This article is part of our In Conversation series, where we take an in-depth look at UK and global industry with leading figures. We welcomed David Cross, a leading rail freight expert and managing director of DC Consult, who talked about his role in the creation of the iPort in Doncaster, the challenges facing global freight operations and rail connectivity in Britain.
David Cross is a rail freight specialist and managing director of DC Consult, a transport consultancy group providing commercial advisory services. DC Consult supports major rail project implementations including Strategic Rail Freight Interchanges (SRFI) in the UK and across the world. SRFI’s are large, multi-purpose facilities that connect rail, road, and warehousing infrastructure to optimise the freight logistics supply chain.
“It’s probably 25 years ago where the phrase ‘Strategic Rail Freight Interchange’ was first coined,” David Cross says.
“I think it was Tony Blair’s New Labour government who were pushing Strategic Rail Freight Interchanges, but no one really got it and nothing happened. Now there’s the flagship in Doncaster at the iPort, Northampton and there’s one in the East Midlands. It’s been an incredible transformation.”
When asked about his role in developing the Doncaster iPort SRFI in 2016, Cross says:
“I helped develop the iPort. We developed that from a colliery. Even I was surprised at how quickly it worked. Phase one was full within two years. The benefits of having all those modes of transport on one site are gigantic.”
Cross says the growth of global E-commerce markets drove change:
“For a long time, the shipping companies who are big and powerful used to say, ‘my ship is coming to Felixstowe and when it gets to Felixstowe, I’m going to run a train to Leeds, I’m going to run a train to Scotland and I’m going to run a train to Manchester.’ Some of the merchants were saying, ‘well, could you run a train to Doncaster? And they would say ‘no, no, my train goes to Leeds.’ The merchants would say ‘could you run it during the night?’ No, no, the shipping companies would say ‘the train goes during the day’ and the merchants said to the market: ‘You have got to do something here.’”
Whilst the benefits of SRFIs are huge, David Cross says there are still parts of the UK rail network that hold back the industry and merchants trading goods:
“There are failures in this country and the Channel Tunnel, sadly, is pretty close to the top.
“That tunnel can take 10 trains an hour, 22 hours a day. That’s incredible, and last week, right? It did 14. It’s a shocker.
“All the things that people want from trains in this country. Electric rail, high speed, 750-meter-long trains. Everything that many parts of this country have got no access to. The channel tunnel has got access to all those things, but it only attracted 14 trains last week. That’s two a day. They could do 100 a day. That’s how bad it is.”
Cross says that, aside from issues getting goods in and out of the country, there are still issues with making internal domestic journeys, making a comparison with Europe’s much more developed rail freight network:
“European rail freight in Germany is a big beast. There are about 50 different railway companies. It’s big and it’s important. Deutsche Bahn, who are like the Network rail of Germany, have had some issues recently, but you know, the potential is there – big distances. There is more potential there because their distances are huge. Munich to Hamburg is 613 kilometres, Glasgow to London, is 555 kilometres. Trains tend to work better with a longer distance. That’s why obviously Scotland works better, because it’s a longer distance, and something else people forget is it’s two-way. Anything you take into Scotland in a container or a truck, 9 times out of 10, often gets a backload.”
David Cross indicates that empty containers create barriers to a more efficient UK rail freight system, saying:
“Empty running is becoming an issue in the intermodal world. For every 3 containers that are coming into this country, only 1.3 go out laden. Then, more importantly, it means to the container owner, which is often a shipping line, they’ve got to move an empty container from Doncaster or Manchester to Felixstowe or Southampton then out of the country. That’s probably 200 to 300 pounds. It manifests itself when shipping gets tight. The shipping lines can favour Europe, say Vienna or in-land Germany, where there is a greater chance of reloading the container with export freight or chemicals.”
Read more from our In Conversation series, where we spoke to Jeff May, Deputy Chief Executive of the Construction Product Association about pallet waste, resistance to change and their ongoing conversation with government regarding Extended Producer Responsibility Regulations.