Orion high speed logistics letting the train take the strain.

[Scotrail88]

Seems a pain that paperwork is delaying proper operation.
robust 100mph operation would have more resilience on the WCML.

with all the climate discussions and rail freight surely they can put a priority on it being cleared.

do we know what the delay is?

 

[Wyrleybart]

Thanks very much for that explanation "Chopper". Kinda makes sense I suppose

 

[Deepgreen]

Whatever the bureaucratic background, hauling (not "dragging"!) electric units several hundred miles on a fully-electrified main line is a farce. An extra 100 tons to power, extra wear and tear, unnecessary local emissions, tying up a diesel which could be used elsewhere, etc. How has the railway got itself into this mess?

 

[Carlisle]

Whatever the bureaucratic background, hauling (not "dragging"!) electric units several hundred miles on a fully-electrified main line is a farce. An extra 100 tons to power, extra wear and tear, unnecessary local emissions, tying up a diesel which could be used elsewhere, etc. How has the railway got itself into this mess?

The railway’s always hauled stock in this manner as & when deemed operationally convenient. Pollution is now a major concern but only a recent one in rail’s historical context.

 

[43066]

hauling (not "dragging"!)

Dragging, not hauling, in railway parlance.

 

[Skymonster]

37884 on the job yesterday and today!

 

[Signal_Box]

Perhaps ROG have realised the operation is unviable, but have to “have a go” due to some kind of investment commitment or the like, so their dragging EMUs with expensive 50 year diesels to “prove” the concept isn’t financially viable ?

Total I wonder thinking, founded in quick sand - but stranger things have happened on the railway.

 

[njamescouk]

I received a few items by Red Star in the late 80's / early 90's.

I found it a great service and not expensive either.

time was a certain Sheffield jewellers had diamonds sent up from London by red star.

I read somewhere (can't remember now so not sure how reliable) that the railway was once a common carrier, which meant they had to take anything and deliver it anywhere.

edit - the common carrier issue gets a mention at https://www.railwaysarchive.co.uk/docsummary.php?docID=23

a more in depth account at

Railway Rates and Charges and the Common Carriers Obligation

History of charges and fees on British railways from 1830 to date including descussion of the Common Carriers Obligation

www.igg.org.uk

more links re. firms sending parcels by rail now:

Home

Great British Railways: Williams-Shapps plan for rail

The government’s plan to transform the railways in Great Britain.

www.gov.uk

The Rail Innovation Group

The Rail Innovation Group is non-profit community, helping to change cultures & bring digital tech into rail.

www.railinnovationgroup.com

 

[BayPaul]

Perhaps ROG have realised the operation is unviable, but have to “have a go” due to some kind of investment commitment or the like, so their dragging EMUs with expensive 50 year diesels to “prove” the concept isn’t financially viable ?

Total I wonder thinking, founded in quick sand - but stranger things have happened on the railway.

I really can't imagine a commercial business working like that. If they decide its unviable, then they stop running, or run at minimum cost until they can get out of any contracts. No need for conspiracy theories, there are plenty of reasons why they might need to start up operations behind a loco!

 

[Signal_Box]

I really can't imagine a commercial business working like that. If they decide its unviable, then they stop running, or run at minimum cost until they can get out of any contracts. No need for conspiracy theories, there are plenty of reasons why they might need to start up operations behind a loco!

Exactly, hence the disclaimer that my comment was founded on quick sand and had no real basis in life or knowledge.

 

[Wyrleybart]

Has any more class 319 stock been converted in the last few months ? AFAIK 319009 and 319010 have been converted to 769s, then renumbered to 768s. 319373 has been converted and is intended to be 326001 but has it been renumbered yet. AFAIK there were plans for ten 768s and nine 326s.

 

[Mollman]

Units operating under own power today.

 

[Chris125]

Units operating under own power today.

A reassuring sight: https://twitter.com/cmpd_date/status/1478747008538189829

 

[Scotrail88]

paperwork must be cleared now?
hopefully a sign of things to come!

