On 21/12/2011 18:34, charles wrote:
In , Tim
wrote:
In , "Dave Plowman (News)"
wrote:

In , Tim
wrote:
Ha ha v. funny. Road freight is at least 80% of the total. Our rail
network strains to take the other 20%. To make much difference you'd
have to make that 60/40, that is at least a doubling of the amount of
freight on the railway. Could you kindly indicate which lines you
think it's gonna be on? Why do you think I was suggesting going to
four tracks as much as possible? That way the slow freight could
mix with the slow local trains.

Freight often runs overnight. As you'd see if you catch any late trains
round London. And that could likely be increased.

20% may not sound like much, but putting that 20% on the roads would
cause chaos.

That 20% is already on the roads. But if most freight already runs
overnight, there's a lot to be said for adding the extra tracks so more
of it can runs daytime too.

Course, a lot of e.g. Tesco big trucks are going to be refrigerated ...

on the other hand, I saw (about 10 years ago) it small train - only 2
ASDA containers - on the line from Inverness to Wick/Thurso. They
obviously found it more economical than road.

It's quite telling that when rolling stock needs to be moved around for
maintenance work or refurbishment, they often find it cheaper to move it
by road rather than rail.

SteveW