Is non containerized freight on the way out.

[ainsworth74]

I can't totally disagree with your points but I would still maintain that there is plenty of road freight out there that could be migrated across to rail successfully. I would also still maintain that 99% of road congestion is not in fact caused by cars and that this ratio is way out of whack with reality.

 

[DownSouth]

You might but I don't know if I'd agree with you. The number of times I've seen lorries trying to overtake each other on two lane dual carriage ways causing all kinds of congestion is too many to count (it isn't quite such an issue on a three lane motorway but even there it still causes problems when lorries block two of the three lanes). Reducing the amount of freight on the roads is almost certainly a sensible idea and I suspect that your vested interest in road haulage might be contributing to your refusal of this

Research shows that slower speeds improve traffic flow on roads, so the professional drivers setting a slower pace in their trucks are actually improving things for the amateurs in their cars.

How about some cold hard numbers. 31,000,000 cars in Britain. 480,000 lorries in Britain. It's not the lorries that are causing the congestion, when you're stuck in your car it's because you are the traffic.

 

[David]

How about some cold hard numbers. 31,000,000 cars in Britain. 480,000 lorries in Britain. It's not the lorries that are causing the congestion, when you're stuck in your car it's because you are the traffic.

And after doing a bit of looking on the internet last night, the number of lorries in Britain has remained at about that number for the last 5 or 6 years. After doing som very quick back of the envolope maths, cars do create just under 99% of congestion on the roads, based on those numbers.

 

[GearJammer]

I would also add that even if you do get two trucks over taking each other one doing 50mph and the other doing 50.1mph thats not causing congestion, there doing 50mph, all that means is the car drivers can't drive flat out like there ass is on fire, thats not congestion, thats called being impatient

 

[GB]

I would also add that even if you do get two trucks over taking each other one doing 50mph and the other doing 50.1mph thats not causing congestion, there doing 50mph, all that means is the car drivers can't drive flat out like there ass is on fire, thats not congestion, thats called being impatient

I don't agree that lorries are the cause of all the congestion problems on the roads but I totally do not agree with that.

 

[455driver]

If the lorries are doing 50mph then there obviously no congestion otherwise they would only be doing 20mph nose to tail!

Gearjammer is right, congestion is NOT "only" doing 50mph for a mile or 2 while one lorry overtakes another.

 

[Holly]

I can't totally disagree with your points but I would still maintain that there is plenty of road freight out there that could be migrated across to rail successfully. I would also still maintain that 99% of road congestion is not in fact caused by cars and that this ratio is way out of whack with reality.

It's not that moving lorries onto rolling roads will reduce choking road congestion. Many roads will inevitably be full to the self-limiting point of pain, absent an unsustainable expansion programme that is.

It's that rolling roads will help lorries to avoid it. Not all freight can be handled this way, but a lot of it can.

There is engineering scope for inventing new lorries etc to do more within a loading gauge. For example lorries might have the ability to reduce height (and increase length) by shedding and recapturing their (special) containerised payload without external assistance.

I'm not solving the engineering problem, I'm proposing that is can be solved with new containers, lorries and rolling stock designs.

 

[142094]

A lot of congestion on motorways is caused by 'phantom queues', which have been shown to be a chain reaction of someone driving too fast and too close to the car in front. Multiply this by a few thousand vehicles and you get a tailback for no apparent reason.

However, some HGV drivers do seem to pick the worst place to try and overtake another HGV, so they are not all angels.

 

[LE Greys]

A lot of congestion on motorways is caused by 'phantom queues', which have been shown to be a chain reaction of someone driving too fast and too close to the car in front. Multiply this by a few thousand vehicles and you get a tailback for no apparent reason.

However, some HGV drivers do seem to pick the worst place to try and overtake another HGV, so they are not all angels.

That can be caused by people driving along in the middle lane at below the speed limit, causing a pincer effect as all the cars have to narrow down to one lane to overtake them.

 

[WatcherZero]

A freinds dad a few years back got a ticket for not driving in the left hand lane of the motorway when there was nothing to overtake.

 

[34Short]

'Containerised' freight, (or Intermodal as it's said in the industry) is on the rise, but aggregates and metals are rising too.

www.networkrail.co.uk/9083_ValueofFreight.pdf

Have a look at that, particularly paying attention to the table on Page 34 - Nice to see the forecasted growth for coal is between -70% to 0%, whereas the most conservative growth figure for Intermodal is 200%...

 

[142094]

Problem with coal is the seasonal difference - I'm not sure how much transport of coal drops in the summer months but I guess it influences the totals a bit.