Memorandum from Freight on Rail (FT 31)
DEFINITION OF
FREIGHT ON
RAIL
Freight on Rail is a campaign working
to get goods off roads and onto rail as an important step in developing
a more sustainable distribution system.
Freight on Rail is a partnership between
transport trades unions, rail freight industry and Campaign for
Better Transport. It works to promote the economic, social and
environmental benefits of rail freight both nationally and locally.
It advocates policy changes that support the shift to rail and
provides information and help on freight related issues to local
and regional authorities.
The members are as follows:—Rail Freight
Group, EWS, Freightliner, RMT, ASLEF, TSSA, UNITE—AMICUS
Section and Campaign for Better Transport.
The following questions have been asked by the
committee.
1. Is the Department's investment in logistics
programmes—including the Sustainable Distribution Fund—good
value for money and meeting the objectives?
Rail freight grants are an important mechanism
and represent good value for money. DfT grants do have an important
role to play in promoting sustainable freight transport and compensating
for the fact that the road haulage does not pay for all the external
costs it imposes on society such as congestion, pollution, road
accidents and road maintenance costs.
We believe that taking away significant amounts
of support for the mode would have the following repercussions
— Damage industry confidence in rail
freight.
— Result in more road congestion on
key trunk routes especially the ports.
— Be unpopular with the general public.
The resumption of Freight Facility Grants is
most welcome as capital grants are particularly important in offsetting
the initial start-up costs of the modal shift to rail.
2. International distribution patterns involving
air freight increase carbon dioxide by up to 30 times that of
sea transport—what more can be done to promote modal shift
from road and air freight to inland waterway, shipping and rail?
How can the Government encourage and incentivise further efficiency
improvements.
HOW TO
ENCOURAGE MODAL
SHIFT TO
RAIL FREIGHT
(a) Reject trials of longer heavier
lorries (LHVs)
Government evaluation of longer heavier lorries
runs counter to its stated policy to encourage rail freight which
would be seriously damaged by the introduction of these vehicles.
This month Government ministers will receive
a report outlining whether the Government should allow trials
of longer and heavier lorries (LHVs), ranging from 25.5 to 30.5
metres, 60 to 84 tonnes, on the UK's roads. The most favoured
option, at 25.5 metres long and 60 tonnes, would be 50% longer
and over a third heavier than existing 44 tonne lorries.
Longer and heavier lorries (LHVs), have serious
safety and environmental implications and could seriously damage
the prospects for rail freight growth,
We believe that plans to consider the operation
of 60 tonne lorries, and any consideration of trials should also
be opposed on the following grounds.
(i) Research, undertaken by independent
transport consultants MTRU, found that rather than reducing the
number of lorries needed, all previous increases in vehicle dimensions
did nothing to halt heavier, larger lorries doing more mileage
and driving around with ever lower load efficiency. Heavier lorries
use more fuel and so the lack of any efficiency improvements has
meant more CO2 emissions as a result. This evidence undermines
the Government's justification for permitting previous increased
lorry dimensions and questions the validity of current arguments
for LHVs. see Figure 2 page and figure 5 page or total HGV traffic
(measured as vehicle kilometres). (See figure 4 page 8 in attached
MTRU report—Heavier lorries and their impact on the economy
and the environment October 2007.
Despite several increases in maximum weight
and volume, the average payload has fallen instead of rising which
means that emissions per tonne carried have increased rather than
decreased see figure 2 page 5 and Fig 5 Page 9 in report. The
claimed environmental benefits of LHVs rely on very high levels
of load utilisation—in excess of that routinely achieved
within the haulage sector. Therefore at lower levels of utilisation
the environmental performance of LHVs would be worse. German trials
found that utilization below 77% in LHVs used more fuel and therefore
more emissions than in HGVs.i
(ii) Cheaper HGV travel would encourage
more use for a combination of reasons.
It would undermine railii and water freight
which have far lower carbon dioxide emissions, better safety record
and have the advantage of reducing road congestion.
Detailed examination of rail's bulk freight
flows by EWS in May 2007 found that up to 40% of aggregates currently
carried by rail could switch to road and almost 20% of metals
traffic. Freightliner research found that the introduction of
a "B-double" LHV capable of carrying a 40ft and 20ft
box would precipitate the loss of up to 66% of existing rail volumes
in the deep-sea container market.
Create extra HGV traffic through longer journeys,
for example through more centralised distribution systems
(iii) Emissions from HGV traffic have grown
significantly since 1990, by 25-30%, using the revised DEFRA assessment.
HGV traffic is an important source of greenhouse emissions from
transport, second only to cars/vans and to international aviation,
(see figure 1 page 3 in attached MTRU report—Heavier lorries
and their impact on the economy and their environment—October
2007
(iv) LHVs have safety dangers due to their
size and lack of manoeuvrability.
