Train takes the strain as rail network used to move vital supplies

Freight train

A million tonnes of critical supplies are being moved every week on the West Coast mainline during the coronavirus crisis.

Every 24 hours throughout the crisis,188,000 tonnes of critical supplies – including food, fuel and medicine – are being moved by rail between London, Birmingham, Manchester, Liverpool and Glasgow.

Most of the supplies are being transported along the West Coast main line  – the busiest mixed-use (passenger and freight) railway in Europe, and its key spurs.

Despite passenger services reducing in recent weeks, customer demand for critical supplies has remained consistent.

Network Rail’s priority is to keep vital supply routes, notably the West Coast main line and its key arteries, open.

Tim Shoveller, managing director for North West & Central, said: “Rail freight has never mattered more than now for the people of Britain. Our job is to continue moving critical supplies where they’re needed – keeping supermarket shelves stocked, hospital medicine cupboards full, power stations fuelled.

“Our frontline ‘key workers’, including signallers, control room staff and track engineers are the hidden heroes in this national team effort. They are helping NHS medics to save lives and keeping shop shelves stocked, and I’m proud of them.”

Trains carry biomass from Liverpool docks to the Drax power station in Yorkshire, as well as petrol from Scotland to Dalston in Cumbria and from Humberside to Kingsbury Oil Terminal in the West Midlands.

Royal Mail trains continue to take parcels and post between Wembley and Shieldmuir, Glasgow.

As Scotland does not have any deep-sea ports, it relies on freight services through NW&C to keep its shops stocked. Every 24 hours, 18,500 tonnes of bananas, pasta, loo roll and other essentials pass over the England- Scottish border at Gretna in freight trains.

Freight companies are looking at how they can reconfigure the trains in order to get more containers per train to meet a forecast rise in demand over coming weeks and months.

Maggie Simpson, director general of Rail Freight Group, said: “The rail freight industry is working flat out to make sure essential supplies are available on supermarket shelves, that the lights stay on and that the warehouses have all the goods we need for online shopping.

“It is a real testament to all our staff, and those at Network Rail and across the railway for keeping up with changing demand and helping the whole of the UK in these difficult times.”

To prioritise freight and key worker journeys, a reduced timetable is currently running on the railway network.

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