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As always this was an interesting episode. I hope Green signals will be able to explain more about the freight sector in the future as it has been rather absent in previous episodes. One question I have is in what companies outside the UK John has been activ in, particularly in Sweden.
Fascinating stuff again. A couple of observations / questions please, firstly, maybe there's a need for some brief Railway 101s - there's much about the railways I know nothing about and a bit of background info would be helpful, for example, how does the railway freight industry work? How do you go about getting your stuff from A to B via rail, who do you have to buy a freight service from? Where do you get the proper rolling stock from if you want to transport your produce? How much does it cost to send stuff via rail compared to road? Given the carbon benefit of sending materials by rail does the government incentivise rail freight? Secondly, following a few comments in the Podcasts, you're going to have to do something on rail privatisation, the whys, wherefores and impacts. Personally the biggest impact on me was the change of my commute home from a Network South East 12 coach train to a Connex South Eastern eight-coach train - so you can imagine my thoughts on privatisation given after a long hard day's work, 12 coaches of people were crammed into 8 coaches!!! Best wishes Paul
It is so refreshing to hear Management with a passion for their industry- people who are determined to succeed despite the lacklustre support of the Government (who deserve the Marples Award for their anti-rail policies). I think that the privatisation of British Rail was an operational and economic disaster with the one exception- rail freight which has done extremely well. It could do even better with the right support and improved infrastructure (like doubling the Felixtowe and Soham lines).
Great episode with 2 fascinating interviews, I imagine that if the Woodhead line was still extant that there would be a lot of freight using it instead of the WCML, at the Don Valley Railway we are pushing the powers that be to get the line from Sheffield to Stocksbridge and once that is up and running we can think about getting from Deepcar to Penistone, anyway thanks for another brilliant episode and i'm looking forward to the next one already, cheers
Thanks Craig. I think there would still be a great deal of freight using the WCML given its origin point but there's no doubt that the question we need to be asking now is how do we create more capacity. Cheers.
I doubt much freight would use woodhead instead of the wcml as there is very few transpennine freights that currently operate, except Biomass from Liverpool to drax but I doubt would use woodhead due to extra length of journey and paths from Sheffield North towards Leeds/ Wakefield.
Great episode guys. I was listening to this as a podcast in my Ute with my colleague in Tasmania. He was wondering why I was giggling to myself. I explained to him that we’ve talking about the doubling of the line to Felixstowe (one of the biggest container ports in Europe) since what seems decades. I’m frighteningly bearing down towards 50, and Im sure I read about this very topic in Rail News Newspaper as a kid 🤦🏼
One rare bright spot on the US is the states of Rhode island and Massachusetts. They have been going after abandoned and underused sidings and branch lines. New crossing and gates, new signals, turnouts. CWR in some cases. And the videos show delivery of the first cars in over 30 years in some cases. Zero carbon will change the freight market. You get in to a field of dreams scenario. Build it and they will come. Great program.
Really interesting to hear some freight views this time round. Rail always appears inflexible and slow in this arena so great to know people are trying to improve things as there is great potential for the future. Enjoyed Maggies views on electrification but would have asked about the cost of using it as some companies have reverted to diesel due to cost. John was great fun and so right on productivity and keeping HR under control. Having a dynamic leader is good for business for customers and staff and to avoid the current rail malaise. Still baffled why Felixstowe is single track and good to see the HS2 cuts still being raised as a big issue. Pressure needed for 2a to get built. Let's hope he gets some focus for a dedicated ring-fenced freight infra budget - an area sadly neglected as Richards approach is spot on.
Thanks Allan. Great points, and we will ask in a future episode about how we can avoid a situation where companies could use electric traction but are reverting to diesel as a result of cost.
Happy new year all, what an excellent job! I've really enjoyed all the episodes of Green Signals, but this is probably the best one so far! These were two fascinating interviews with professionals from the freight industry who really talk common sense, but above all have passion and enthusiasm for the job and for people too. Brilliant! 👍
Thank you Brian. As ever, such lovely words. Oh, and we loved your stunning photo on social media today of a pair of Class 56s on Ribblehead. A truly superb picture! Richard
A very good podcast I've enjoyed it. John Smith mentioned how NR wanted a new model of freight company. Althe points he mentioned I saw at National Power at Ferrybridge in the late 90's. Highly productive diagramming of Locos and wagons. Flexible workforce etc. I believe that many of the staff went on to Freightliner Heavy Haul when EWS bought them out.
Is there going to be anything to encourage companies towards bi - mode locos when most keep running back to good old diesel because the cost of running electrics under wires is so high.