The impact of these vehicles if they are involved
in an accident will be proportionately greater because of their
extra weight, with severe implications on braking distances, stability,
manoeuvrability at roundabout for example, possible jack-knifing,
overtaking and reversing complications. The DfT Focus on Freight
Dec 2006 stated that because of their size and weight, when they
are involved in accidents the level of injury tends to be higher
with HGVs, (this is at the existing weight and length limits);
In 2005, HGVs were twice as likely to be involved in fatal accidents
as cars. iii For example on major non built up single carriage
roads a staggering 76% of articulated HGVs exceeded their 40 mph
limit by 6mph on average, with 28% exceeding the limit by more
than 10 mph in 2005. Even Bendy buses, which are 18 metres long,
cause more than twice as many injuries as any other bus. iv
(v) Restricting LHVs to dual-carriageways
and motorways simply will not work as there is no mechanism to
keep them to this. The reality is that these vehicles will need
local access to distribution hubs.
(vi) The poor record of compliance with
existing road regulations needs to be factored into any decision
on increasing the existing weight and lengths of HGVs. For example
on major non built up single carriage roads a staggering 76% of
articulated HGVs exceeded their 40 mph limit by 6 mph on average,
with 28% exceeding the limit by more than 10 mph in 2005.
See Freight on Rail LHV report April 2007 for
more details.
(b) Government national support for
rail freight
The support shown for rail freight in the Rail
Strategy of July 2007 is most welcome. In particular the commitment
of £200m towards the Strategic Freight Network. This level
of support gives the industry confidence to make long term investments.
Network Rail produced the Freight Route Utilization
Strategy in March 2007 which outlined in detail the schemes it
deemed necessary for rail freight to play its full role in servicing
the economy and reducing carbon emissions from freight distribution.
The Rail Freight Operators' Association has
devised a series of schemes. These increase the capacity and capability
of the national rail network, allow an increase in freight services
and help productivity. In addition they will help the environment
by allowing more freight to be captured by rail and provide better
connection to the UK's international gateways.
CHANNEL TUNNEL ROUTES—GAUGE ENHANCEMENT TO
W12 AND FULL EUROPEAN GAUGE-
FELIXSTOWE TO
NUNEATON—CAPACITY
This work is even more important since the announcement
that Crossrail will go ahead as Crossrail, as currently planned,
will take away rail freight paths on the Great Western and Great
Eastern mainlines making this route a vital alternative.
SOUTHAMPTON TO WCML—CAPACITY
SOUTHAMPTON TO WCML—DIVERSIONARY CAPACITY
AND GAUGE
SOUTH HUMBERSIDE MAIN LINE—CAPACITY AND
FLEXIBILITY
TRANSPENNINE ROUTES AND NEWCASTLE TO CARLISLE—GAUGE
FELIXSTOWE AND SOUTHAMPTON—TRAIN LENGTH
BARKING TO GOSPEL OAK TO WILLESDEN—CAPACITY
AND ELECTRIFICATION
This work is even more important since the announcement
that Crossrail will go ahead as Crossrail, as currently planned,
will take away rail freight paths on the Great Western and Great
Eastern mainlines making this route a vital alternative.
OXFORD TO
BLETCHLEY—REOPENING
TO PROVIDE
ADDITIONAL CAPACITY
AND DIVERSIONARY
CAPABILITY
STOURBRIDGE TO WALSALL—REOPENING
HOPE VALLEY—CAPACITY
There is also an additional list of enhancements
needed for Scotland which is on www.freightonrail.org.uk
(c) Integration between land use planning
and transport policy
As well as support in national policy for rail
freight the planning framework needs to promote and protect rail
freight in Regional Spatial Strategies and Local Development Frameworks
so that suitable rail sites and alignments are protected.
Planning White Paper—National Policy statements
needed for freight
Need so that regional and local authorities
will make policies which protect and promote rail freight. That
is why Freight on Rail believes a national policy statement for
rail freight is important to be used by both schemes under IPC
and existing Town and Country Planning Act.
Lack of sites for Strategic Rail Freight Interchanges
Rail freight cannot prosper without a network
of Strategic Rail Freight interchanges to enable more freight
to transfer from road to rail.
When considering rail freight it is important
to take into consideration that rail freight crosses local and
regional authority boundaries and take account of regional and
national benefits of rail freight interchanges as well as the
local effects.
Protection of railway lands
Protection of disused alignments for possible
rail freight services and diversionary routes is important as
outlined in PPG13. Once railway sites and alignments have been
lost they have gone for ever and society is now looking at ways
of reducing carbon emissions for which the railways have an important
role.
Regional Government changes
After the Government announcement that RDAs
will take over the responsibilities for all regional strategies
it is important that regional spatial strategies are fully integrated
into the work of the RDAs. RDAs will need to have policies which
in principle promote and protect rail freight and to give direction
to local authorities to protect suitable sites for terminals and
rail alignments for future possible use.
