Backing for more freight on passenger trains
Rob Flello, the MP for Stoke-on-Trent South and Chair of the All Party Parliamentary Freight Transport Group, has given his backing to a scheme from InterCity RailFreight which aims to help reduce pollution and congestion by putting high value, time-sensitive freight onto passenger trains. In a statement issued on Tuesday (28 February), Flello said: “I’ve recently been talking to people from a company called InterCity RailFreight who are taking a concept which would be completely familiar to the Victorian rail passenger and turning it into a serious prospect for moving freight by rail and cutting road congestion.”
InterCity RailFreight began trials of its scheme in 2010 and has now partnered with two rail franchisees, GWR and East Midlands Trains.
The company is involved with moving fresh fish and medical test samples by rail on passenger services.
As Flello’s statement pointed out: “These two types of cargo might seem rather disparate, but they have one thing in common, which is an urgent need to find the quickest route to their destinations.”
The medical samples are moving from Leicester and Derby as part of clinical drug trials, and as such need to reach the London labs as speedily as possible.
The fish is coming fresh off the boat in Cornwall to be distributed to various click-and-collect points in London, ready to be cooked the same day it was hauled from the waves.
The MP’s statement claimed: “In each case, the time and cost savings are significant when compared to road transport. The process is cheaper than using a diesel delivery van, up to 300% faster and of course, causes no more pollution than the passenger train on which they goods are carried would have already produced because, as the company slogan goes, “The train is going there anyway”.
According Flello’s statement: “The way the scheme currently works is by using space on empty carriages with packages in the aisles or on the seats. However, a Cambridgeshire company, 42 Technology, has designed a fully adaptable passenger carriage where the seats slide away to make an open space for freight to be carried.”
Flello then quoted approvingly from a 2016 report from research consultancy Arup, which argued that schemes like that being run by InterCity RailFreight have the potential to integrate with “city urban consolidation centres” as well as click & collect parcel lockers and stores at stations.
“There’s no doubt,” maintained Flello, “that this use of existing capacity to carry freight on passenger services is a no-brainer. It’s efficient for the person needing goods moved, it adds value to services for the rail operators and it benefits the public by cutting out polluting and congesting road journeys.
“I know InterCity RailFreight has been talking to the Minister, Paul Maynard, and I would encourage him to find a way to get this a bit further towards the top of his in-tray for further action.
“As I understand it, the biggest problem the people behind the scheme have had is getting the attention of the other franchises. I think GWR and East Midlands deserve genuine credit for running with the idea and I wish some of their fellow franchise holders could be as imaginative. The minister could get them all round a table together. If he did that, once they knew what was on offer, I’m sure they would all be keen to be involved.”
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Rob Flello delivered the Keynote Address at the Freight in the City Spring Summit, which took place in Birmingham on 1 March (the day after the MP issued his statement back the InterCity RailFreight scheme).
