The ISO container system works well (and has done so for many decades) and is great for global transport. The goods can be loaded, sealed, and are secure and safe until the seal is broken by the end customer.
It’s not perfect. There are different sizes of ISO containers, which really plays havoc with Network Rail’s limited loading gauge. And it does usually rely on a full container.
Groupage (a full load of many different consignments for many different customers) can work in this respect, but it will rely on greater organisation. The weight of the container can also eat into payload.
ISO containers can work for domestic operation as well, and this is where it becomes a ‘wagonload’ system.
The container is the wagon, the truck is the shunter and ‘trip freight traction’, and the train is the trunking leg - and doesn’t need shunting because the train of flat wagons is already formed.
It can be increased or shortened if necessary, but while that is unlikely, it does have the flexibility of wagons being swapped in and out for maintenance requirements without causing the whole train to be stopped.
One area where rail can also win is by being green, using electric traction.
But here there are issues. If just a fraction of a train’s journey is on a non-wired route, the easy option is to use a diesel throughout.
Yet with just a few little infill projects, that could be radically changed.
Julian Worth, chaior of the CILTRail Freight Forum, explains: “Electrification is the key. With only about 50-60 miles of infill electrification, that could enable two million train miles a year to go over to electric haulage right now.”
Those infill miles are Hare Park to Wakefield Europort, Nuneaton to Lawley Street (near Birmingham), Acton to Willesden, the Felixstowe branch, and the London Gateway branch.
“Yet the government in England is reluctant to go for electrification,” says Worth.
Other, longer sections of lines that would benefit from wires would be Ely to Birmingham, and Oxford to Bletchley and then to Didcot.
“But electrification needs to be made much cheaper,” Worth adds.
“And remember, there are 70% fewer CO2 emissions for steel on steel than rubber on tarmac.”
Alternative fuels are one option, but they can be pricey: “There are a few HVO flows on rail - one operated by Freightliner, but that is only because it’s been specified by the customer. It’s still expensive, but the cost is dropping.”
However, there are some impressive high-profile names using rail on some longer flows.
Says Worth: “Tesco is currently running 14 round trips a day, all using DRS as its operator. Multi-customer trains for Malcolms and Russell Group in Scotland are also happening, as is Coca-Cola which is using rail via Maritime and GB Railfreight. There are two trains a night from Wakefield to Tilbury, and they have backloads of product from Sidcup.
“There is also a Doncaster to Mossend flow which returns with whisky. Culina is working with GBRf and currently using Class 66s, but could look to use Class 92s. But there are restrictions because of the power supply.”
To move more freight by rail, you need the railheads where lorries can hand their containers over to the train. There have also been some useful new railheads, large and small, with more on the agenda and being built. The interface between train and destination are also important areas to cut the costs.
Back to Julian Worth: “Maritime is driving more freight by rail. It is moving from just deep-sea traffic and is now looking at domestic operations as well. It’s acquired Trafford Park, Wakefield Europort and Mossend for rail freight use. P&O has sites at Birch Coppice, Tilbury and East Midlands Gateway.
“Northampton Gateway is due to open in 2024, just north of Roade and by Junction 15 of the M1. It should be commissioned by the second quarter of the year. It sees the future of trunking as by rail.
“The new West Midlands Interchange at Four Ashes near Wolverhampton is now in build and should be active by 2027. A planning application is also going through at the moment for a site at Hinckley. Parkside near Wigan is another very important and useful site for trans-Pennine and West Coast Main Line intermodal flows.
“Highland Spring has a new terminal at Blackford, which has a train a day to Mossend which then swaps onto a Daventry train, and the company is looking at adding a second train. Russell also does work for Sainsbury’s using rail.”
Worth says: “You could say it’s ‘wagonload’, but it’s just a full trainload with multi customers!”
However, all those wagonloads don’t come by rail, they come by road.
“It buys the trainload and sells the slots to the end user. The Tesco train also sells any spare wagon space in its train to others - for example, you sometimes see gas tanker ‘containers’ on the train which go as far as Inverness and are then moved on to Caithness by road.
“Boxes can also be held over to ease the customers’ demands. But you need a good logistics knowledge to manage these operations, which is why Maritime, Malcolms and Russells do it so well.
“I would say these trains are the linear descendants of Enterprise - it’s just that we had to use conventional wagons.”
Interestingly, Enterprise wasn’t like Railfreight Distribution’s Speedlink operation, which haemorrhaged money.
“Enterprise actually saved EWS money, We inherited many flows from RfD and then brought them and Enterprise together. And we did actually make money. As long as it wasn’t a daily service, then it was OK - we ran the trains when the traffic was there.
“But you need 30 boxes to put a train into profit. You need 80%-85% loading to make money. But intermodal is now stabilising again. The loadings for DP World Southampton and London Gateway are much better now.”
Intermodal logistics by rail needs to exploit speed.
Currently freight trains can travel at up to 75mph, which is great compared with a 56mph truck. But it’s poor compared with the 100mph or 125mph of many passenger trains, and thus freight trains are often stuck in loops to allow passenger trains the paths. That means the average speed drops… and rail’s advantage is lost.
Are faster freight trains a possibility?
Julian Worth said: “Faster freight is realistic. In my EWS days we did a Class 90 running a 90mph intermodal trial in 2000, and it worked fine.
“But it isn’t worth it in many cases. There might be a handful of trains that could go at 90mph and that would fill the gap between 75mph and the 100mph Varamis operation.
“75mph is fine for everything else, but you need to get up to that speed quickly.
Timing is important. 65% of these fast freight trains would need to run overnight.”
Faster freights would most likely mean new (or modified) wagons, which will be dictated by the levels of investment.
This article is part of a bigger insight feature in RAIL 1004 (March 6-March 19, 2024). Get your copy delivered to your letterbox or inbox.
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