Total rail freight moved has increased compared to 2017-18 in Q2, but freight lifted has dropped to its lowest level recorded in the time series, figures released by the Office of Rail and Road (ORR) have revealed.
The latest quarterly rail Freight statistics, released in December, covering the period July-September 2018 (Q2), show that non-coal rail Freight reached a record level and Intermodal and Construction both registered the highest level ever recorded (jointly with Q1 in the latter case).
The total volume of rail freight moved in 2018-19 Q2 increased by 2% compared to 2017-18 Q2 to 4.4 billion net tonne kilometres. Despite the continued fall in Coal and Oil & Petroleum, the increases in Metals, Construction and Other contributed to the overall increase.
The total amount of freight lifted in 2018-19 Q2 was 18.2 million tonnes, a decrease of 1% on the same quarter last year. This is the lowest quarterly total for freight lifted since the start of the time series in 1996-97.
Normalised freight delay in 2018-19 Q2 dropped to 11.5 minutes per 100 train kilometres, a 3% decrease compared to 2017-18 Q2.
Total freight train kilometres run was at 8.5 million kilometres, approximately the same distance travelled in 2017-18 Q2 and 2016-17 Q2.
With Metals and Petroleum steady and a 7% increase in 'Other' (which includes biomass and domestic waste), non-coal Freight rose to an all time high of 4.11bn tonne-kms. To put this is context, just over five years ago, non-coal Freight stood at 3.4bn tonne-kms and has since grown by 21%. Ten years ago the number was 2.99bn tonne-km, and there has been an impressive 37% growth over the decade.
Coal was down a further 7% on the previous year and now accounts for only 6% of UK rail Freight. By comparison, Intermodal accounts for 40% and Construction a further 27%, together providing two thirds of all rail freight. With continued growth forecast in both commodities, they are very much the future of the sector, which has undergone a remarkable transformation over the last five years. Rather than accept the inevitable decline of Coal, Rail Freight has shown resilience and enterprise in adapting to change and building new markets.