26.4%, with a fall in activity of 5.9%); GB Railfreight, 1.78 million train kilomotres (25.1%, with an increase of 7.9%); Freightliner Heavy Haul, 0.87 million train kilometre (12.3%, with an increase of 1.1%); and Direct Rail Services at 0.60million train kilometres (8.5%, with a growth of 9.3%). Colas Freight had an unsuccessful year with a 20.5% decline in haulage activity, which reduced its market share to 0.14 million train kilometres (2.0%).
It was always controversial that five of the six freight operating companies established by British Rail were sold to a single bidder, but this was offset by the enthusiasm with which Wisconsin Central (as EWS and led by Ed Burghardt) set about a revival of rail freight prospects by the purchase of new locomotives and wagons that enabled operating costs to be reduced, creating a more competitive offer.
The virtual monopoly of
EWS, with only the Freightliner company remaining under management ownership, was not a sustainable position and it was an initiative by Railtrack – who wanted a competitive market for the movement of track materials – to agree a contract with the embryonic GB Railways that allowed seven new Class 66 locomotives to be leased to operate services.
Direct Rail Services came into being in 1994 as part of British Nuclear Fuels Ltd as a result of concerns about inflated costs imposed by BR and a feeling that the traffic was not welcome, given the special characteristics required for haulage. A year later, ownership was transferred to the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority.
Anachronism
It is something of an anachronism that in the privatised rail freight industry, state ownership has continued as a result of the specialised skills required, and the company has successfully diversified to operate both passenger and a wider range of freight services.
Freightliner had a clear vision that it could improve its trading position if skills that were transferable could be used to establish a heavy haulage division, which had every prospect of profitability compared to the intermodal market that required the payment of track access grants to sustain operations.
For freight forwarders (including shipping lines) and Railtrack’s successor, Network Rail, a market has been created that allows competitive tendering to take place for haulage contracts.
The result has been big gains in productivity in the use of train crew and rolling stock, as well as pressure to improve infrastructure characteristics that allow the operation of longer trains.
New port and terminal facilities are now based on a capability to handle train lengths of 120 SLU – a far cry from past restrictions that limited train lengths to as little as 60 SLU. In terms of intermodal services, this can mean that up to forty 60ft platforms can carry containers on a single train.
We should celebrate that the current strength of intermodal rail is entirely due to the vision of creating a Freightliner network that took place in the Beeching era, when services were introduced that were able to carry ISO standard containers on which the containerisation of world shipping has been based.
Although changes have taken place to the height of these boxes, the 8ft width has been maintained that is critical to enable transits on the restricted gauge of the British network.
Strategic Network
To accommodate the greater height of containers now in use, the decision to create a Strategic Freight Network (SFN) based on routes that required improved gauge clearance was a vital one. It has allowed Network Rail to secure funding for a rolling programme of infrastructure investment and has secured private sector backing in the provision of port facilities and terminals.
The core SFN routes radiate from Britain’s two largest container ports at Felixstowe and Southampton. Measures at Felixstowe to provide greater capacity have included an upgrade to the local line to Ipswich, where remodelling has included the construction of a chord to allow trains routed via Ely and Peterborough to avoid reversing.
A more recent project is the building of an underpass at Werrington Junction, north of Peterborough, to allow trains to access the Joint Line without crossing the flat junction as an alternative route to reach Doncaster (see also pages 92/93). This avoids using the two-track section of the East Coast Main Line between Grantham (Stoke Tunnel) and Doncaster.
Various other works have also taken place to enhance the loading gauge that eliminates the use of pocket wagons, more traditionally known as well wagons, which bring a reduction in the number of containers that can be moved within a given train length.
The future standard train length for intermodal operations is 775 metres, the equivalent of 120 SLU (the single length unit of 21ft reflecting the dimensions of steam-age vanfits, highs and mineral wagons).
As the weight of an average container is relatively low, the