The Rail Freight Challenge:
Abstract
Throwing Down the Gauntlet
At the start of the 20th century, rail dominated domestic freight movement. Now, at the dawn of the 21st century, rail moves less than 10 per cent of freight in Britain. While road transport 100 years ago meant the horse and cart or a lumbering steam-powered lorry, today's artics are now the first choice for most freight shippers. Whilst politicians and the public may aspire for more freight to be moved by rail, the lorry remains stubbornly predominant. The challenge for the rail freight operators is to regain lost traffic and target new markets, against a background of historic under-investment and operating practices.Rail freight in Britain now stands at a pivotal moment in its evolution. The bulk, heavy-haul traffic which first fostered the development of railways is either in structural decline, or has uncertain prospects at present: barring intervention from Government, domestic coal production is falling (albeit rail is moving imported coal instead); iron and steel production is at the mercy of global competition, mergers and exchange rates; aggregates traffic has been impacted by the scaling back of the road-building programme; and bulk petrochemicals production is being moved to cheaper sites overseas. The shadow apparently hanging over car plants at Longbridge, Cowley, Dagenham etc highlights another traditional customer of rail with structural difficulties at present.