i know certain groups are all for this concept but i really cant see a single advantage to it. in fact, for perishable goods, i cant see it being an option at all.
do these people have a substantial arguement at all? 
scanny77:
do these people have a substantial arguement at all?
Thanks mainly to Doctor Beeching and his ‘axe’ no they don’t.
i could understand certain goods going by rail but only those that are not really needed within a couple of days. i could see it taking that long to shift anything from the south to anywhere north of the border. as far as i am aware, freight trains are slower than passenger trains but they also have to give way to passenger trains too. these reasons along rule out anything that is destined for the shops. i know tesco put stuff on rails but they still run plenty of trunks up and down the M6 which makes the rail freight an addition rather than replacement
even then, how does the freight get to and from the railheads? the only difference in congestion would be the lowest congested roads anyway and it would put more truck traffic into specified areas ie the railheads. wouldnt all this defeat their object? 
I remember reading an article on this subject a while ago and it said a 100% increase in rail freight would mean only a 5% reduction in road freight.
HAVE a look at the SWISS rail system they do move a lot of goods by rail and
it does work, here in germany the main goods moved are steel, cars ,wood ,
chemicals ,also a lot of fruit is moved daily from the coast ports to all points
in Germany, how ever the Train system is not flexible enough and so will
never carry the main load of perishable goods, also as we all know,the FRENCH
are on strike,and the germans will decide later this week if they< go out on strike again,
but who made the claims?
you know as well as i do that apart from stuff like aggregates (sites big enough to accommodate rail) and containers (onto rail only) would have to be transferred to the railhead and from the railhead at the other end. it would only take trunks off the motorways and it would still increase local truck traffic even more than the trunks would. the reason being that trunks can be spread throughout a day. when i train comes in, it needs tipping there and then to clear the track. it just wouldnt be practical. this isnt even accounting for delays or derailments. where is that freight train that derailed ages ago and is still stuck on a bridge? cranes cant access it so they are having to build a road especially for the cranes. that line is closed in a big way
i accept your point Pete but it is also my understanding that the rail infrastructure is far better over there. that will have a huge bearing on this arguement. lets face it, fixing our transport infrastructure in both cases will not happen soon. it would take years for either to catch up on current demands
scanny77:
i accept your point Pete but it is also my understanding that the rail infrastructure is far better over there. that will have a huge bearing on this arguement.
Which is the point I made in my first post.
I actually had the pleasure of meeting a freight development manager for one of Railtrack’s Northern sectors.
This was only a couple of weeks ago, I did ask him about what plans were to increase the amount of freight carried on rails.
He said that they are increasing the amount of rail freight at the moment but even if they increase the amount of loco’s and rolling stock they don’t have anywhere to offload it, because they have such a hard time opening old stations up again.
In fact he said the last scheme he opened up to increase rail traffic was for Morrisons and they actually had to increase the amount of their road movements to help deal with the extended supply lines.
So I really don’t think its viable given our current road and rail infrastructure, and as has been said, there’s no chance of those being upgraded!
Alex
Are some of you asleep here?! We already have cars,aggregates,glass,containers and much more already going by rail and the trains are pretty much full!!
Given the fact that everything we buy at some point travels by road more rail freight is a totally unworkable proposition… 
You are not booked in mate 
Or, we have had longer trains than that in here 
Seriously though, I worked for a company who chose to put all of its traffic on the trains.
We were the first tanker company authorised to self certify tank containers for the channel tunnel, otherwise it meant waiting for a guy from Railtrack or EWS to come and watch the containers being loaded and then seal them up to counter terrorist attack.
The speed of the rail links were very slow though, and the containers could go missing for days at a time, stuck in a siding in Cardiff or somewhere else off route on a journey from Calais to Eurocentral in Scotland.
Normally we would send a truck North to work out of Eurocentral and another would work from Willesden Junction. The only benefit then was that we could carry more weight as the MGW was still 40t on the roads
Coffeeholic:
scanny77:
i accept your point Pete but it is also my understanding that the rail infrastructure is far better over there. that will have a huge bearing on this arguement.Which is the point I made in my first post.
i didnt understand it. dont know who that person is 
Mike-C:
Are some of you asleep here?! We already have cars,aggregates,glass,containers and much more already going by rail and the trains are pretty much full!!
you are quite right Mike but then again i can remember seeing the trains loaded with cars sitting at a siding in Stirling over 20 years ago. some freight has always gone by train but the factually ignorant who want more freight put on trains seem completely oblivious to the fact that there are strong arguements against it rendering it unworkable. some freight will always go by train by the vast majority still goes by road and in some sectors, that figure is 100% road
scanny77:
the factually ignorant who want more freight put on trains seem completely oblivious to the fact that there are strong arguements against it rendering it unworkable.
One thing they are not Rich, is factually ignorant. They know full well the facts, it is their job to push it as a viable alternative aided by grants. If i was on their dosh and stood to earn bonuses for getting a few token cariages going on EU cash then i’d tell that trains are the new black !!
Mike-C:
Are some of you asleep here?! We already have cars,aggregates,glass,containers and much more already going by rail and the trains are pretty much full!!
and we carry trains on the back of low loaders!!!
davidj247:
Mike-C:
Are some of you asleep here?! We already have cars,aggregates,glass,containers and much more already going by rail and the trains are pretty much full!!and we carry trains on the back of low loaders!!!
Quote I made on one of the other forums regarding a similar subject:
Some of you probably remember years ago,the Italians were great ones for dragging a rail waggon through the streets on a multi wheeled low loader.Just as we try and tell Joe public who talks about putting everything on the railways,“But there is not a rail link to every supermarket!”
bestbooties:
davidj247:
Mike-C:
Are some of you asleep here?! We already have cars,aggregates,glass,containers and much more already going by rail and the trains are pretty much full!!and we carry trains on the back of low loaders!!!
Quote I made on one of the other forums regarding a similar subject:
Some of you probably remember years ago,the Italians were great ones for dragging a rail waggon through the streets on a multi wheeled low loader.Just as we try and tell Joe public who talks about putting everything on the railways,“But there is not a rail link to every supermarket!”
I have seen them do that at a factory in Grenzach. They pushed the rail wagon onto a small wheeled trailer and then towed it across the factory witha fork lift truck
scanny77:
Coffeeholic:
scanny77:
i accept your point Pete but it is also my understanding that the rail infrastructure is far better over there. that will have a huge bearing on this arguement.Which is the point I made in my first post.
i didnt understand it. dont know who that person is
in terms of rail freight this country is to small .moveing bulk goods ie coal oil timber and sutch like it maybe just viable,having a train load of mixed goods loading unloading to go to seperate destinations loads of trucks one end loads trucks the other it is not worth the discussion