Rail Freight: has there been an increase in volume carried?

[easyken]

Hello,

Just been doing some thinking whilst travelling past a rail transporter carrying lots of cars in the Rugby area - which I hadn't seen before!

Given the driver shortage across Europe, has there been much of an increase in rail freight across the UK - is that something that people have noticed?

Thanks,
eK

 

[gazthomas]

The total volume of freight moved by rail is in decline - coal being one of the major losses

 

[easyken]

The total volume of freight moved by rail is in decline - coal being one of the major losses

Interesting, do you know if there's a place to get stats on this? Just done a quick google search but can't find anything

 

[Tony43]

Hello,

Just been doing some thinking whilst travelling past a rail transporter carrying lots of cars in the Rugby area - which I hadn't seen before!

Given the driver shortage across Europe, has there been much of an increase in rail freight across the UK - is that something that people have noticed?

Thanks,
eK

cars carried on rail at least 1x Halewood soton and castle brom soton ,mini cowley to soton and to Purfleet that's the ones I know about

 

[swt_passenger]

Interesting, do you know if there's a place to get stats on this? Just done a quick google search but can't find anything

The rail regulator, (ORR) publishes regular statistics. Latest quarterly report:

http://orr.gov.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0010/27919/freight-rail-usage-2017-18-quarter-4.pdf

 

[gazthomas]

Yes,

Interesting, do you know if there's a place to get stats on this? Just done a quick google search but can't find anything

I did a Google and it came up with the ORR - I see someone has beaten me to it

 

[easyken]

Thanks all

 

[furnessvale]

The total volume of freight moved by rail is in decline - coal being one of the major losses

Given the catastrophic fall in coal carryings, it is amazing that overall figures remain where they are.

The loss of coal is now virtually complete and overall figures will soon be on the rise again. Containers normally move on lines not renown for coal trains and lines such as the WCML have definitely seen an increase, even during the coal loss.

 

[dk1]

Given the catastrophic fall in coal carryings, it is amazing that overall figures remain where they are.

The loss of coal is now virtually complete and overall figures will soon be on the rise again. Containers normally move on lines not renown for coal trains and lines such as the WCML have definitely seen an increase, even during the coal loss.

Exactly. The loss of coal traffic to power stations has been clouding the railfreight issue & figures for a few years now. Hopefully now that is almost behind us the situation can be evaluated better. Intermodal is holding up & the FOCs appear to be doing well in the aggregate markets. Would be good to see International traffic growing but after 20+ years of disappointment I'm not holding my breath.

 

[Taunton]

Am I correct that railborne freight ton miles now include internal works traffic of ballast, rails, etc, for Network Rail, which is offered on a commercial basis among the companies like any other load, whereas until privatisation this was just regarded as Departmental work and not included in the figures.

 

[chorleyjeff]

Am I correct that railborne freight ton miles now include internal works traffic of ballast, rails, etc, for Network Rail, which is offered on a commercial basis among the companies like any other load, whereas until privatisation this was just regarded as Departmental work and not included in the figures.

Departmental work was simply the railway doing business with itself. I can't see how this tonnage should be included in freight business volume stats although I can see that FOCs doing the business would want to, as well as those who wish to "big up" railway freight tonnage.

 

[furnessvale]

Departmental work was simply the railway doing business with itself. I can't see how this tonnage should be included in freight business volume stats although I can see that FOCs doing the business would want to, as well as those who wish to "big up" railway freight tonnage.

Freght tonnage now includes things like ballast from the quarry to virtual quarries but not tons carries to and from possessions etc.

Given that every ton carried by road that is involved in road construction IS included in their stats, I do not consider it to be "bigging up rail" to include "some" similar traffics in rail figures. Indeed, more such traffics should be included in rail figures so that everyone, including the public and DfT get a truer picture of what is happening out there.

There are many anomalies that favour road freight stats and distort the figures. For example:

Tons carried to rail sites by road ARE permitted to be included in road stats, but similar loads carried by rail are excluded.

Water and sewage carried by road are included in road stats but the vastly greater quantities moved by pipeline are conveniently forgotten when "bigging up" the importance of road.

 

[chorleyjeff]

OK
Bad choice of phrase.

 

[XDM]

Rail freight statistics do not accurately represent the useful work done by rail.

Network Rail demanded that the clay dug out of Crossrail & loaded onto trains at Westbourne Park travelled west past Ruislip, south to West Ealing, then east to Acton Yard, where the train sometimes changed driver, then to Willesden, then over the river bridge to the Southern & then a convoluted route east to Northfleet where it was loaded onto barges.

I reckon that route doubled the number of tonne miles & therefore showed a boom in rail freight.

This happens all over the freight railway, usually because Network Rail have ripped out signalled up/down point work to save themselves maintenance cost & so loaded the cost onto the very hard pressed freight operators, who have to tender for business in the real world.

Granite from the quarries near Shap goes north for many miles before the loco runs round & then passes Shap,where it started, 90 mins later.

That game boosts the tonne miles stats but adds to pollution & makes rail freight even more uncompetitive.

 

[furnessvale]

Rail freight statistics do not accurately represent the useful work done by rail.

Network Rail demanded that the clay dug out of Crossrail & loaded onto trains at Westbourne Park travelled west past Ruislip, south to West Ealing, then east to Acton Yard, where the train sometimes changed driver, then to Willesden, then over the river bridge to the Southern & then a convoluted route east to Northfleet where it was loaded onto barges.

I reckon that route doubled the number of tonne miles & therefore showed a boom in rail freight.

This happens all over the freight railway, usually because Network Rail have ripped out signalled up/down point work to save themselves maintenance cost & so loaded the cost onto the very hard pressed freight operators, who have to tender for business in the real world.

