Rail Freight Lines - Lord Berkeley

One of the very few silver linings to the economic cloud that currently hangs over the freight sector is the breathing space it has created.

Up until 2008, under-capacity was the number one issue for the supply chain, with the UK’s rail network, port terminals and roads, all creaking under the sheer weight of demand. Capacity constraints were terrorising all aspects of the sector with many predicting a torrid time ahead, with no clear idea of how to meet the 2020 growth predictions.

But when volumes started flying south for the winter last year, they left behind the opportunity for the sector to reassess its position and execute some badly needed upgrading work, as well as developing new railconnected and rail-accessed logistics sites, for when demand returned.

Although not necessarily quick to react to the opportunity, for once the government and Network Rail seem to have recognised the potential in the situation.

While the vision of a Strategic Freight Network has been sullied somewhat in the media of late, with the publicly unpopular Kent International Gateway, the Infrastructure Planning Commission (IPC) seems ready and willing to take on the challenge and, particularly where increasing the number of intermodal rail interchanges around the country are concerned, work with private developers towards facilitating growth and meeting demand.

Recently, it said it wanted to be much more transparent in its processes and increase its effectiveness in approving the right projects, which can only be welcomed to smooth that economic development.

Network Rail also needs to use this downtime to its advantage and appears to have made the first steps in the right direction. Among its renovation and expansion projects, it is currently in the process of upgrading two important routes.

Firstly the Southampton Tunnel, which will allow high cube container traffic through on standard gauge wagons, and then to go on to the Midlands and link up with the West Coast Main Line. Second is assessing how they can work to free up the Perth to Inverness rail link in Scotland, which is riddled with some very small tunnels and antiquated stretches of single track – all in the name of freight.

But while these are all heartily welcomed, we still need that final piece of the jigsaw, a targeted and joined-up national policy that covers not just rail development but all freight transport that unleashes the potential of multimodal hubs and drives modal shift.

In a few years’ time, the need for rail freight interchanges will be inarguable – let’s just hope we look back on this recession and think to ourselves: thank goodness we acted when we did, to increase infrastructure capacity and sort those previous issues out, and not look back with regret that we did not do enough.

Lord Berkeley is Chairman of the Rail Freight Group. For further information, visit: www.rfg.org.uk

Published: 15/01/2010