Britain'S Freight Trains Slow To Deliver

When the break-up of BR and the privatisation of rail assets was launched 2-1/2 years ago it was welcomed by hauliers and companies shipping goods. The expansion of the motorway network and the low cost of road haulage had led to a decline in rail's share of total freight transport from 42 per cent in the 1950s to just seven per cent. BR had long been criticised for failing to provide a customer-friendly service to freight shippers. Reliability was poor and the calculation of costings often appeared eccentric, while the relatively short distances involved in many UK freight movements meant that rail was not viable.

 

But while the first signs are beginning to emerge of improvements in passenger services after privatisation, freight is still failing to exploit its full potential.

Negotiations between English Welsh & Scottish Railway, the US- owned company that handles bulk freight shipments, and Railtrack, owner of track and signalling, aimed at creating a cheaper, more flexible track access regime, have become bogged down.

Chris Nichols, secretary of the Rail Freight Group, which represents operators and customers, said: EWS is raring to go. If the freight revival does not take off it will not be for want of trying.

EWS, which was acquired last February by Wisconsin Central Transportation, wants to replace individually negotiated track agreements with a simple tariff.

At present EWS cannot respond quickly to customers seeking a quote for rail shipments because it can take Railtrack up to six months to calculate its track access charges. The Freight Transport Association, representing 12,000 hauliers and shippers, has called for access to the rail networkto be free, but this seems a vain hope. Meanwhile, subsidies intended to promote rail freight are being doled out with such reluctance that they are only having a marginal impact on freight volumes.

A national audit office investigation into the freight facilities grant, which funds freight terminal equipment, found that the department of transport had disbursed only