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How much is fuel per litre?

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thenorthern

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While I was looking at the cost of red diesel today it made me thing how much does the the railways spend per liter on diesel for their trains? Also how much tax do they have to spend on fuel?

Generally with fuel for my car I go to Tamworth to fill up as it seems much cheaper than anywhere else probably because of Kingsbury refinery so I imagine the TOCs would probably also try and get the best deal for fuel with their trains.
 
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TB93

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Kingsbury is not a refinery, the fuel comes by train from Immingham.
 

thenorthern

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Kingsbury is not a refinery, the fuel comes by train from Immingham.

Good point and it seems to delay trains at Burton-on-Trent in the evening. :D

Just found an old book of mine from 1984 about the InterCity 125 and it makes a cost comparison between using a diesel engine, industrial gas turbine and an aircraft gas turbine and it said fuel would cost 5.5p per litre, the wholesale cost without any tax is more than that now. It also mentions over a 20 year life cycle. Some of the trains have lasted double that now.
 

richw

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It's highly likely the TOCs will buy all their fuel in long periods.
I know of road haulage conpanies who will have a fixed price deal for a period of months. If fuel prices go up it is a win for the haulage companies, if it decreases it goes down. I did some admin work as a temp for a haulage company a couple of years back, and they'd negotiated a set price from their fuel card supplier for 6 months. Pump prices fell but they ended up paying a higher rate for the rest of their negotiated period! It can apparently work the other way though and they pay less than cost price.
 

TB93

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Good point and it seems to delay trains at Burton-on-Trent in the evening. :D

Surely that's a small price to pay for your cheap fuel,unless you think you could do a better job and not delay trains.
 

alexl92

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It's highly likely the TOCs will buy all their fuel in long periods.
I know of road haulage conpanies who will have a fixed price deal for a period of months. If fuel prices go up it is a win for the haulage companies, if it decreases it goes down. I did some admin work as a temp for a haulage company a couple of years back, and they'd negotiated a set price from their fuel card supplier for 6 months. Pump prices fell but they ended up paying a higher rate for the rest of their negotiated period! It can apparently work the other way though and they pay less than cost price.

I've heard that TOCs do this, although I can't remember where I heard it.

Re: the price of fuel in fuel stations, it comes down to a combination of demand, how easy it is to get a lorry out there, how near other stations are, how affluent the local area is and most crucially - how much they think they think people will be willing to pay.

I live near a so-called 'Millionnaire's Row' and fuel in our area is up to 8p/litre more expensive than the other end of the city which is a less affluent area.
 

paul1609

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Im currently paying around 40 pence per litre for my heritage railway. I have whats called a Platts agreement with my supplier where I pay the market price for the oil plus a fixed margin to the supplier. I looked in to a hedge arrangement for a fixed price but in view of the small quantities we use it wasn't economical.
 

BestWestern

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Im currently paying around 40 pence per litre for my heritage railway. I have whats called a Platts agreement with my supplier where I pay the market price for the oil plus a fixed margin to the supplier. I looked in to a hedge arrangement for a fixed price but in view of the small quantities we use it wasn't economical.

Out of curiosity, what do you burn? Straight red diesel, a red & kerosene etc mix, or something else entirely?
 

HH

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It's highly likely the TOCs will buy all their fuel in long periods.

The owning groups (most of whom also run buses) hedge their fuel. The general method of hedging these days is hedge in tranches, so all your eggs aren't in one basket.
 
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Are diesel engines (i.e. Class 43/HST) allowed to use red diesel or do they pay a higher level of fuel duty than Farmer Jones?
 

route:oxford

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I live near a so-called 'Millionnaire's Row' and fuel in our area is up to 8p/litre more expensive than the other end of the city which is a less affluent area.

Similar in Oxford. If you filled up at the Tesco near where the poor people live it was 10-15p a litre cheaper than filling it up at Seacourt which was the handiest filling station for the wealthy of Cumnor, Botley & Osney Island.
 
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