The Transfer of Freight From Road To Rail In The Tees
Valley
Teesport is the country's second largest port by
annual volume of cargo handled. Several cargoes, steel,
potash, containers and passenger cars already use
the direct rail links from the port out onto the Tees
Valley rail line.
Planned expansion at PD Teesport, to develop a deep
sea container port, will bring advantages of :
increased local employment of up to 5,500 direct
and indirect jobs
regional economic growth through increased distribution
and retailer interest in using this Northern Gateway
the national benefit from the expected shift of
900,000 container movements from the roads to the
sea
Instead of bringing all our freight destined for
the Midlands and the North in through Southern ports
and up through the country on our congested road network,
the movement in freight to sea and rail will cut hundreds
of thousands of "food miles" currently travelled.
PD sees the key issues to supporting freight growth
on rail as being twofold: network capacity in terms
of path availability and the gauge issue.
Network capacity -
PD Teesport will be interested to note the outcome
of Network Rail’s Utilisation Strategy (RUS) work,
currently being undertaken. It is crucial that current
paths available to freight are maintained and not
eroded by demands for passenger services.
Gauge – In order to
accommodate increasing amounts of container freight,
options include the viability or otherwise of upgrade
of the rail gauge to at least W10 or W12 to allow
the carrying of modern high cube containers, or possible
use of low profile wagons.
The Northern Way's assessment of rail freight needs,
set out in The Northern Way's First Growth Strategy
Report (September 2004) is that investment is needed
in "improving access to the North's sea ports. As
part of a National Port Strategy this will reduce
pressure on the road and rail routes serving the South's
sea ports."
These issues are clearly linked to the need for better
rail freight capacity for the Tees Valley and onward
via the East Coast Main Line (ECML) to the markets in
the Midlands and Scotland.
