Passenger terminals and former smoke-stack sidings provide the clean, green alternative to city-wide congestion. An economical way to answer the needs of modern freight operations might be to dual-purpose passenger assets and recycle former facilities, say a panel of experts. They think customers could benefit too.
Two thirds of the population will be in urban settings by 2050, but cities do not actually produce anything, says Ed Clarke, the managing director of ground operations for logistics company FedEx, who make more use of rail freight than the city-dwelling public at large may realise.
Clarke was addressing an online seminar earlier this week, organised by London City legal specialists Addleshaw Goddard and the Rail Freight Group. He says smarter use of rail could get packages into city centres quicker and more reliably.
Current policy, says Clarke, pushes logistics hubs further and further on to the outskirts of cities, meaning more delivery vehicles are on the roads than he would like. Opening up cargo space on the rails could have a huge impact on congestion, he says. The theory goes that shorter last-mile routes means less delivery vehicles are need to fulfil customer demands.
Two answers are already under trail and consideration. FedEx is trialing a rail connection from the Milan’s Malpensa airport to the city centre. Meanwhile, RailFreight.com reported at the end of last year about plans to bring light goods containers into Liverpool Street station in London, in a modern iteration of the parcels service that was once ubiquitous around the country.