Levelling Up Freight
This project was one of the winners in the First Of A Kind 2022 competition run by Innovate UK.
In this document, this is said about the project.
Project No: 10037240
Project title: Levelling Up Freight
Lead organisation: 3SQUARED LTD.
Project grant: £393,271
Public description:
Background
Rail freight is vital to Britain. It contributes almost £2.5bn to the economy and plays a big part in reducing congestion and emissions. Rail is more environmentally friendly than road, with every tonne of freight transported by rail producing 76% less emissions compared to road (RDG “Levelling Up Britain” 2021). The green benefits of rail freight are being driven heavily by the DfT with incentive schemes such as Modal Shift Revenue Support (MSRS) – a £20m grant, which
freight carriers can bid for a share of to support modal shift to rail.
Despite widescale use of MSRS, finding new freight routes for additional trains is challenging because:
- Road haulage is seen as easier and more accessible than rail freight, especially at short
notice, for short journeys and for single containers. - Highways are less regulated with no significant barriers to commercial participation, and
therefore are free to use the latest technologies to develop and evolve solutions at a faster
pace. - Railway planning systems and processes limit the availability and visibility of freight paths
(slots in the timetable which can accept a freight train) resulting in under-utilisation of
network capacity.
Our innovative freight planning solution (PathPlanner) will make the use of rail for freight as
accessible and easy to use as the road network. PathPlanner is specifically designed to overcome
the current operational challenges and blockers that make moving to rail prohibitive.
Proof-of-Concept Demonstration
In 2021, NR completed a £17m upgrade around Southampton to enable longer trains in/out of the docks. Completing April 2023, Solent Stevedores is investing c.£3m to strengthen their capability to receive and dispatch longer and more trains – from 9 to 16 per day.
However, NR’s business case did not include any understanding of capacity in/out of the port, so
Solent Stevedores is currently unsighted as to how, or if, they can find the additional paths.
There are significant gains to be made if they can; 7 extra trains equate to:
- £12.6m additional revenue p.a.
- A reduction of 55,000 HGVs.
- A reduction of carbon by 1,165 tonnes.
Our project will demonstrate a Proof-of-Concept solution at Southampton Docks that will facilitate
Solent Stevedores, and Eddie Stobart Logistics (ESL) – 2 off our project partners – to find additional
freight paths and transfer containers from HGVs to trains.
My Thoughts And Conclusions
As I programmed scheduling and resource allocation systems for forty years, I am probably one of the most experienced programmers at writing this type of system.
That experience suggests that their objectives are possible.
The Anonymous Widower 
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From a study done some years ago in the USA to compare damage by vehicles came up with a formula to estimate this; Change in damage = (W1/W2))^4 so a 44 tonne truck (6 axils) does 46,273 times more than a 2 tonne car (2 axils). See:- https://www.insidescience.org/news/how-much-damage-do-heavy-trucks-do-our-roads
If all HGV loads could be moved to rail, the road maintenance would be cut to almost zero. Just think of how much this would save money used to maintain the roads.
Comment by Ben | November 17, 2022 |
Interesting!
I used to live near the A14 Ipswich and Felixstowe road and over the last thirty years, the number of trucks has decreased significantly on that road, as more and more trains and better rail infrastructure has been installed. I wonder if Suffolk County Council’s road repair bill on that stretch of road has reduced.
It would be a very simple investigation, as all trucks from Felixstowe to anywhere else have to use the A14.
Comment by AnonW | November 17, 2022 |
From a study done meny years ago in the USA to compair dramage by vehicals came up with a formular to estimate this; Change in damage = (W1/W2))^4 so a 44 tonne truck (6 axils) does 46,273 times more than a 2 tonne car (2 axils). See:- https://www.insidescience.org/news/how-much-damage-do-heavy-trucks-do-our-roads
If all HGV loads could be moved to rail, the road maintenance would be cut to almost zero. Just think of how much this would save money used to maintain the roads.
Comment by Ben | November 18, 2022