The Anonymous Widower

Royal Mail Rolling Back The Years To Put More Post On Trains

The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on The Daily Telegraph.

This is the sub-title.

Post transported by train will treble under plan to ditch planes and lorries.

These are some points from the article.

• They are in discussion with Network Rail.
• Roughly 4pc to 5pc of Britain’s mail is transported on the railways.
• Keith Williams is executive Chairman of Royal Mail and also was the independent chair of the recent Government-supported Rail Review.
• One of the aims of the strategy is to rescue the share price.
• Royal Mail are building some fully-automated parcel-hubs, with the first two at Warrington and Northampton.

I have some further thoughts.

The Warrington Parcel Hub

This appears to be at the Omega Business Park on the closed RAF Burtonwood airfield.

This Google Map shows Warrington.

Note.

1. The M62 running across the map in an East-West direction.
2. The two junctions on the M62 are 8 and 9, with junction 8 to the West and junction 9 to the East.
3. The Omega Business Park is on both sides of the M62 to the West of Junction 8.
4. Royal Mail appear to have three sheds to the South of the motorway.
5. Amazon, Asda, Hermes, The Hut Group and others have sheds in the Omega Business Park.
6. The red arrow indicates the location of Royal Mail’s Warrington Rail Terminal, where mail services between London and Scotland call.

This second Google Map shows Royal Mail’s Warrington Rail Terminal in more detail.

Note.

1. The West Coast Main Line runs North-South to the West of the terminal.
2. It looks to be a cramped site.
3. I doubt that Royal Mail would want to transfer parcels between the rail terminal and the parcel hub, because of the number of trucks involved and the carbon they will generate.
4. They could use Hydrogen or battery trucks, but that would be a considerable expense.

Perhaps the best thing to do, would be to bore a tunnel.

• It’s about six kilometres.
• Electric shuttles would be zero-carbon.
• Everything could be highly-automated.
• No drivers would be needed.

It would probably cost less to run.

Royal Mail At Northampton

Where the Northampton Loop Line meets the West Coast Main Line between Rugby and Northampton, there is a massive logistics park, which is shown in this Google Map.

Note.

1. There are at least three Royal Mail sites here.
2. One at the top of the map is labelled Royal Mail NDC NEW SITE.
3. One at the bottom of the map is labelled Royal Mail National Distribution Centre.
4. There is a rail connection.

This must be a very large investment for Royal Mail.

Further Parcel Hubs

No further hubs are mentioned in the article. But I’m sure, that the systems at Warrington and Northampton could be replicated.

The East Coast, Great Western And Midland Main Lines

I suspect, when these lines are fully electrified, they could be brought into the system.

A Hub At Calais

Why not?

Conclusion

It looks a good plan and one that can be realised.

May 6, 2022 - Posted by AnonW | Transport/Travel | Automation, Decarbonisation, Freight, Royal Mail, Warrington, West Coast Main Line, Williams Review