Half UK night mail trains could have been saved

Ministers came under pressure to stop Royal Mail’s withdrawal from the railways yesterday, after a document emerged which suggested that the organisation could have saved half its postal trains.

To the dismay of rail unions and environmentalists, the government-owned company announced last month that it intended to carry all letters, parcels and postcards by lorry or aircraft, in an effort to save pounds 90m a year. The controversial decision ended a 173-year tradition of “night mail” trains.

However, an Australian company which took part in Royal Mail’s review of its distribution network has revealed that the organisation could have reached its target of pounds 90m cost savings by axing only 50% of its rail services.

Opcom, a Queensland-based IT firm, provided a specialist logistics software package, Planz, which was central to Royal Mail’s reorganisation.

A document on Opcom’s website boasts that Planz was selected to “create a completely new, efficient transport network not only from scratch, but that could simultaneously optimise on the key criteria of cost minimisation, simplicity and robustness”.

According to Opcom, its analysis concluded that by cut ting rail services by 50% and reducing vehicle numbers by 2,500 through a “hub and scope” system, Royal Mail could have saved pounds 90m.

A Royal Mail spokeswoman said yesterday that Opcom’s solution was impractical because EWS Railways, which runs Britain’s mail trains, was not prepared to run only half the present level of trains.

She said: “This was based on a theoretical study in an ideal world. In the event, the op tions discussed by EWS didn’t include a 50% reduction.”

The spokeswoman claimed that EWS had only offered three alternatives to the existing contract of 49 trains a day – either 66 daily, eight a day or 22 services shared with other types of freight.

Royal Mail’s explanation was angrily denied by EWS, which said that over the course of a year’s negotiation, it had provided a long list of alternative levels of rail service.

An EWS spokesman said: “This is surprising, given that we have discussed 30 different train timetables with Royal Mail, based on their wishes, ranging from eight to 100 services a day.

“EWS has never been asked to discuss service provision based on 50% of anything. If we were asked, we would be more than happy to do so.”

Royal Mail’s withdrawal from the railways is in direct contradiction to the govern ment’s policy of luring freight away from Britain’s congested road network and onto the more environmentally friendly railways.

The move has put 500 jobs at risk and has prompted a “keep mail on rail” campaign by trade unions. Mick Rix, general secretary of the train drivers’ union Aslef, yesterday said: “The contents of this document really should lead the government to insist on an immediate review of Royal Mail’s decision. It would seem that Royal Mail isn’t being straight with the public or the industry about its reasons for axing mail trains.”

Industry sources say EWS and Royal Mail could be heading for court over the dispute. EWS is believed to be seeking multi-million pound compensation, claiming Royal Mail has broken a mail trains contract which was due to run to 2006.

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