Rail freight could transform North East Scotland
Aberdeen, Inverness, Peterhead and Fraserburgh (CNER) Source CNER
Incorporating freight will make a new route in North East Scotland viable and economically regenerate the region. Rebuilding lines to the coastal communities of Fraserburgh and Peterhead will open up new markets to Aberdeen and beyond. That’s the Campaign for North East Rail plan, which is lobbying for old lines to be reinstated as part of a transport network fit for the twenty-first century.
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40 years ago I looked after the intermodal crane at Elgin for PD Stirling’s Speyside-Glasgow malt whisky traffic
With local rules HGV, each driver & tractor could lift 4-5 trailers/day vs 2 days for 1 trailer to Glasgow
Operationally its now back on road but with trunk & local drivers
Potentially with Speyside Rly reaching A95/Grantown could this restart as a rail traffic option again
So many examples I’ve logged where waste of driver & truck resources makes this case clearly
DM me for more
PS on previous note – the Malt Whisky & timber flows might also have an option to re-start operation of Dufftown-Keith as principally a freight line with an overlaid tourist traffic to sample the Whisky Trail
With drivers not held up loading & unloading, 25 mile max trips & no overnights AFH a big bonus for workers
I’d note also that the gap Dufftown-Grantown similar to Airdrie-Bathgate, & wayleave also largely preserved by cycle route!
Long haul HGV operation is so inefficient & wasteful, UK logistics was propped up by EU27 operators (trucks & drivers) taking cabotage work, especially the land bridge Ireland-Europe traffic, now almost 100% sailing load only direct from Co Cork
I spoke to driver of 18T truck in Glasgow 4+hr trip from Cheshire with 3 drops, & 6+hrs working as labourer to unload &c, 2-day job, empty return vs 1 x 20′ box & local dispersals, some with 3.5T vans
Big hauliers (eg WHMalcolm) = 80% trunk now on rail