CONCERNS HAVE been raised that the rail freight terminal at Wentloog, near Cardiff, could lose its rail freight as a result of the UK Government’s decision to abolish tolls on the Severn motorway bridges by the end of 2018.
The container terminal opened in 2001 with funding from the Welsh Government, Cardiff Council, Railtrack and Freightliner. It was sometimes referred to as the ‘Euro-freight terminal’, reflecting its expected use for Channel Tunnel as well as domestic freight. It has always operated with spare capacity. Currently it receives two daily trains, a Freightliner service from Southampton and a Direct Rail Services train for Tesco from Daventry.
Philippa Edmunds, Freight on Rail Manager at the Campaign for Better Transport, said: ‘The Freightliner train service from Southampton has already lost its Mode Shift Revenue Support grant from April 2017 so the removal next year of the £20 per lorry charge for crossing the Severn Crossing, equivalent to about £200,000 per year, will be a further blow and will make it even more challenging for the rail service to compete with lorries’.
Lindsay Durham, Freightliner Group’s head of rail strategy, said the abolition of Severn tolls would have an impact on rail’s competitive position. Asked whether the abolition placed the Wentloog terminal’s future in jeopardy, she said: ‘Freightliner will do everything it can to maintain rail services into Wentloog terminal but the combined impact of the loss of Mode Shift Revenue Support grant in 2017 and the reduction to lorry costs to Wales from 2018 because of the toll abolition are not helpful in supporting this aim’.
Network Rail undertook W12 gauge enhancement work in the Severn Tunnel last year, while the tunnel was closed for electrification. Ms Durham commented: ‘In the longer term, gauge clearance on this route would support more rail freight, as it would mean that more expensive and inefficient specialist wagons would not be required, but more urgent action is also needed to support rail services in South Wales now’.
The removal of the Severn tolls for cars is likely to weaken demand for passenger rail, bus and coach services across the Severn, according to First Cymru managing director Justin Davies, who previously led FirstGroup’s extensive bus operations in Bristol, Somerset and Avon.
Rhodri Clark