This is a very good question. A couple of others have raised it. We will ask the question of the freight companies and let you know what they say. Cheers. Richard
I can understand the idea of bi - mode locos for freight but tri - mode leaves me baffled, who will use battery power to move a train which at best is only going to get a brake test done and let you move off the loading pad before you have to start the diesel or put the pan up, with most freight worth its while moving in trains of 2500 to 3000 tons surly we need something in the order of 3000 Hp from the diesel engine with possibly 5000 to 6000 Hp on tap for working under the wires , adding batteries into this equation is just a waste of time and space, you might as well have a clockwork spring for what good they will do. If it's down hill it might just about get the loco out the gate. There needs to be more cross country electrification to connect the various ports on the east coast with others on the west or to major centers up , down , and across the country. Like you have said , a rolling programme to complete 100 to 150 route miles per year to fill the gaps would be a start.
What about the unspoken "E" word. At least there is some movement in electrification in the UK and Ireland. In the US there is none. And little seems to be going on in Canada. It is a program that demands a 'moon shot" type approach by government. Instead it is ignored as more investment goes in to diesel power with a 30 life. The day of reckoning is approaching on this.
Salutary to reflect on the likely damage to rail freight capacity on WCML as a result of the frankly idiotic decision to cancel phase 2 of HS2; more short term knee jerk decision making with little regard to the long term consequences. It seems all that effort to squeeze 42 additional freight paths with PUG2 may have been in vain! As regards 'short-termism' one is reminded of one consequence of the Hendy Review. The proposed extension of the Kenilworth loop into the new station was cancelled. As a result, freight on the strategic Southampton - Midlands - NW corridor is funneled down two restrictive sections of single track between LMS and COV competing with Cross Country and WMR passenger movements. This restriction is often accentuated by poor regulation as Maggie alluded to with knock on delays to both freight and passenger movements. In effect, a decision to save a few £m has resulted in a continuing performance hit, costing many more £ms than was saved. Furthermore, at present, I cannot find any evidence yet that the doubling will ne reinstated and the bottleneck removed.
If you enjoy this episode, please click the like button 👍It makes a massive difference to us and helps us to keep bringing you more episodes. Thank you!
As always this was an interesting episode. I hope Green signals will be able to explain more about the freight sector in the future as it has been rather absent in previous episodes.
One question I have is in what companies outside the UK John has been activ in, particularly in Sweden.
Yes, we will be covering freight again very soon!
Fascinating stuff again. A couple of observations / questions please, firstly, maybe there's a need for some brief Railway 101s - there's much about the railways I know nothing about and a bit of background info would be helpful, for example, how does the railway freight industry work? How do you go about getting your stuff from A to B via rail, who do you have to buy a freight service from? Where do you get the proper rolling stock from if you want to transport your produce? How much does it cost to send stuff via rail compared to road? Given the carbon benefit of sending materials by rail does the government incentivise rail freight? Secondly, following a few comments in the Podcasts, you're going to have to do something on rail privatisation, the whys, wherefores and impacts. Personally the biggest impact on me was the change of my commute home from a Network South East 12 coach train to a Connex South Eastern eight-coach train - so you can imagine my thoughts on privatisation given after a long hard day's work, 12 coaches of people were crammed into 8 coaches!!! Best wishes Paul
Thanks for the great suggestions Paul, we'll definitely keep them in mind for future episodes!
Yes. These are interesting topics which are hard to get an insight to but I imagine Green signals would be able to and hope they will enlighten us.
It is so refreshing to hear Management with a passion for their industry- people who are determined to succeed despite the lacklustre support of the Government (who deserve the Marples Award for their anti-rail policies).
I think that the privatisation of British Rail was an operational and economic disaster with the one exception- rail freight which has done extremely well. It could do even better with the right support and improved infrastructure (like doubling the Felixtowe and Soham lines).
Great points Mervyn!
“You Ain’t Seen Nothing Yet” Nigel and Richard are the new Smashie and Nicey. Great show chaps.
Excellent. I think.
Great episode with 2 fascinating interviews, I imagine that if the Woodhead line was still extant that there would be a lot of freight using it instead of the WCML, at the Don Valley Railway we are pushing the powers that be to get the line from Sheffield to Stocksbridge and once that is up and running we can think about getting from Deepcar to Penistone, anyway thanks for another brilliant episode and i'm looking forward to the next one already, cheers
Thanks Craig. I think there would still be a great deal of freight using the WCML given its origin point but there's no doubt that the question we need to be asking now is how do we create more capacity. Cheers.
I doubt much freight would use woodhead instead of the wcml as there is very few transpennine freights that currently operate, except Biomass from Liverpool to drax but I doubt would use woodhead due to extra length of journey and paths from Sheffield North towards Leeds/ Wakefield.
