Britain’s Office of Rail and Road has published a regular review of quarterly rail freight statistics, covering 1 July to 30 September 2024. Total freight moved was 4,198 million net tonne-kilometres in the latest quarter. That’s up two per cent, compared with the same quarter in 2023. Biomass, intermodal non-maritime and domestic waste had the largest percentage increases in freight moved.
Rail freight figures offer a barometer of the UK’s national economy. In that respect, it is encouraging to find that freight moved was higher than in any quarter since January to March 2022. Although, it should be noted that by the metric of weight by distance, road transport still accounts for 80 per cent of the total. The shape of the UK economy does tend to suit the lightweight short haul at which modern road transport excels. On the other hand, rail is the champion of “heavy and long”. In that respect, the rail picture is steady, if not leaping ahead.
A shift in the expected commodity pattern
So, we’re not throwing up more houses, but we’re throwing more out of the ones we have already built. That might be an assumption too far, but the relentless growth of aggregates has stalled, at least for a quarter. Instead, we’re transporting more of our domestic waste by rail. Does that mean British recycling is on a downward trend? Probably not. Quite the contrary. Britain is actually wasting less and transporting more of that diminished tonnage by rail.
The domestic waste figures could reflect the growing importance of so-called energy from waste operations. Burning non-recyclable domestic waste is big business, and operations like the Severnside Energy Recovery Facility in Avonmouth in Bristol take huge volumes of raw waste – much of it delivered by rail from boroughs in west London. Total freight lifted was 18.6 million tonnes in the latest quarter, an increase of 6% compared with the same quarter last year (2023). However, overall, it would take scrutiny with a magnifying glass to spot the difference, given the overall figure of over four billion tonnes in the quarter.
Modal shift programme encourages growth
The overall commodities picture remains unchanged. The big contributors – containers at ports and the all-encompassing “construction materials” are still each responsible for a third of all freight tonnage. While the latter eased off by two percentage points, it is still at record levels. Intermodal maritime increased by four per cent, year on year. Intermodal at the quayside recorded 1,601 million net tonne-kilometres in the latest quarter.
The Office of Rail and Road notes that rail freight serving the Port of Southampton is contributing to this growth. They put it down to the DP World Modal Shift Programme incentive package, which has increased rail freight’s share of the market at the port. DP World is paying freight forwarders a cash bonus if they move their boxes inland by rail. “Furthermore, there have been new services, such as between Tilbury and Manchester,” said the ORR. “As the commodity with the largest share of freight moved, it accounted for 38 per cent of all freight moved between July and September 2024.
Biomass and punctuality
The other big positive movement in the ORR statistics was in the energy generation sector. Biomass volumes leapt ahead by 46 per cent. This was by far the largest percentage increase of all commodities. It accounted for 272 million net tonne-kilometres. That’s the largest July to September quarter since 2018. There is increasing use of biomass at the huge Drax power station complex in Yorkshire, in the north of England. Drax has been steadily converting from coal-fired power generation for several years. While there exists some controversy about the description of biomass as a ‘green’ fuel, it is nonetheless a money-spinner for rail freight, with around 17 daily trains operating to the complex.
Construction made up a third of all freight moved in the quarter, representing the second-largest share of all freight moved. Freight volumes in this sector decreased by 2%, falling to 1,407 million net tonne-kilometres. However, this still represents the second-largest value of any quarter since the time series began in April 1998.
Also falling off was punctuality. The proportion of freight trains cancelled or arriving after 15 minutes, 8.3 per cent, on a daily roster of about 600 trains. That’s about 25 trains a day officially behind schedule – which is a reflection of the high reliability standard to which the railways are held. However, it is 1.1 per cent worse than the corresponding quarter last year. Not quite rubbish, but keep those trash trains on time, if you please.