Freight Trains

It would seem fairly obvious that one of the most economically viable methods of transporting huge amounts of freight would be by rail, yet the road haulage industry in many countries still has enormous influence and is still responsible for more freight movement than trains. In the UK for example, in 2005 (the last year for which accurate figures are available), 1,868 million tonnes of freight was transported by road and 104 million by rail. Road traffic was eighteen times that carried by rail ! Figures for other European countries are not dissimilar, though in the United States and Canada, where the railways (covering vast distances) carry far more freight, about 60% of the total surface freight goes by rail.

It must be obvious to anyone that rail transport of freight (admittedly over long distances) is more efficient and less polluting than road haulage. Perhaps the industries involved should take a more detailed look at the options, especially with the high cost of fuel for HGVs. One option might be for more "piggy-back" trains similar to the freight shuttle through the channel Tunnel and also through some Swiss mountain tunnels. With these, heavy trucks are driven onto the train and transported over a certain distance. In this way the drivers (road) travel with their loads and are available to drive them to their final destination as it would be impossible to serve every part of every town by rail.

There is also quite a lot of post that goes by rail, though not as much these days as in times gone by. In several countries there were "travelling post offices" – trains with postal sorters on board who worked half the night sorting letters on a run either north or south. The British version was made famous in a poem by W H Auden ("Night Mail" – you can find a version of it in a special card in our retail department; it is also available as a recording). These trains also had a device to collect postbags from trackside apparatus at high speed. Sadly Britain has now withdrawn its dedicated post trains, putting even more freight on the roads ! Germany has also used rail extensively for postal services, and there is a special TGV Poste in France – FedEx is currently in discussions with SNCF about a special TGV service for their overnight services within France and other parts of Europe – it definitely makes sense.

Freight statistics per country are interesting – here's just a brief sample. For 2007 totals for freight millions tonne-kilometres were: United States 2820; China 2211; Russia 2090; India 480.99; European Union 382.7; Canada 352.1; Ukraine 240.8; Brazil 232.3; Kazakhstan 191.19; South Africa 108.51; Germany 89.69; Mexico 54.39; Australia 46.04 ; Belarus 45.72; Poland 42.65; France 42.12. For the percentage of freight transport, OECD (2005) figures are (coastal shipping excluded but pipelines are included in the total): United States 40%; Russia 56%; Canada 38%; Germany 18%; Mexico 10%; Australia 42%; Poland 33%; France 17%.