Great episode guys. I was listening to this as a podcast in my Ute with my colleague in Tasmania. He was wondering why I was giggling to myself. I explained to him that we’ve talking about the doubling of the line to Felixstowe (one of the biggest container ports in Europe) since what seems decades. I’m frighteningly bearing down towards 50, and Im sure I read about this very topic in Rail News Newspaper as a kid 🤦🏼
Stephen - you definitely win a shout out on the show for the line "in my Ute with my colleague in Tasmania" alone. Awesome. Richard
One rare bright spot on the US is the states of Rhode island and Massachusetts. They have been going after abandoned and underused sidings and branch lines. New crossing and gates, new signals, turnouts. CWR in some cases. And the videos show delivery of the first cars in over 30 years in some cases. Zero carbon will change the freight market. You get in to a field of dreams scenario. Build it and they will come. Great program.
An excellent and positive story. Thanks for sharing Bob.
Really interesting to hear some freight views this time round. Rail always appears inflexible and slow in this arena so great to know people are trying to improve things as there is great potential for the future. Enjoyed Maggies views on electrification but would have asked about the cost of using it as some companies have reverted to diesel due to cost.
John was great fun and so right on productivity and keeping HR under control. Having a dynamic leader is good for business for customers and staff and to avoid the current rail malaise. Still baffled why Felixstowe is single track and good to see the HS2 cuts still being raised as a big issue. Pressure needed for 2a to get built. Let's hope he gets some focus for a dedicated ring-fenced freight infra budget - an area sadly neglected as Richards approach is spot on.
Thanks Allan. Great points, and we will ask in a future episode about how we can avoid a situation where companies could use electric traction but are reverting to diesel as a result of cost.
Happy new year all, what an excellent job! I've really enjoyed all the episodes of Green Signals, but this is probably the best one so far!
These were two fascinating interviews with professionals from the freight industry who really talk common sense, but above all have passion and enthusiasm for the job and for people too. Brilliant! 👍
Thank you Brian. As ever, such lovely words. Oh, and we loved your stunning photo on social media today of a pair of Class 56s on Ribblehead. A truly superb picture! Richard
@@GreenSignalsThank you so much Richard, I really appreciate that!
A very good podcast I've enjoyed it. John Smith mentioned how NR wanted a new model of freight company. Althe points he mentioned I saw at National Power at Ferrybridge in the late 90's. Highly productive diagramming of Locos and wagons. Flexible workforce etc. I believe that many of the staff went on to Freightliner Heavy Haul when EWS bought them out.
That's really interesting, thanks for sharing. Glad you enjoyed the episode!
@@GreenSignals I knew the people involved well and wrote a article in RAIL Express about it, probably about 1997.
Is there going to be anything to encourage companies towards bi - mode locos when most keep running back to good old diesel because the cost of running electrics under wires is so high.
This is a very good question. A couple of others have raised it. We will ask the question of the freight companies and let you know what they say. Cheers. Richard
I can understand the idea of bi - mode locos for freight but tri - mode leaves me baffled, who will use battery power to move a train which at best is only going to get a brake test done and let you move off the loading pad before you have to start the diesel or put the pan up, with most freight worth its while moving in trains of 2500 to 3000 tons surly we need something in the order of 3000 Hp from the diesel engine with possibly 5000 to 6000 Hp on tap for working under the wires , adding batteries into this equation is just a waste of time and space, you might as well have a clockwork spring for what good they will do. If it's down hill it might just about get the loco out the gate.
There needs to be more cross country electrification to connect the various ports on the east coast with others on the west or to major centers up , down , and across the country.
Like you have said , a rolling programme to complete 100 to 150 route miles per year to fill the gaps would be a start.
What about the unspoken "E" word. At least there is some movement in electrification in the UK and Ireland. In the US there is none. And little seems to be going on in Canada. It is a program that demands a 'moon shot" type approach by government. Instead it is ignored as more investment goes in to diesel power with a 30 life. The day of reckoning is approaching on this.
It's such a basic thing. A rolling programme of electrification is a real win:win.
Salutary to reflect on the likely damage to rail freight capacity on WCML as a result of the frankly idiotic decision to cancel phase 2 of HS2; more short term knee jerk decision making with little regard to the long term consequences. It seems all that effort to squeeze 42 additional freight paths with PUG2 may have been in vain! As regards 'short-termism' one is reminded of one consequence of the Hendy Review. The proposed extension of the Kenilworth loop into the new station was cancelled. As a result, freight on the strategic Southampton - Midlands - NW corridor is funneled down two restrictive sections of single track between LMS and COV competing with Cross Country and WMR passenger movements. This restriction is often accentuated by poor regulation as Maggie alluded to with knock on delays to both freight and passenger movements. In effect, a decision to save a few £m has resulted in a continuing performance hit, costing many more £ms than was saved. Furthermore, at present, I cannot find any evidence yet that the doubling will ne reinstated and the bottleneck removed.
'be' reinstated!
Was not aware of that. A shortsighted decision indeed Richard.