14 October 2011 - St Albans City & District Council

New Matters and Changes in Circumstances: Rail Freight
4.5 The 2011 RUS acknowledges major operational constraints for routing freight along
the MML in Table 9.8 (included as Appendix B to this report):
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“Interaction with intensive Thameslink service north of Carlton Road junction
on the MML”;
“Restrictions on loading gauge with 3 gauge-constrained tunnels, and numerous
bridges, between Carlton Road junction and Bedford”; and
“significant infrastructure enhancement costs involved to enable efficient
carrying of 9’6” international shipping containers on conventional wagons.”
4.6 The RUS 2011 states that “some opportunities for using the MML south section
(Carlton Road Junction – Bedford) will continue to be available following the
completion of the Thameslink programme, with two trains per hour freight paths
anticipated by the RUS in each off peak standard hour. However many of these
paths are likely to be taken up by existing domestic traffic (for example
aggregates), so options for London Gateway growth would be extremely limited,
even if this were the preferred routing to the North.” (Paragraph 9.5.12). The
available existing freight paths are 60% utilised at present and future growth in
aggregate traffic (see section 6 below) could increase utilisation of the existing off
peak freight paths to 75%.
4.7 In addition, the RUS concludes that given the gauge constraints on the MML, and
the extremely high cost and disruption caused by their resolution (above all in the
Kentish Town/Carlton Road area), an alternative routing for freight trains would
be appropriate:
‘Whilst there are potentially smaller scale opportunities to provide additional or
higher speed crossovers [on the MML] to reduce to a limited degree the
interaction between MML freight and Thameslink services this is not sufficient to
change the conclusion that an alternative routing strategy, generally involving
the WCML, is preferred.” (Paragraph 9.5.12).
4.8 The statement contained in the quotation above clearly establishes that the prime
freight route to the Midlands, the north of England and Scotland is the WCML. This
is because its gauge is appropriate to the type of traffic (9’6” containers); it has
good connections to a variety of routes to and from the ports; it is electrified; and
freight terminals have been developed close to the WCML.
4.9 The RUS is fully consistent with the emerging picture of freight paths following the
opening of the proposed HS2 to the West Midlands, in that the WCML has the
necessary gauge and capacity to accommodate the expected traffic in line with
the commercial aspirations of freight operators and freight services continue to be
will be concentrated on the WCML. The MML will continue its current role of
handling existing domestic freight traffic using the existing 2 trains per hour
freight paths past the Radlett site in each off peak hour which is compatible with
the future Thameslink service.
4.10 The RUS includes formal publication, for the first time (Table 5.2 and included as
Appendix C to this report) of the indicative services for Thameslink in 2018 with 24
trains per hour through the core Central London section in the peak periods, and
16 trains per hour on the MML past the Radlett site. At the time of the Inquiry,
only an “indicative picture of their [Thameslink] aspirations” was available in
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