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Rail Freight
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Interesting proposal coming out from the Greens, Labour and Fine Gael. Now, despite the obvious note worthy point of the post that the Greens have joined FG and Lab for a policy, the proposel is interesting in itself. It is calling for more freight to be carried by rail. This is a sensible measure even though I do wonder is their much extra capacity on the nations railways.
If 1 freight train = 50 HGV and considering the the Dublin port tunnel is to take 6300 HGV’s a day. How many trains would the rail network take? I have no idea but considering that the Greens wish to up the commuter services. That limits the amount of freight that could be taken.
Of course they might try having 24 hour services. (Unions would love that) or build new track which is not in this proposal but is in the Greens. But as the Greens point out in their transport policy there has been a a drop in tonnage so there should be some extra capacity on the main lines. But the question is. Why did this drop happen was it cost or bad management?
The decline in rail freight is really a reflection of the changing economy, including the gradual emphasis away from manufacturing and towards services - see posts above re: P + G in Nenagh.
You also have to consider the type and volume of cargo you wish to transport; and also the costs involved, especially for fuel and labour.
And you also have to consider where exactly you are delivering your cargo to, and how close it is to a railway depot.
Take, for example, transporting one container from somewhere in Britain to a town without a railway line, such as Loughrea. If you decide to use rail freight, the container arrives by ship into Dublin Port, and it will probably be Dublin Port; the container then has to be taken off the ship, generally by crane; a person (who has to be paid) operates the crane; then the container has to be put, again by crane, onto a rail freight wagon; to be honest, I don’t know how close are the Dublin Port wharves and the freight rail yards.
Then a freight train goes from Dublin Port to, presumably, Ballinasloe, or possibly Athlone. And that train will probably be held up to give priority to passenger trains. But then, the container must be taken, by road, to Loughrea. Again there is a cost involved (lorry driver’s wages) to pay here, as well as fuel costs.
Compare to a single lorry from the starting place in Britain; you drive to a port in Britain, lorry rolls on, rolls off again three or four hours later; and it’s straight on through the Tunnel, onto the M50 (OK there’s the traffic congestion issue, but that’s a separate matter), and then it’s straight on, getting to Loughrea about three and a half hours later. Probably only one person (the driver) has to be paid.
The rail network is currently congested, mainly due to the Celtic Tiger, the rise in employment, and the consequent vast increase in passengers; and imagine the political fallout if commuters from Drogheda are on a stopped train at 0840 one morning and are told over PA by driver that “We will be stuck here for about five minutes to allow a freight train from the North Wall to pass through on the way west”.
The reality is that some cargoes simply are not suitable for rail freight because of size, quantity, and considering that some loads, if taken by rail, will have to take the last few miles of the journey by road anyway; or the realisation that it is cheaper for business to transport by road rather than by rail.
Remember also one major difference between running a railway, and running other types of transport.
Bus operators run their buses, and road hauliers run their lorries, on roads and motorways, but they don’t have to pay for the building, upkeep and maintenance of the roads and motorways.
Airlines, such as Ryanair, Aer Lingus, etc, fly their planes on clouds and fresh air; but they don’t have to pay for the building, upkeep and maintenance of the clouds. At least not yet. They do pay, though, for airport infrastructure - and these airport infrastructure costs are basically subsidised by the revenue the airports make from shopping, retailing, car park fees, etc.
But Irish Rail have to pay for the upkeep and maintenance of the railtracks (known in the trade as the permanent way), signalling, bridges, level crossings, etc. And all that costs money, which is reflected in fares and prices charged to passengers and freight customers. And if the freight customers can get a cheaper deal on the road, that’s the way they will go.