Tesco Rail - Could They Lower Emissions Further?

[Scotrail344Lad]

So, I was doing a bit of research into Tesco's Rail sector and they have a service running from England To Scotland (Mossend or Coatbridge).

But, Then the containers bound for Inverness & Aberdeen Get sorted and put on to respective trains.

The rail freight hubs are around 20 miles from Tesco's Scottish distribution centre near Bathgate.

Tesco could cut down on emissions by transporting goods directly to a new facility just next to their distribution centre, as the Bathgate line runs almost directly past it.

So, Instead of the train bound for Scotland terminating near Glasgow, they could offload northbound freight there and then run a train up to Bathgate.

Let me know what you think.

 

[snookertam]

Possibly, but they’d also be looking at costs. The distances covered between Coatbridge and Aberdeen/Inverness probably makes the rail operation viable for them, whereas the short distance to Bathgate likely doesn’t.

They obviously do make big play of their less CO2 aspect of their distribution by using rail, but in reality this will likely be a secondary concern to making sure their distribution is cost effective. If it was too much of a cost burden for them, they would likely not do it at all.

 

[pokemonsuper9]

Currently most of the Tesco trains run with either bi-mode Class 88s, or diesel Class 68s (or both) for the West Coast portion, with Class 66s taking them further to Inverness.

If more services were operated by class 88s instead of 68s up the West Coast that would be a reduction in diesel use.

 

[Scotrail344Lad]

Indeed.

 

[edwin_m]

I think they'd have to reverse somewhere to get between Bathgate and either WCML southwards or a route northwards. That would add quite a bit to transit times.

 

[zwk500]

Tesco could cut down on emissions by transporting goods directly to a new facility just next to their distribution centre, as the Bathgate line runs almost directly past it. So, Instead of the train bound for Scotland terminating near Glasgow, they could offload northbound freight there and then run a train up to Bathgate.

Let me know what you think.

Unfortunately, as @edwin_m says the structure of the rail network at either end means that freight would need to reverse on busy suburban commuter lines or take very indirect 'loops' to avoid the reversals.

From Bathgate, a train can only access Glasgow Queen Street Low Level or the City Union line to the west, and Edinburgh Waverley or the 'Sub' (Suburban) line avoiding Waverly to the east.

Therefore to achieve the routing you suggest would need the train to call Mossend/Coatbridge, run on to the Edinburgh and Glasgow line via Falkirk Grahamston, and then either do a loop of Edinburgh or runround at Millerhill Yard.
Alternatively, the northbound train could turn left at Gretna and run via Dumfries and Kilmarnock to take the City Union line avoiding Glasgow Central to call at Bathgate, but then the train has to either run on to Edinburgh to turn back or retrace its route back towards Paisley. Several portions of this route are not electrified and may not be gauge cleared for container traffic.

All of this is likely less carbon efficient than running the existing routing with electric traction and then having a fleet of electric lorries at the north end to shuttle containers to Bathgate.

 

[Scotrail344Lad]

True