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In response to Royal Mail’s decision to decommission its fleet of mail trains and stop using rail in its logistics operations, Campaign for Better Transport delivered a giant postcard to Royal Mail head office with the message, ‘Mail belongs on rail!’.
Thousands of people have added their names to the postcard, addressed to Royal Mail Chair, Keith Williams CBE, who is also Chair of the Great British Railways Transition Team. The postcard calls on Royal Mail to “work to increase the amount of mail delivered by train, not risk pushing more onto the roads.”
Michael Solomon Williams of Campaign for Better Transport said: “Mail and rail have been working together, connecting communities for almost 200 years. But this need not be the end of the line. Post is changing, not declining, and online parcel orders make the case for greener, faster deliveries, so Royal Mail should lead by example. It should reach out to the Government, which has professed its support for rail freight, and work with it to get deliveries back on track.”
He added: “Rail freight is fast, it’s green, and with one freight train removing up to 129 lorries from our clogged roads*, it’s hugely popular. There is much the Government can do to boost rail freight, including reducing track access charges for freight trains and reducing the cost of electricity for rail freight operators who use electric traction.”
Rail writer and broadcaster Christian Wolmar said: “Next year we will be celebrating the 200th anniversary of railways. For all that time mail has been carried by rail, profitably for both parties. Surely a way must now be found to continue that symbiotic relationship?”
Andrea Rossi, CEO of DB Cargo UK, which operated Royal Mail’s trains, said: “Rail freight will always be the safest, greenest and most reliable form of logistics transportation in the UK. Whilst we are deeply disappointed at Royal Mail’s decision to switch from rail to road based logistics, we are actively working with our stakeholders to find a solution to close the cost gap between rail and road to ensure that rail freight remains the backbone of reliable and sustainable logistics.”
Maggie Simpson OBE, Director General of Rail Freight Group, the representative body for rail freight in the UK, said: “Businesses across the country are looking to use more rail freight, and we need to find new opportunities for the parcels and mail sector to take advantage of green low carbon rail, helping to secure their supply chains and delivering rail freight growth.”
A Royal Mail spokesperson said: “We continue to use rail where it makes sense for the business and our customers. This month we began trialling a container service four-days a week between our Midlands Parcels Hub and the Scottish Distribution Centre.
”Our own trains were 30 years old and had reached the end of their operational lives. The absence of routes to meet our service requirements and a decrease in reliability influenced the decision. Last Christmas, the number of delays on the railway that impacted performance had increased more than 10-fold compared to the previous year. One delayed train has seven times the impact on quality than a delayed HGV, leading to more than 40,000 disappointed customers who do not get their item on time.”
*Royal Mail has said this is not the case for Royal Mail’s use of rail. The maximum length its trains could operate was 12 coaches. A train of this length held a maximum of 705 York roll-cages. Its lorries can typically carry 95 York roll-cages. Therefore, one Royal Mail train was the equivalent of eight lorries.
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