GOVERNMENT plans to switch freight traffic from the roads onto trains are being stopped in their tracks by unhelpful railway companies and a patchy network, a Holyrood report has found.
Haulage firms wanting to send loads by rail encountered freight companies that failed to return calls, quoted uncompetitive prices, and had limited services and inflexible routes, according to the report for the Scottish Government by the Road Haulag
e Association (RHA).
The rail freight market has grown by 60% since 1995, but the report says further growth will be difficult without an effort by the rail operators - EWS, Freightliner, DRS and GB Railfreight - to improve the services they offer.
Recent rail freight growth has been driven by the need to transport imported coal to power stations which were previously fuelled by nearby coal mines. "Rail is not making any impact on the everyday freight traffic of the UK," the RHA, headed by Phil Flanders, claims.
One haulage group in Aberdeen attempted to move goods by rail. The managing director contacted all four rail freight companies for a quote, but none responded.
After the companies were chased up, one agreed to provide a quote, which took two months to come through. The rail company could only move goods to Glasgow, not Aberdeen as requested, and the haulier was asked to pay for unused spaces on the train - prompting him to withdraw his enquiry.
He said: "I don't see a way to make this work, as the service level we provide cannot cope with the inflexible nature of the rail system."
In another case, a company looking to move regular loads of glass from Elgin to Alloa for recycling asked all four freight companies for a quote. Again, none responded.
Hauliers complain that rail companies ask them to pay for return journeys when they only want to move goods in one direction.
Other problems include rail companies' reluctance to carry curtain-sided containers, which are used by 80% of the haulage industry, limited timetables, a lack of rail terminals and routes that double the length of a journey, such as Speyside to Glasgow.
The RHA said: "To attract more freight, the rail industry has to be more pro-active in the market place, and work with the road haulage industry to make itself more user-friendly. One intervention that would help to link the industries would be an intermediary."
Hauliers want the UK or Scottish Government to help set up a rail freight operator that would move large numbers of smaller loads which would otherwise be carried by lorry. The group names Hupac of Switzerland, Kombiverkehr in Germany and Cemat in Italy as examples of haulier-friendly rail companies that have helped to reduce road usage in those countries.
But Tony Berkeley, chairman of the Rail Freight Group, which represents the likes of EWS, said the truckers had misunderstood the industry's role. He said: "Rail freight does better with big loads, more than one box at a time. It is difficult for us to give a quote for one box. It seems road hauliers are saying: 'Why don't they run trains our way?'. But it is a different way of doing it."
Berkeley highlighted a recent deal between Malcolm Group, the haulier, and Asda, to replace over 25,000 lorry trips between Grangemouth and Aberdeen with rail journeys during the next three years. The deal attracted a £750,000 grant from the Scottish Government and is expected to ease congestion on the busy A90.
