Peer review: Martin Fleetwood
Partner in the Transport and Infrastructure Group at law firm Shoosmiths LLP and an Independent Board Member of UK Tram
The growth of online commerce and the requirement for rapid delivery times is a phenomenon of the 21st century. The growth of collection points at a number of railway stations is testament to this, allowing customers to pick up their lunchtime internet purchase on the way home from work.
Nick’s article makes interesting reading on the premiums that people and organisations are prepared to pay for high-speed freight, and the opportunities that our rail network provides to rise to these challenges. We have a network capable of moving people at high speeds, so why not premium fast delivery lightweight freight? Being able to take the benefit of an unused path that classic freight is too slow to take would be a good use of spare infrastructure capacity.
While a converted HST set may be able to whisk a train load of freight at high speed interleaved with a number of passenger services, the most popular routes for freight are likely to be those that are also the most well used by passenger services. The issues of pinch points and capacity constraints are likely to occur, so thought must be given as to whom would get priority for a path? This may tax the ORR somewhat as it considers its duty under Section 4 of the Railways Act 1993. The economic benefits deriving for a time-critical express freight train delivering goods for collection in time for the evening peak flow at (say) London Euston is somewhat different from an aggregates delivery. There is also a potential argument over the payment of variable track access charges.
The location of a major rail transshipment centre in the Midlands would link well into the current practice of a number of major retailers who locate their main warehouses in the area for road-based transport. Trains waiting to be loaded up with goods heading off to various locations sounds an exciting prospect.
However, having a workable stopping pattern to serve city centres along the relevant routes without affecting passenger services also needs to be considered. The old goods sidings have long ago become apartments for commuters or car parks, so new goods handling facilities will be needed at stations. How quickly the relevant cages can be unloaded will be a significant factor in how easily a service would fit between passenger diagrams. A new breed of station access agreements for express freight operators may be required, to ensure facilities are available for rapid unloading (and some loading), storage and distribution.
The East Midlands Trains trial shows it can be done. The next step will be to scale up operations, looking both at the number of items carried and the storage/distribution of items from the relevant stations. To this end it would be interesting to determining the appetite for converting either half or a whole carriage in (say) an HST unit or even a Pendolino to convey freight - effectively the re-emergence of the brake van. I applaud Nick and his colleagues for the work they have already done in this area and hope that the rail industry will embrace the opportunities that high-speed freight can offer.
