Let's revisit piggyback

摘要

At a recent Rail Freight Group meeting, Network Rail showed some new data which demonstrates the remarkable improvement in productivity achieved by the freight sector in recent years. The chart clearly shows that the number of rail freight services operated has reduced quite significantly.This is not entirely surprising given the period of recession covered by the graph. But rail volumes, measured as 'thousand gross tonne miles'have not mirrored the trend, rising despite the train numbers staying broadly level. Comparing the two lines shows that there has been a 32% increase since 2005/06 in the gross tonne miles per train. Breaking this down further, whereas the bulks have generally reduced, intermodal traffic has grown by 60% in seven years.