fuse:
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
That is a valid point as well. I went on the Amtrak from Penn Station to San Fransisco and the passenger train pulls into sidings to allow double deck freighters to pass during the night
The BMW plant near me has a rail line right into the plant, and an adjecent scrap metal works could also use the line. I don’t know if this line is used very often but suggest that were it redundant one of these would have been bidding to recover the track and tarmac it for a cycle path! (tongue in cheek smiley)
A lot of the heavy industial plants had rail head within the plant and as the UK does not have the same level of heavy industry, prefering a service economy, rail is a clever headline and a reality pipe dream.
Pressed Steel Fisher used to send panels to Longbridge west works by rail
but BMW dont make the mini their 
Mike-C:
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 !!
you have a point there mate
I heard on the radio the biggest problem with railfreight is the rail companies don’t want it.
To get a lot more freight on the rails would require increased capacity, if the rail companies are going to increase capacity they want it for passenger trains where you can charge anything you want not freight were you are competing against road haulage.
When i worked at DHL few years back we had stuff coming up by road and rail in the mornings. We couldnt get out till the trunkers were in. Majority of the time the trunk trucks coming by road came in on time. The railfreight was a different story. At least once every two weeks the railfreight stuff would be hours late if it came in at all. More than a few times been told to forget about it won’t be in till after 10am, supposed to be in about 6.30am.
Coffeeaholic was claiming some new old wives tale was best thing since sliced bread 
but we have been reminded by this post that freight on the railway is the biggest whoppa yet
If it was not for containers carried by trains I would probably be out of work.
My point is we work in and out of Rail freight depots, at the point where EVERYTHING has to go by road… 