Freight
A brave new world for rail freight
Chris Connelly, Deputy CEO and Rail Director at Nuclear Transport Solutions, talks about a decade of working with Tesco and the trial of alternative fuels
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he role of rail freight in moving goods around the UK is becoming increasingly important both from an environmental and a commercial point of view. Currently it is an industry carrying goods worth £30 billion per year, but that is increasing. Each freight train takes about 76 HGVs off the road, translating to 1.66 billion fewer HGV kilometres a year, which is helping to mitigate the effects of transport emissions on global warming as well as reducing congestion on the roads. Such is its importance that Tesco’s Chief Executive Ken Murphy credited the investment in the use of trains to distribute products with helping to keep its shelves stocked during the lorry driver crisis last year. In the past year alone, the retailer has increased the number of containers of produce transported by rail by nearly 50 per cent. Refrigerated service In recent months the retailer has shown its confidence in the sector by agreeing a threeyear extension with Direct Rail Services (DRS) and announced a partnership to launch its first refrigerated rail freight service in the UK. Chris Connelly, Rail Director of the freight operator, said: “The three-year extension is testament to the long-standing relationship we have with Tesco, built over the past 10 years, and we’re over the moon to get to the next phase of the deal and build on what we’re doing. “As Tesco’s business has evolved, its commitment to rail has increased and we’ve got to this point where we can put everything together and create something bigger and better in the three years ahead. “I’m pretty sure the introduction of the refrigerated unit train is the first time there’s been an entirely refrigerated unit service on the railway in the UK, which isn’t just fantastic news for DRS and Tesco, but also for the environment. This is an example of how rail can play an integral part in the race to net zero.” The refrigerated rail freight service involves the distribution of goods from Tilbury to Coatbridge twice a day, seven days a week. The 415-mile route uses the company’s Class 88 bi-mode electric locomotives which can run on electricity and produce zero exhaust and greenhouse gas emissions. 22 | February 2022
This service alone will take at least 17,000 containers off the road each year, saving Tesco 7.3 million road miles and nearly 9,000 tonnes of CO2e. “‘Lights on, shelves full’ was our strapline all the way through the pandemic,” said Chris. “We are the only operator in the UK licensed to carry nuclear material by rail so that side of the business was about ensuring we played our part in keeping the lights on and the reactors running.
‘Lights on, shelves full’ was our strapline all the way through the pandemic “The other important role has been with our supermarket colleagues in keeping the shelves full, because it was literally doing that on a daily basis showing our capabilities for offering justin-time delivery. The extension of the partnership with Tesco cements that alignment and allows us to look at more services, longer services and heavier services.”
The two organisations have also been working together to trial diesel fuel alternatives which eliminate up to 90 per cent of carbon dioxide emissions (CO2e), opening up the 62 per cent of the rail network that doesn’t benefit from overhead electricity to extremely low CO2 rail freight. A green alternative Last year, DRS launched its new green 68006 design, showcasing the environmental benefits of rail freight and how a diesel locomotive is able to significantly reduce its carbon emissions when using Hydrotreated Vegetable Oil (HVO). Supplied by Crown Oil, the secondgeneration, synthetic, advanced renewable diesel alternative is said to eliminate up to 90 per cent of the CO2e and significantly reduce nitrogen oxide, particulate matter and carbon monoxide emissions. “We’ve already seen that when you move things from road to rail you get that big step reduction in CO2 – the 76 per cent – but we want to take that further,” said Chris. “We’ve just finished a really successful HVO trial which has been on our Inverness service and we’re looking at the results, but that train never missed a beat during its trial period. railbusinessdaily.com