Granite from the quarries near Shap goes north for many miles before the loco runs round & then passes Shap,where it started, 90 mins later.

That game boosts the tonne miles stats but adds to pollution & makes rail freight even more uncompetitive.

IMO far better doing that, than HGVs taking totally unsuitable shortcuts to save a few bob and win the contract from rail!

 

[Dr Hoo]

Rail freight statistics do not accurately represent the useful work done by rail.

Network Rail demanded that the clay dug out of Crossrail & loaded onto trains at Westbourne Park travelled west past Ruislip, south to West Ealing, then east to Acton Yard, where the train sometimes changed driver, then to Willesden, then over the river bridge to the Southern & then a convoluted route east to Northfleet where it was loaded onto barges.

I reckon that route doubled the number of tonne miles & therefore showed a boom in rail freight.

This happens all over the freight railway, usually because Network Rail have ripped out signalled up/down point work to save themselves maintenance cost & so loaded the cost onto the very hard pressed freight operators, who have to tender for business in the real world.

Granite from the quarries near Shap goes north for many miles before the loco runs round & then passes Shap,where it started, 90 mins later.

That game boosts the tonne miles stats but adds to pollution & makes rail freight even more uncompetitive.

I think that loss of the 'direct' route - via the Circle Line, connections at Farringdon onto the City Widened Lines, Snow Hill, Blackfriars (old) Bridge and through London Bridge - rather pre-dated Network Rail!

 

[XDM]

I think that loss of the 'direct' route - via the Circle Line, connections at Farringdon onto the City Widened Lines, Snow Hill, Blackfriars (old) Bridge and through London Bridge - rather pre-dated Network Rail!

The Crossrail clay spoil traffic from Westbourne Park could have run only a short distance west to Acton Yard,reversed & then run up the incline to Willesden & thence onto the Southern instead of knocking up mileage, fuel consumption & pollution running round the Ruislip to West Ealing line. But the extra tonne miles boosted rail freight stats.

The point work that would have allowed the trains to run direct into Acton yard from the down relief was removed some time before to save maintenance.

 

[Railwaysceptic]

Network Rail demanded that the clay dug out of Crossrail & loaded onto trains at Westbourne Park travelled west past Ruislip, south to West Ealing, then east to Acton Yard, where the train sometimes changed driver, then to Willesden, then over the river bridge to the Southern & then a convoluted route east to Northfleet where it was loaded onto barges.

I reckon that route doubled the number of tonne miles & therefore showed a boom in rail freight.

I doubt the route was as roundabout as that and I'm sure it didn't run via Ruislip. Probably it went via Park Royal to Greenford Junction, then via West Ealing to Acton Yard. From there to the North Kent Line is a regular freight route and not especially convoluted.

 

[furnessvale]

The Crossrail clay spoil traffic from Westbourne Park could have run only a short distance west to Acton Yard,reversed & then run up the incline to Willesden & thence onto the Southern instead of knocking up mileage, fuel consumption & pollution running round the Ruislip to West Ealing line. But the extra tonne miles boosted rail freight stats.

The point work that would have allowed the trains to run direct into Acton yard from the down relief was removed some time before to save maintenance.

Coastal shipping does such things as carry chemicals from Tees-side to Stanlow, all the way around the coast. Even so, the end result is far better than a string of HGVs using the M62.

Given that rail uses a quarter of the fuel (emitting a quarter of the CO2 in the process) to move a tonne of freight that the equivalent HGV would use, I fail to see a problem.

As I alluded to before, perhaps road freight stats should be increased by forcing HGVs only to use suitable roads rather than the "go anywhere" policy favoured by successive UK governments.

 

[Carlisle]

This happens all over the freight railway, usually because Network Rail have ripped out signalled up/down point work to save themselves maintenance cost & so loaded the cost onto the very hard pressed freight operators, who have to tender for business in the real world.

Granite from the quarries near Shap goes north for many miles before the loco runs round & then passes Shap,where it started, 90 mins later.
.

Always seems to have been that way with freight though, for years during BR and early privatisation era coal trains loaded near Haltwhistle, went to Carlisle yard to run round, then headed back east on the Tyne Valley route, and I’m pretty sure the Holton Heath freight siding collision in 1989 was partly attributed to not installing track circuits for cost saving purposes.

 

[The Planner]

The Crossrail clay spoil traffic from Westbourne Park could have run only a short distance west to Acton Yard,reversed & then run up the incline to Willesden & thence onto the Southern instead of knocking up mileage, fuel consumption & pollution running round the Ruislip to West Ealing line. But the extra tonne miles boosted rail freight stats.

The point work that would have allowed the trains to run direct into Acton yard from the down relief was removed some time before to save maintenance.

Were they top and tailed trains? If not then it would be marginal as the train would require a run round at Acton Yard which is 20 minutes, whereas you are facing the right way by going via Greenford.

 

[XDM]

I believe they were not top & tailed.

But my point is simply that all this extra mileage in the wrong direction via Greenford( sorry I muddled it for Ruislip in my earlier post) & then West Ealing & then past Acton Yard exaggerates the tonne miles figures substantially. And as other posters have said this is done all over the freight railway.

 

[furnessvale]

I believe they were not top & tailed.

But my point is simply that all this extra mileage in the wrong direction via Greenford( sorry I muddled it for Ruislip in my earlier post) & then West Ealing & then past Acton Yard exaggerates the tonne miles figures substantially. And as other posters have said this is done all over the freight railway.

I doubt the word "substantially" is appropriate. Most railfreight is moved by the best route available. To do otherwise is incurring unnecessary cost.

If you want to look at additional miles, perhaps the hub and spoke model adopted by the road haulage industry is worthy of examination.