Post by Rail

[Greenback]

It was after privatisation, i think it was back early 2000 or something, something to do with a dispute between the management over the costs will have to have a look through my back issues or rail, sure there was article in them at the time.

That does ring a bit of a bit of a bell somewhere in the furthest corners of my mind!

I think by then Royal Mail had more or less already decided to get out of rail and were looking for ways and reasons to do so.

 

[ChrisCooper]

I think EWS did play a big part in the loss of mail on rail. I don't think it helped that they bought totally unsuitable locos for the service, i.e the 67s. They were based on providing a 125mph (where line speed permitted) network but were too heavy to run at that speed so provided little benefit but increased costs (purchase price had to come from somewhere).
Another big factor was Hatfield, which caused serious delays to rail in general, so annoyed RM and made air and road far more attractive (both might suffer occasional delays, but not delays for weeks).

The one I often wonder is if there is a market for International Mail, especially if as others have said other carriers are included. I think it would be nice to see International/Long Distance Domestic high speed containerised freight in general, competing with both air and road.

I think it could very much be a market for a UK compatable Traxx. Loco haulage would be superior to units because of the flexability (trains could be made up to length required, instead of being fixed formation or having whole units sitting around), simplicity of stock (everything below the floor leaving floor up as 100% cargo carrying space, plus individual vehicles much cheaper to build helping the flexability) and the fact that if a train is split on route then local locos can haul portions reducing staff training costs and reducing complexity (especially if portions go off the core high speed network).

 

[andyfrommk]

Clearly, there is no way you could compete with road with the old system of stopping at every couple of stations to throw on a few bags of mail. It has to be a full train, with on ward road distribution frm the hub

In the early 90's a train made up of GUVs used to stop at Bletchley in the evening on what is now platform one, heading north, and the mail from several RM artics was transferred to it from what is now a bike/motorcycle shed.

I don't have a picture of it but I do have a picture of several BRUTEs lined up neatly on the platform just visible behind the picture of the NSE liveried class 86.

This seems to be in addition to the north facing bay platform which also housed a regular rake of GUVs (visible in the picture with a DVT about to spoil the shot).

 

[bluenoxid]

So you dont think there is a market for bulk delivery of presorted "palletised" mail between selected distribution locations? What about all of that Amazon stuff that goes by Royal Mail, or all the business mail? GBRF must hate running the London-Warrington-Scotland service then

The services dont need to be varried much. You just run between the distribution locations. I understand there are problems with diversions, but you must be alble to carry more mail in a train load then in a fleet of lorries. How much post can you move from London to Aberdeen, say, by air?

Clearly, there is no way you could compete with road with the old system of stopping at every couple of stations to throw on a few bags of mail. It has to be a full train, with on ward road distribution frm the hub

Oh, there is a market but a train has to be filled regularly but there are only a few flows where that can be guaranteed. The question that you should be asking is how much mail is being transport between London and Aberdeen, not the transport it is going out via. You are introducing a new form of mail carriage (which a pallet would be for Royal Mail) and something else that has to be sorted. A pallet is not self propelled, which makes it an even bigger pain in the rear to shift round a Mail Centre built for Yorks.

The quickest way to get it back to rail would be swapbodies but this would need to be quick to beat a lorry, which is already rolling on to a quick Motorway.

 

[TheBoyFromTheN]

nice 325 sitting in DON sidings.... shame!

 

[radamfi]

What happened to the Royal Mail EMUs that were built just before privatisation that have a Networker front?

Is a lot of post still carried by rail in other European countries?

 

[ainsworth74]

What happened to the Royal Mail EMUs that were built just before privatisation that have a Networker front?

One of them is OOU and being scavenged for spare parts. The rest are still in service hauling mail up the WCML.

 

[Bonemaster]

The only way to get serious amounts of mail back onto the railways is like this http://www.phantasrail.co.uk/arcphotos/01202-2700au.jpg on a piggyback service as used to run in the 1990s, would reduce the costs of having to be build a network around the new hubs, other than to have a suitable area to unload the trailer for onwards movement by road to the sorting office