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Scottish coal traffic

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high camera

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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-edinburgh-east-fife-33970594

Scotland's last coal-fired power station, Longannet in Fife, is to close on 31 March next year.

Its owner, Scottish Power, said the high cost of connecting to the grid was to blame.

The company has also announced it is abandoning plans to build a new gas-fired power station at Cockenzie in East Lothian.

Longannet, which opened in 1972, is one of the biggest coal-fired power stations in Europe.

The power station employs more than 230 staff.....

Any thoughts on how this news will alter coal imports e.g. will coal still be imported into Scotland with a portion being dragged down the WCML to other power stations ?
 
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jopsuk

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well that will please people along the line in Stirling and Alloa who've been complaining about the late night coal trains
 

ChiefPlanner

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Bit of a shame then that upgrades to facilitate coal traffic did not last long term - a cynic might say the same for the Settle and Carlisle , which is quiet now for southbound coal traffic.....however, flows change according to market demands ....(without , dare I say , a penny from the generators concerned) .......
 

RichmondCommu

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Bit of a shame then that upgrades to facilitate coal traffic did not last long term - a cynic might say the same for the Settle and Carlisle , which is quiet now for southbound coal traffic.....however, flows change according to market demands ....(without , dare I say , a penny from the generators concerned) .......

As far as I know there are no longer any coal trains running along the S & C although of course there are other freight services that continue to run.
 

crehld

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As far as I know there are no longer any coal trains running along the S & C although of course there are other freight services that continue to run.

They still run from what I can tell. Also cement, gypsum, timber, ballast, departmental/engineering trains...
 

furnessvale

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They still run from what I can tell. Also cement, gypsum, timber, ballast, departmental/engineering trains...

Over and above anything specific to Scotland or the S & C, the bottom has dropped out of the coal market thanks to carbon taxes so coal loadings nationally are well down.
 

Carlisle

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Over and above anything specific to Scotland or the S & C, the bottom has dropped out of the coal market thanks to carbon taxes so coal loadings nationally are well down.

Yes, unfortunately for our railways , there probably won't be any coal power plants other than Drax left operating in about 5 years time for any trains to serve
 
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ChiefPlanner

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Over and above anything specific to Scotland or the S & C, the bottom has dropped out of the coal market thanks to carbon taxes so coal loadings nationally are well down.


Coal traffic has fallen off the cliff edge - look at Didcot - something like 30 trains a day from the Yorkshire / Notts coalfield in the 1980's , replaced by imports from Avonmouth - now not a lump ! Structural changes all right.
 

LNW-GW Joint

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Yes, unfortunately for our railways , there probably won't be any coal power plants other than Drax left operating in about 5 years time for any trains to serve

Fiddlers Ferry is good to 2023 apparently (coal and biomass).
It still takes coal from Hunterston, and sends gypsum to New Biggin on the S&C.
Rugeley is still going, and takes some coal from Scotland.
 
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najaB

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There is a terrible irony here... coal being imported into Britain.
The last UK deep mine is closing soon, end of the industry:
The UK's very last deep pit coal mine is about to close. The BBC's former labour and industrial correspondent, Nicholas Jones, reflects on the end of an era.
Coal heated our homes, fuelled the industrial revolution, and over the centuries provided millions of jobs in coalfields across the UK, but soon deep mining will be no more, and a way of life is about to end.
 

ChiefPlanner

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There is a terrible irony here... coal being imported into Britain.

I can recall the angst in South Wales when coal was imported into Newport from Australia / around 1978 / for Didcot.

Little did the NUM know ......
 
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