NO TO ROAD TRAINS

RMTnews :: october 2007 :: www.rmt.org.uk 22 NO TO ROAD TRAINS RMT is calling on members to write to their MPs to urge them to oppose trials of 84 tonne road-train lorries The Department for Transport is continuing to evaluate longer heavier lorries (LHVs), ranging from from 25.5 metres to 30 metres in length, 60 to 84 tonnes weight. Final reports to ministers are expected shortly so the campaign group Freight on Rail and RMT are asking you to write to the Secretary of State for Transport, the Rt. Hon Ruth Kelly [ ], ideally copied to your local MP, to urge her not to allow trials of longer heavier lorries. You may also like to sign the Number 10 online petition started by a Freightliner employee Alan Edwards on http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/B an60tonlorries/ “B-double” - articulated vehicle towing a semi-trailor with the second semi trailor resting on the first - Up to 25.5 metres long and 60 tonnes GROWING OPPOSITION Thanks to your previous support over one hundred MPs have signed Early Day Motion 730 opposing LHVs. Since the article in RMT News February 2007, the rail freight industry has carried out further detailed analysis of the implications of longer and heavier lorries with findings which strengthen our case. LHVs will mean more lorry-miles not fewer because demand will be stimulated if transport becomes cheaper at point of use as modal choice is dominated by price. Trainloads of freight will be forced back onto the congested road network and rail freight will be severely undermined. The latest Freightliner analysis shows that up to 66 per cent of the deep-sea container rail market could be lost to road with the introduction of the 25.5 metre lorries, which, as the favoured size and model, would be fifty per cent longer and over a third heavier than existing 44 tonne lorries. ENVIRONMENTAL COST Analysis by Oxera for EWS in May found that 40 per cent of rail aggregates flows and 20 per cent of metals flows could be transferred to road if LHVs were permitted. At a time when the