of flows which utilise the freight terminals in the area.
6DfT The Future of Transport White Paper 2004 7Network Rail Freight RUS 2007
For example, the north Trans-Pennine route (Manchester to Leeds via Huddersfield) is of W8 loading gauge, whereas the alternative routes via the Calder Valley and Hope Valley are only W7.
The majority of the local network is made up of two track railway (the main exception being the Piccadilly – Stockport corridor), with few passing loops. The inflexibility caused by this infrastructure, along with the combination of operating high speed long-distance/inter-urban services and local stopping trains, can result in performance problems when freight services are integrated into this mix of operations.
Future developments
Facilitate containerised access to Greater Manchester
Investments being made to enhance specific sections of the national rail network to W10 gauge (Southampton to the West Coast Mainline) will enable ports to remain competitive and ensure that container movements continue to grow. As a result, this is likely to ensure that Trafford Park continues to play an important role as a hub for the North West. It should also be noted that the electrification programmes in the North West and between Manchester and Leeds will create new routes of higher loading gauge for future container traffic.
The latest Network Rail Route Utilisation Strategy documents (and in particular the West Coast RUS) are very clear that additional freight capacity will be provided by longer/heavier trains and a six day week operation. Intermodal trains could potentially increase in length from their current maximum of 540 metres, to 640 or 740 metres (although this could absorb more timetable capacity). Furthermore, the DfT’s Strategic Freight Network makes it clear that multi-modal traffic is where the major growth
is expected. As a result of this, the freight terminals at Trafford Park (and also the proposed development at Port Salford) are likely to see major increases in the number of trains/boxes handled. Each box is likely to result in at least one further HGV journey to complete the ‘final leg’.
Facilitate containerised access to Trafford Park
The Northern Hub project and the improvements that it would deliver on the Piccadilly – Deansgate corridor will be essential if further freight paths are required in the future. The remit of the Hub study includes within its objectives, doubling the capacity into Trafford Park (to two off-peak paths per hour) and also providing capacity for new freight terminals that could be opened in the future.
There is also the possibility that in the future some Liverpool – Manchester passenger services may be diverted from the former CLC line (via Warrington Central), onto the Chat Moss line where there is more spare timetable capacity. If this was to happen, it could affect the ability to accommodate additional freight services into the timetable as well, although the Northern Hub aims to resolve this issue by providing two paths per hour between the West Coast Mainline and the Port of Liverpool.
Facilitate containerised access to Port Salford
The proposed development at Port Salford will be rail connected and is likely to lead to additionally generated movements by rail, particularly from the intermodal market.
Furthermore, Port Salford will potentially play an important role, alongside Trafford Park in accomodating the predicted growth in rail freight that has been forcast. The development of this scheme could potentially see the site evolve into an open access terminal, not only for intermodal traffic, but with complimentary industries locating nearby.
With this in mind it is important for the scheme to be supported locally, given the potential benefits to the local economy and employment market that it could deliver. The ability to provide sufficient train paths will be dependent on available capacity on the Chat Moss line. It is envisaged that capacity will be provided for up to 16 train paths per day to/ from Earlestown for access to the West Coast Mainline (WCML). Therefore, it is important that any future development of the timetable takes these requirements into consideration. The site will also have eastern access to Chat
Moss, and could therefore be accessed through the Piccadilly – Castlefield Junction corridor. There are aspirations to upgrade the Chat Moss route between the Port of Liverpool and the West Coast Mainline via Earlestown to allow W10 gauge containers to be
transported to/from the port, to encourage the development of container movements to/from the Port of Liverpool. Whilst there is currently no funding in place for this scheme to be delivered, future electrification of the Chat Moss route would present an ideal opportunity to carry out this work at the same time. A lot of the same structures (e.g. bridges) that would need to be modified for gauge clearance are likely to require alterations anyway to accommodate the overhead line equipment.
Containerised access: Ocean Gateway
The Port of Liverpool are currently progressing a project to create a deep sea berth, thus allowing it to become the only port on the West coast with the ability to accommodate the world’s largest container ships, known as ‘Post-Panamax’. Port Liverpool forms only a part of Peel Holdings Ocean Gateway Project, which is the collective term for a number of schemes along the full length of the Manchester Ship Canal, aimed at attracting overseas investment. Other schemes include Port Salford, Port Warrington, Port Liverpool, and Ince Resource Recovery Park. As with other schemes, the delivery of the improvements to the Port of Liverpool could lead to the possibility of new onward freight flows being created to/from Liverpool, which could be routed both Trans-Pennine (therefore via Manchester) and also on the Chat Moss line, then onto the West Coast Mainline (WCML). For these suggested new flows to become a reality, it would require gauge enhancement of certain sections of the respective routes.
Bulk freight capacity and access
The Network Rail Northern RUS consultation document considers several timetable options that involve the provision of
additional capacity on Manchester – Sheffield passenger services. The implication of this for rail freight could be that there is less capacity for running daytime bulk freight trains on the Hope Valley, (depending on the option taken forward). One proposed solution to this potential problem to provide additional freight loops in the Hope Valley. This is anticipated to be delivered in CP5.
The development of a domestic waste incinerator at Runcorn (anticipated to open by 2013) will offer an alternative site for the disposal of domestic waste generated within Greater Manchester. This could lead to a change in current freight movements if the Runcorn site is used for Greater Manchester domestic waste, with trains routed via Northwich which could have impacts on Manchester – Chester (Northern) passenger services.
A further derived fuel power plant is planned at Ince which also will be connected to the rail network and which could attract rail flows through Greater Manchester. Movement of waste from neighbouring authority areas is not as well advanced as the current operation in GM and any moves to move waste by rail from areas such as Merseyside or further afield could lead to the creation of further flows through Greater Manchester.
A further key area in growth in bulk flows is anticipated through the Hope Valley corridor as companies owning the Peak District quarries concentrate on the larger sites with rail connections (e.g. Peak Forest, Tunstead) and increase the volumes in movements of aggregates.
Other growth and capacity issues
Finally, the possibility of a further freight terminal at Parkside near Newton-Le- Willows is another potential development. The opening of this site could lead to some new freight movements on the Chat Moss Line, both from Manchester and Liverpool although it could lead to the abstraction of some freight handling from Trafford Park. Whilst the status of this project is not clear, the possibility of another developer taking it forward cannot be discounted.
Conclusions
The main problems that will affect the ability to maintain future rail freight growth can be summarised as follows:
1) A consequence of future growth in rail freight is likely to be an increase in lorry movements to/from freight terminals – there is a need to ensure that there is sufficient capacity on the highway network to accommodate this. One example of this would be at Trafford Park, particularly at weekends (when the Trafford Centre is at its busiest) if freight develops into a 6/7 day a week operation. 2) On some of the main freight corridors
(e.g. WCML – Trafford Park) there is insufficient capacity to satisfy the demands of both the passenger and freight operators.
3) On some freight corridors there are the same capacity conflict issues between passenger and freight during the off
peak (e.g. on the Hope Valley where movements of aggregates between Manchester and the Peak District are more likely to increase in the future if there was a standard hour freight path - as opposed to the current situation where freight has to share a path in alternate hours with a passenger service).
Strategic options
14. Ensure there is adequate timetable capacity on the local network to not only maintain existing rail freight volumes but also to accommodate future growth. 15. Support the development of both
existing local freight terminal schemes in the future and associated industrial developments that may evolve as a result of new rail connected facilities.