ANNOUNCEMENT on July 16 that 2500 freight wagons will be built for US-owned freight operator EWS over the next five years - at the former carriage works in York in association with Thrall Car - is one of the most encouraging events on the British scene in the traumatic five years since the last government began setting up the tortuous structure of today's railway.
This journal had often suggested that privatisation should start with freight, a view we recalled while listening to EWS Managing Director Ian Braybrook address delegates to The Railway Forum's 'Revitalising Rail - A Shared Aim' conference in London on July 7. Rail freight in Britain had suffered '50 years of decline, no belief in growth and lack of investment.' Instead EWS is putting in place an aggressive policy to 'restore rail freight as a credible transport alternative' and 'triple the business over the next 10 years'. With road haulage 'on the brink of crisis', EWS is wasting no time in trying to win back traffic lost to the lorry: 'just wait until we start moving the fish again - and we will', promised Braybrook.
Even with a buoyant economy, just 6·5% of freight moves by rail in Britain today. EWS carried 90 million tonnes last year, 7 million of which was maintenance materials for Railtrack. The wagon order and arrival in the next few years of 280 locomotives from General Motors underline the company's faith in its future, but its ability to achieve the goals it has set itself depends heavily on other parties in the business keeping their promises too.
Prof Brian Mellitt, Railtrack's Director, Engineering & Production, told the Forum's audience of top managers that 'we have the future of Britain's railways in our hands', while Rail Regulator John Swift urged that 'now is the time to look ahead'. Persuading its own members, the government and its successors to take a serious interest in what the railway should be like in 2020 and beyond is arguably the greatest challenge facing The Railway Forum.