 

[Solweytracker]

A reassuring sight: https://twitter.com/cmpd_date/status/1478747008538189829

Good to see Orion Willesden - Shieldmuir still running after the pre-Xmas peak, and seems to be part of a continued overall significant mails/parcels traffic on the WCML, so hopefully non-seasonal not just for unwanted Xmas present returns. According to Realtimetrains there were 5 trains each way to/from the Royal Mail Shieldmuir terminal today - Passing Carlisle, Down at 0106, 0935, 1841, 2013, 2134 and Up at 0312, 0714, 1402, 1722, 1849.

 

[Adrian1980uk]

I've always thought its a waste with all the parcel firms having central sorting warehouses and sending multiple double decker HGVs up there and back to the depots every night when you could have train loads.

 

[Grumpy]

Do we know why RM are using Orion? Is it extra business or are the 325's broken?

 

[ExRes]

Do we know why RM are using Orion? Is it extra business or are the 325's broken?

Are RM using Orion or are Orion using RM facilities? either way it's got to be a win win

 

[Domeyhead]

The only way I see a new “Red Star” is an Amazon sized budget to do it.

I’m going to try to paint a rosy picture here..

Having a 319 doing an all stations up a line at night, stopping for 20 minutes each to unload a cage, then unpack a cage and reload the empty cage…

Alternatively you could offload a cage with a body and depart leaving them to it.. then return to pick them up later (starts getting resource intensive).

So maybe alternative is to no take the cage at all..
take a pre-loaded Amazon locker, filled at the warehouse, off load the whole thing and take back the empty ?

I actually dont think people will object to the 1930’s days of walking down to the goods depot to pick it up, and a local enterprise of local delivery might kick off.

However…

its still cheaper to load up at a hub drive it to a smaller hub, and off load it to a bunch of white van mans to do the last mile.
Unless the government taxes HGVs for carbon emissions, It wont change.
One way that transport is going to be empty, and empty trains cost more than empty lorries.

Good post - I was doing the same thought experiment myself - imagining the scenario you describe and then realising the difficulties in accomplishing it. I believe it requires a world where the railways were still one seamless integrated organisation, so we have to go back to 1997, cancel privatisation and imagine DfT introducing (or retaining) a pacel distribution network on the basis "If you build it they will come" - and then parcels companies buying cage spaces on a timetabled network of dedicated trains. Stations would become collection and drop-off hubs for a variety of logistics businesses. IMHO The number of staff required and the dwell times required at each station kills the idea at birth as each logistics firm would want its own staff handling its own parcels so a number of agents would travel on each train with times dictated by the busiest while the others stood idly by. If the railways had never lost newspaper traffic this could have developed or evolved into something approaching your concept - lovely to imagine it existing today, but the first major industrial action would send potential customers running back to their vans and their zero hours staff contracts and customers would become competitors once again.

 

[Meerkat]

as each logistics firm would want its own staff handling its own parcels so a number of agents would travel on each train

Logistics firms seem happy to hand off their parcels to a seriously rag tag bunch for final delivery, basically anybody with a vehicle that (just about) runs.
If they said that railway staff were less trustworthy I would hope the unions would sue them!

 

[Doctor Fegg]

I've always thought its a waste with all the parcel firms having central sorting warehouses and sending multiple double decker HGVs up there and back to the depots every night when you could have train loads.

At least one Major Parcel Delivery Company tends to put its largest distribution centres by railways - whether by coincidence or design I don't know. But you'd need a lot of investment in sidings for it to work.

 

[Carlisle]

If they said that railway staff were less trustworthy I would hope the unions would sue them!

Given that very few Railway staff are likely involved in mail/ parcel handling duties nowadays, how could the above scenario arise, ?

 

[Adrian1980uk]

At least one Major Parcel Delivery Company tends to put its largest distribution centres by railways - whether by coincidence or design I don't know. But you'd need a lot of investment in sidings for it to work.

Investment is the issue but for me that is using the railways strengths.