02.12.16
Rail freight activity continues to decline in Q2
Activity in the rail freight industry has continued to struggle in Q2, as the decline in coal being moved also spread to renewable sectors such as biomass, the latest ORR figures show.
According to new statistics from the ORR, in Q2 this year 4.23bn net tonne kilometres of freight were moved, a 4.3% drop compared to Q2 of 2015-16. Other measures showed a similar decline. Freight lifted was 11% lower than the same point the previous year, and total freight train kilometres fell by 3.6%.
The figures represent a smaller decrease than in the previous quarter, when freight movement was down by 8.4%.
As in the last quarter, the ORR said the main cause of the decline was continued problems in the coal sector because of the government’s target of phasing out coal-fired power stations by 2025.
In Q2, coal was the freight sector with the single biggest drop in movement, which fell to 0.32bn kilometres. However, ‘Other’, the sector which includes biomass, a sustainable fuel, experienced the second-highest drop of 18.7%, its first year-on-year fall since 2011.
The ORR attributed this to the removal of the climate change levy exemption for renewable source electricity becoming effective as freight operators renew their contracts.
In addition, there was a 4.2% drop in the international category, due to increased security at Calais, and a 14.8% drop in metals.
There were small increases in three of the seven freight sectors – construction (8.3%), domestic intermodal (3.9%) and oil and petroleum (0.7%) – but these were not enough to offset the decline in activity.
Philippa Edmunds, manager of Freight on Rail and a member of the Campaign for Better Transport, told RTM: "The fact that business and construction rail freight and traffic is up is encouraging because those are the two growth markets."
She added that the government needed to upgrade the Strategic Freight Network to address the lack of capacity.
"The shippers want more services," she said. "There's demand for more services. The construction industry likes to use rail."
Edmunds argued that the benefits of using rail freight included better safety and reduced congestion and air pollution.
The Department for Transport's latest rail freight strategy acknowledged that the industry needs to address the lack of capacity.
The figures also showed that, freight trains in the period were delayed by 10.3 minutes for every 100 train kilometres, a 4.6% increase from the previous year and the first year-on-year increase since 2013.
Have you got a story to tell? Would you like to become an RTM columnist? If so, click here.