There is no doubt that railfreight has grown in popularity in recent years. Since the mid-1990s, there has been a 66 per cent growth in tonne-kilometres (one tonne of freight carried over a distance of one kilometre) of goods moved by rail - not bad for an industry that was once tarred with the British Rail brush of unreliability and under-investment. It seems that its fortunes have enjoyed quite a reversal of late, with leading retailers now reaping the rewards of the reduced costs, as well as the improved reliability and environmental performance, that only railfreight can deliver.
Out with the old image
Since privatisation, the UK’s railfreight market has grown into an efficient and competitive one. There is now greater government and third-party investment in the rail network, so operators and logistics providers can incorporate railfreight into their supply chains with greater ease.
The days when rail was assumed to be predominantly for the transportation of bulk commodities, such as coal and aggregates, are over and containerised cargo now represents the main user of freight traffic. This is due to the increase in container traffic arriving at UK ports and is a good example of how adaptable this mode of transport has become.
Cheaper, faster, heavier, happier
It is not the ideal modefor everyone, but rail is something of a gift in these cost-conscious times due to the economies of scale that it offers. Simply put, a train can shift far more weight than a lorry, so if the volume of freight is well managed, costs can be reduced significantly. For the industry as a whole, moving vast loads on a frequent basis can mean large cost reductions, but even for a single company the cost of adding one container, say, onto a train that is already running is competitive.
Another intrinsic advantage of rail is that it runs to a timetable - it has to. Therefore, for logistics planning -where certainty of departure and arrival times are crucial -rail really comes into its own. Not only is it reliable, it is also fast. Intermodal container trains run at 75 miles per hour and even the heavier bulk freight trains are relatively speedy. Again, this helps with tightening up logistics and manufacturing processes, with rail having the potential to be used almost as an extended conveyor belt.
Of course, no matter how appealing they are, these advantages should not be assumed. To take advantage of these benefits, it is vital to first understand how the product can bemoved usingalternative modes of transport. Factors to take into account include volume, tonnage and the dimensions of product, loading methods, frequency of despatch, operational days and timings, loading and delivery times, as well as source and destination.
Green machines
Railfreight in the UK is estimated to have saved two million tonnes of pollutants over the last six years, by taking the place of 31.5m HGV journeys and saving 6.4 billion HGV kilometres.
The sheer quantity that a train can take and its energy-efficient nature (because of low rolling resistance) mean that rail is intrinsically pretty green. Thanks to the massive reductions in CO2 output that can be achieved, the government is actually providing grants to assist a modal shift from road to rail.
The significance of railfreight to the UK economy should not be underestimated. It is responsible for the movement of more than 40mt of goods to and from the UK’s ports every year and accounts for 65 per cent of the intercontinental trade from the UK’s southern gateway ports to the north of England and beyond. Some 1,000 containers are moved by rail every day through the Port of Southampton alone and every year, rail transports more than 250,000 containers through the Port of Felixstowe.
Rail is certainly here to stay, but the question is how much more growth can we expect to see in this often overlooked transport sector?
Current projections show a doubling in railfreight usage between now and 2030. In transport terms, this has to be good news all round. The mode could have knock-on benefits for the UK’s road network and help share some of the strain, by providing a valuable congestion bypass.
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