(d) Partnerships needed to expand the
railways
All the parties such as Network Rail, the local
and regional authorities, the unions, the TOCs, FOCs, and private
sector including developers need to work together to achieve investment
in the railways.
3. Air freight in the South-East is forecast
to grow from 2.2 million tonnes a year in 2003 to 14 million tonnes
by 2030. Has the Department adequately planned for the capacity
and access implications of this very significant growth? How will
transport networks need to adjust to serve the growing air freight
market?
Having rail freight links at the main airports
is an important start to reducing the carbon footprint of some
of the products flown into the UK airports. With the exception
of Heathrow which has a rail freight terminal set up to handle
construction materials for the building of Terminal 5, no other
airports have rail freight access.
4. Should the Department have more responsibility
for planning and delivering integrated infrastructure which might
promote `free movement of goods'? How is this to be balanced with
the Department's other commitments? What should be the priorities
for the Transport Innovation Fund productivity stream?
TIF Funding
We believe that the four existing rail freight
schemes put forward for TIF funding represent good value for money
We are awaiting the outcome of four proposed
key rail freight schemes:
(a) Gauge enhancement Southampton-West Coast
Main Line near Birmingham.
(b) Gauge and capacity enhancements Peterborough-Nuneaton.
(c) Humber ports/Immingham rail capacity
enhancements.
(d) Olive Mount chord, including Chat Moss,
Liverpool.
We also believe that it is important that capacity
improvements on the Gospel Oak to Barking and Felixstowe to Nuneaton
route are included in the enhancements.
5. How can the road safety record of haulage
vehicles be improved?
Better enforcement and stiffer penalties for
contraventions of traffic regulations would lower the risks to
the general public.
Examples of HVG speeding
On single carriage way roads, 5 axle or more
HGVs with a speed limit of 40 mph had an average of 46 mph. Rates
of speeding increase with vehicle size with vehicles of 5 or more
axles 33 tonnes and over the worst offenders 29% of 5 axles HGVs
exceeded the limit by more than 10 mph. Single carriageway roads
with a 60 mph limit are in absolute terms our most lethal roads.
The survey also reveals a high incidence of
speeding by HGVs on 30 mph roads. 44% of 2-axle HGVs exceeded
the speed limit, 15% by more than 5 mph. This compares with 46%
and 18% respectively in 2005.
Speed cameras not measuring speeding lorries on many
road types
Speed cameras are calibrated to enforce the
speed-limit that applies to cars, not lorries. This allows lorries
to exceed their own speed-limits with impunity when these are
lower than those for cars. This is indicative of the general behaviour
of HGVs and of the difficulty in enforcement.
Rail freight success story
— 66% growth in tonne kms in past 10
years
— Surface market share now 12%
— One third of metal products in the
UK are delivered by rail
— 25% of deep sea containers move by
rail
— 80% of London construction stone
is supplied by rail
Environmental benefits of rail
The report by the Logistics Research Centre
of Heriot-Watt University for the Climate Change Working Group
of the Commission for Integrated Transport has examined recent
emissions data for the domestic freight transport market. In 2004,
the best year for analytical results, all modes of domestic freight
transport emitted a combined total of 33.7 millions tonnes of
CO2 into the atmosphere. HGVs accounted for 78.5% of these emissions,
while vans contributed 13.3%. This is compared with waterway emissions
which accounted for 6.8% and rail freight which contributed just
1.1%. Pipelines accounted for 0.3% and air, as a minor player
in this market but with high emission levels, accounted for 0.1%.
The report also stated that freight transport is responsible for
just over 21% of all CO2 emissions in the transport sector and
roughly 6% of the total CO2 emissions in the UK. In examining
opportunities to cut CO2 emissions, the report states that average
CO2 emissions per tonne-km are substantially lower for rail and
waterborne transport than road and air. The reports author, Professor
McKinnon, writes that "shifting freight to these more environmentally-friendly
modes can therefore cut CO2 emissions."
Road congestion relief
— An average freight train can remove
50 HGVs from our roads
— An aggregates train can remove 120
HGVs from our roads—Network Rail
Attached reports
1. Heavier lorries and their impact
on the economy and the environment—MTRU October 2007
(Not printed)
2. Freight on Rail LHV Report April
2007 (Not printed)
REFERENCES
(i) Umweltbundesamt 2007 Hinterfrundpapier,
Langer und schwere auf Deutchland Strassen: Tragen Riesen-LkW
su einer nachhaltigen Mobilitat bei? www.umwelbundesamt.de
(ii) Oxera Research for EWS found that up
to 40% of aggregates and 20% of metals carried by rail could switch
to road May 2007. Freightliner research showed that up to 66%
of container traffic could revert to the roads.
(iii) Focus on Freight December 2006 chart
5.2b Deaths/KSIs in accidents involving HGVs per million km travelled.
(iv) From the Evening Standard 7
June 2007.
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