By David Spaven

David Spaven will be speaking at our Upcoming Discovery Day on Trains and Railways on Saturday 28th September.

“There needs to be a recognition that the Scottish rail network is essentially unfit for purpose north of Perth at present.” That damning – but accurate – verdict came from the Scottish Chambers of Commerce in their response to the Scottish Government’s Rail 2014 consultation.

 

What prompted such strong words on rail? In short, upgrading of the railway network north of the Central Belt has been severely neglected for 40 years, a period during which there has been unprecedented road investment. Perhaps the worst example of this neglect is on the Perth-Inverness corridor, where the A9 road was completely rebuilt in the 1970s and 1980s. In contrast, the last upgrade of the parallel, largely single-track Highland Main Line was in the mid-1970s, when 35 miles of track were redoubled and three new crossing loops were installed in response to the emerging needs of the North Sea oil industry.

 

Ironically, there has been dis-investment in the Highland Main Line since then, with three crossing loops removed, creating even longer single-track sections and reducing capacity and flexibility. Two-thirds of this trunk railway – to Britain’s fastest-growing city – are still single-track, and are largely controlled by the Victorian electro-mechanical signalling system.

 

So what does this mean for rail freight, the safe and sustainable alternative to road haulage? Firstly, there is a stop-start journey from rail hubs in Central Scotland to various terminals in Inverness and beyond. In contrast, the road haulier can contemplate an uninterrupted journey over roads which are entirely dual-lane or dual-carriageway. And the Scottish Government’s raising of the HGV speed limit from 40mph to 50mph on single-carriageway sections of the A9 has enabled road hauliers to cut up to half an hour off transits from west central Scotland to Inverness. That is not a level playing field for fair competition between road and rail.

 

The second infrastructure barrier is the highly-variable length of crossing loops – not a major problem for relatively short passenger trains, but hugely significant for freight. Rail freight can best compete with long trains of multiple loads hauled by a single locomotive. Yet rail’s competitive opportunity is severely hamstrung between Perth and Inverness, with the shortest of the nine crossing loops being just 265 metres in length compared to the longest of 505 metres.

 

How does this impact on key freight flows, particularly in new markets which rail has developed over the last two decades? The daily Stobart/Tesco train from Mossend to Inverness is limited to 20 containers, yet the Class 66 locomotive hauling the train could handle up to 28 containers (lorry-load equivalents) if loop lengths were consistently longer (530+ metres). That 40% increase in productivity would have an enormous impact on rail’s ability to win traffic from road haulage, and in so doing to improve safety and cut emissions along this important corridor.

 

These gross disparities between rail and road network capacity and capability are a key reason why the Rail Freight Group is supporting the Inter-City Express (ICE) campaign led by Transform Scotland, the sustainable transport alliance, to push for a fit-for-purpose network north of the Central Belt. ICE is arguing for electrification, extension of double track, and more, longer crossing loops on the routes linking Glasgow and Edinburgh with Aberdeen, Inverness and Elgin.

 

The Scottish Government’s intentions for upgrading freight capacity and capability on the Highland Main Line (HML) remain unclear at the time of writing – all we know is that ‘more efficient freight operations’ were promised for the period 2014 to 2019. The HML infrastructure specification has still not been decided, while A9 dualling is pressing ahead at a projected cost of £3 billion to the taxpayer.

 

With a properly-upgraded Perth-Inverness railway we could increase the number of daily freight trains from two to as many as eight in each direction, carrying a wide range of commodities such as bulk materials, supermarket supplies, timber and whisky. It would be the equivalent of taking more than 300 lorries off the A9, every day. A government really committed to sustainable economic development – and road safety – would regard this as a golden opportunity.