Intermodal railfreight in Great Britain is a way of transporting containers between ports, inland ports and terminals in England, Scotland and Wales, by using rail to do so. Initially started by British Rail in the 1960s, the use of containers that could be swapped between different modes of transport goes back to the days of the London, Midland & Scottish Railway.
The transport of containers from ship to rail is classified by the UK government as Lo-Lo traffic (lift-on, lift-off). Volumes of intermodal traffic in the United Kingdom have been rising since 1998, with an expectation of further growth in the years ahead; by 2017, railfreight was moving one in four of containers that entered the United Kingdom. However, the movement of containers through the Channel Tunnel has been labelled as disappointing, but this has suffered myriad problems such as migrant issues and safety problems. Since privatisation of the railways in the 1990s, the market has grown from one initial operator (Freightliner), to four main operators, DB Cargo, Direct Rail Services and GB Railfreight, although other entrants have tried to run intermodal trains.
Many of the older terminals opened by British Rail have closed down, with the focus on strategic rail freight interchanges (SRFIs), which will focus on a wider area or region with good onward road, or water, transport links.
History
As a transfer container service, Freightliner was set up by British Rail as a separate company, with the first train running in November 1965. It was one of the reformative ideas put forward under the aegis of Richard Beeching as part of the rationalisation of the railway network in the 1960s. The idea of trains moving containers pre-dated the Beeching cuts, with some suggestions being put forward in the 1950s when the railway was under the control of the British Transport Commission. In the 1950s, British Rail ran a Condor service (an Anglo-Scottish container train that ran on two axle-wagons). The first service of Condor containers ran in March 1959, consisting of roller-bearing flat wagons that containers could be moved on and off with ease.
Even further back, the swapping of containers between modes of transport was utilised in the 19th century, when wooden containers were used, but after the railways were grouped in 1921, the London Midland & Scottish Railway (LMS) introduced this type of system with steel and aluminium containers.
Initially, the new Freightliner service was intended for the domestic movement of freight in containers between points in the Great Britain, with 16 terminals in operation in 1968, and Southampton and Tilbury under construction. However, in 1968 a London to Paris working was started which relied upon the Dover to Dunquerke train ferry, and by 1969, the service was linked into ports with a short-sea and a deep-sea service to other countries. By the end of the 1960s, liner trains (united transport) were carrying per year. By the end of 1978, this average was . In 1969, British Rail transferred ownership of Freightliner to the National Freight Corporation, but with BR supplying the wagons and locomotives. It was returned to BR in 1978.
By 1981, Freightliner was operating to 43 terminals, 25 of their own and 18 privately used locations. In 1982, the Port of Felixstowe was despatching three daily freight trains with containers on. In 1983, a second terminal opened (Felixstowe North), and between the two terminals, the amount of containers transhipped to and from rail was about 80,000 per year (20%). When a third terminal was opened in 2013 (named Felixstowe North, with the previous one being renamed Felixstowe Central), over 40 million TEUs (twenty-foot equivalent units) with 36 daily departures carrying containers were being handled. In 1986 and 1987, several terminals were closed, including four in Scotland (Aberdeen, Clydeport [Greenock], Dundee and Edinburgh) despite the potential for long-distance services from these terminals. British Rail deemed it more efficient to load containers at Coatbridge in Glasgow, and use electric traction south on the West Coast Main Line. Before the closures, Freightliner operated 35 terminals, including ports, compared with 19 under privatisation.