The road and rail sectors need to work together rather than in competition if the government’s goal of increasing rail’s share of the UK surface freight market to 20% from the present 11% is to be achieved, according to Graham Meiklejohn, head of communications for the UK’s largest rail freight operator DB Schenker.
"There are big opportunities, particularly on European routes, and we need a partnership between road and rail," Meiklejohn tells Motor Transport.
While there is limited scope to increase the traditional heavy bulk goods traditionally carried by rail, DB Schenker sees potential to grow integrated road-rail services like the one it recently introduced to bring oranges and other fresh produce from southern Spain to the UK for a leading supermarket chain.
A weekly train carries up to 1.5 million oranges in 35 refrigerated containers from Valencia to Dagenham, Kent, via the Channel Tunnel for onward distribution by road to the retailer’s South-East RDCs. The service is run in partnership with haulier Eddie Stobart which handles the road legs in Spain and the UK.
"Railways do not run everywhere and our growth in future will come from this type of modal integration," says Meiklejohn. "Bringing produce from Spain to the UK is quicker and cheaper as well as greener by rail than by road."
While rail is less carbon intensive than road – emitting a fifth of the carbon emissions when using diesel locomotives and even less on electrified routes – Meiklejohn acknowledges that rail must be a cost-effective, reliable option. "Rail must offer the best commercial rates as no one will pay a premium for environmentally friendly transport," he says.
Meiklejohn acknowledges that Channel Tunnel operator Eurotunnel has altered the prices it charges for freight trains and argues that rail could capture a bigger slice of the long-distance European market if it cut costs.
"Shippers have now regained confidence after all the problems with the fire in the tunnel, asylum-seekers boarding trains coming to the UK and delivery issues in France," says Meiklejohn. "We currently ship around one million tonnes a year through the tunnel compared with the peak of three million tonnes but this is now growing."