A climate of change for freight / President’s column

Freight on Rail Campaign Co-ordinator Philippa Edmunds looks at the need to act on climate change T HIS is a crucial time for UK transport as the government restructures the Department for Transport (DfT), as a result of abolishing the Strategic Rail Authority (SRA), and steers the Railways Bill quickly through parliament. If the government is serious about tackling climate change, and playing its part in the Kyoto protocol, it should examine the growth in road transport, which currently is responsible for around 21 per cent of total man-made carbon dioxide emissions in the UK. Transport as a whole makes up 26 per cent of the emissions. Rail has a crucial role to play in the climate change debate as, per tonne carried, it produces around one tenth of the CO2 emissions of road transport. For a journey from London to Edinburgh, for example, rail travel causes one sixth of the carbon dioxide emissions per passenger travelled by road. Office of National Statistics figures showed that emissions from road freight transport increased by 59 per cent between 1990 and 2002. That is why, it is vital that the government makes this connection and retains the duty to promote the Railways Bill, as in previous acts, so that the railways can serve the economy and society and help control global warming. A framework for freight Other bodies involved in funding or operating the railways – Network Rail, regional government, the London Mayor and PTEs – should have a similar duty. The government must provide guidance in the form of strategies so that there are both a national framework and objectives to give long-term stability that the rail freight industry can make long-term decisions to invest to promote private sector investment. Setting the right national regional and local planning framework for rail freight is crucial and that is why Freight on Rail, a partnership of the rail freight industry, the transport trade unions and Transport 2000, was set up to work with regional and local authorities to get the right planning policies in place. Authorities need to identify and protect existing and disused sites, lines and sidings with potential as suitable interchange locations. In particular, planning permission for rail interchanges, without which rail freight will find it more difficult to increase, will not be secured unless the right policies are enshrined in the spatial planning framework at all levels. This requirement for regional and local frameworks explains why the SRA Regional Planning Managers function, which provides a vital link between land-use planning and rail transport, through the Regional Planning Assessments, must be replicated in the new structures at the DfT. This function, combined with the input of rail knowledge as currently supplied by the SRA Freight Executive, is crucial if the economy is to get full value from its investment in rail freight. As well as links with land use planning, there is a need for specialist resources, currently undertaken by the SRA, to represent the strategic rail interests at public inquiries and examinations in public. For instance, Cricklewood’s strategic nature was confirmed by the SRA at the public inquiry and supported by the SRA. ‘Freight Strategy’ and subsequent ‘Plan’ which stated that there was a need for 3-4 intermodal terminals in the London area. The London Interchange Freight Exchange (LIFE) project, at Colnbrook near Heathrow, was lost for the lack of just such a strategic lead. SRA evidence was crucial in safeguarding rail land for future potential rail use in the decision on Beftonforth’s appeal, where the SRA gave working examples to show that the existing sidings were viable and proved that there were no capacity constraints on the line. Larger lorries As part of the campaign to improve the integration between land use, planning and A climate for change on freight RMT news – Rail freight 24 I ’M in a sporting mood, so last month I accompanied the RMT football team to sunny Darlington to watch them play Shilden Railway Works F.C. The RMT team is presently in the RMT Helpline League while Shildon Railway are in the Shildon Bring Back Train Manufacturing to the UK League. The excellent Shildon side won 10-0, mainly due to the fact that Bob Crow had ‘two left feet’, and allegedly the lineperson “had it in for him”. A very enjoyable afternoon, but – you may well say – where on earth is Shildon? It used to be a thriving town in the northeast, the main employer was British Rail Engineering, and the works built wagons for our railway network and abroad. In the past, there were railway workshops the length and breadth of the country. This is ironic in view of the fact that this island founded, developed and manufactured railway rolling stock and gave it to the world. In fact the first ever passenger train ran between nearby Darlington and Stockton. So you might well ask what has happened to this proud train manufac- turing country. The reality is that there is little or no new-build, and recent announcements highlighted job losses at Litchurch Lane, Derby and the proposed closure of Eastleigh in Hampshire. To get back to Shildon – the organiser of the football match, to commemorate the 50th Anniversary of the club, invited the local MP, the Right Honourable member for Sedgefield, Tony Blair, but at the time of the game there was not even an acknowledgment. Perhaps we should forgive him as his favourite hobby seems to be Bush-licking – that other world renown sporting figure who has a liking for the well known American sport of “shoot the hell out of them” and was roaming European cities looking for the sports equipment that he seems to like labelled “WMD”. However, as usual he has had difficulty finding it. It’s quite clear to me that most of our political “leaders” don’t seem to care a damn about the Shildons of our country, unlike the governments of France, Germany and Italy who insist that rolling stock for their respective railways are manufactured in their country – and to hell with European Union directives. I think that we transport workers need to do something about this unacceptable destruction of our manufacturing base which is continuing apace with the privati- sation of our transport systems. We should be demanding the return of rail to public ownership and all rolling stock should be built and maintained in this country. The huge profits that private operators and rolling stock companies are presently announcing while our rail network gets worse and more expensive for taxpayers to run speaks volumes. Now is the time to act for the sake of all our futures in order to develop an environmentally friendly, clean and efficient integrated public transport network. You can help by getting involved in the march and rallies organised by RMT and supported by other unions and the TUC which will be starting in Scotland next month and visiting major cities all the way to London. TONY DONAGHEY Sporting politics transport Freight on Rail has just issued a briefing paper for local authorities on rail freight in Local Transport Plans*. Press reports indicate that the road industry is now pushing for longer and heavier lorries, between 60 and 84 tonnes, at a time when heavy good traffic increased by 2.9 per cent and light goods traffic by 5 per cent. Existing research indicates that heavy goods vehicles only pay for around 65 per cent of the costs they impose upon society. So instead of considering even larger lorries, the government should continue to support rail freight as a means of tackling the ever increasing road congestion, which it acknowledges is getting worse, and controlling emissions. Firms are also faced with the restriction in lorry drivers’ hours caused by the adoption of the European Working Time Directive and an acute shortage of HGV drivers making the rail case stronger to act as a freight by- pass. G For more information contact Philippa Edmunds on 020 8241 9982 or by email philippa@freightronrail.org.uk 25 UNITED: RMT players get a touch of the ball against Shildon Railway FC