Severn Toll Change
The title of this post is the same as that of a short article in the February 2019 Edition of Modern Railways.
This is the first paragraph.
There are concerns that the removal of toll charges on the M4 Severn Crossings on 17 December could result in a loss of rail freight traffic to road. The toll, for westbund vehicles only, was £16.70 per Heavy Goods Vehicle last year. It had been reduced from £20 in January 2018, when VAT ceased to be levied because the motorway bridges had passed from private to public ownership.
It now appears that it is now cheaper to get wine from Felixstowe to a warehouse in Avonmouth, by using a train to Cardiff and then using trucks, than by using a train to Bristol and a shorter truck journey.
Surely, the longer journeys by both diesel truck and probably diesel train, creates more carbon dioxide.
Obviously, the UK and Welsh Governments didn’t assess the carbon emission consequences of abolishing the tolls on the Severn Bridges.
I also wonder, if more people will now drive between South Wales and England, because of the incentive of a toll-free crossing, which will further increase carbon-dioxide emissions.
The Anonymous Widower 
Toll booths create a lot of pollution as a result of vehicles slowing down, queuing, and accelerating out. The delays cause a lot of grief for private users, business users and delivery vehicles, and disgruntled drivers can make bad drivers. Road and rail must compete without arbitrary road charges like tolls, and governments have it in their power to fund/tax road or rail as they think fit. The toll bridge is also very unpopular with the Welsh according to my daughter-in-law, her sisters, and her parents (who live in the Rhondda valley).
Comment by John Wright | January 27, 2019 |
I have a feeling that the Welsh Government may have already started on a plan to get drivers to use the trains to London.
I’ve also looked at the Wine Warehouse at Avonmouth and I suspect that it could be given direct rail access, which would be the best solution.
They could use special logistics trains, as I talked about in this post.
Comment by AnonW | January 27, 2019 |