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FREIGHT
PHOTO: FOUR BY THREE
RAIL FREIGHT
GRAHAM COOMBS
A tanker train trundles south over Harringworth Viaduct.
in the pandemic
I
t doesn’t take more than a few seconds looking at a deserted King’s Cross or New Street to appreciate the effect that the Covid-19 pandemic has had on the passenger rail
network.
But what about the rail freight sector? Rail Engineer talked to Network Rail’s interim Freight Director, Charley Wallace, and Head of Strategic Capability, Andy Saunders, to find out what has been going on away from the public view. Setting the scene, Charley explained that, on the whole, the freight sector is doing well. “While there was a significant impact when Covid-19 first hit, nearly all the traffic has been restored, performance has been consistently high and intermodal traffic has been a great success. We have also been able to take advantage of opportunities presented by reduced passenger train demand on the network.” Andy went into more detail. “Back in March, we were having a pretty good start to the year before the virus started to hit. One of the first effects was the disappearance of aggregate traffic. With building activity coming to a halt in the first lockdown, the demand from the construction sector just turned off. “Another obvious effect was the stopping of the aviation fuel flows, such as from Grain to Heathrow, while the decline in new car sales saw automotive traffic reduce. “Some freight activity continued, such as biomass to Drax power station and removing household waste from major conurbations, but traffic overall was down about 40%.” By May, things were no longer getting worse and the network started to see demand for intermodal traffic increasing, with the need to get
Rail Engineer | Issue 189 | Mar-Apr 2021
goods up and down the country. The UK is hugely dependent on international trade - especially from the Far East - much of which comes through the container ports and needs to get through to consumers. This continued at a high level throughout and even increased, including the essential and much-publicised supplies of PPE and other medical material. “We mostly carried additional traffic on existing routes, but one new significant flow appeared,” Andy explained. “Felixstowe Port itself was becoming congested, so some ships were diverted elsewhere, including to Liverpool. Working with GB Railfreight, we were able to set up a new route from there to East Midlands Gateway, the recently-opened terminal near Castle Donington, to get the boxes through to their destinations. “Another new flow of traffic has been a triangular route between Doncaster, Elderslie (near Glasgow) and Teesport, also operated by GB Railfreight.”
Services resume Things improved after the first lockdown ended. “From about June and into the summer, construction activity resumed across most of the country, so the aggregate traffic came back fairly quickly,” Andy continued. “Automotive started moving again and, by about November, we were back to around 97% of normal - only aviation fuel still missing, with flights hugely reduced for the foreseeable future. “Even going into the new lockdown, most flows of freight were still running well, although we anticipate there may be some reductions in automotive traffic ahead with the depressed new car market.”
