‘Failing to deliver’—the privatized British rail freight industry

Abstract

Since rail privatization the performance of passenger services has received considerable publicity and comment, but that of the rail freight industry has received scant attention. The freight operators, industry planners and regulators, and governments have proclaimed it a ‘success story’ and advanced ambitious growth targets. This paper evaluates the overall performance of rail freight and argues it has been, at best, disappointing. The projected growth figures for rail freight are wildly optimistic.

Keywords:

• Evaluation
• freight
• privatization
• railways

Notes

^* Trainload Freight concentrated on the ‘trainload’ markets, largely dealing with ‘individual customers…under contract; customers send full trainloads of commodities, principally coal, metals, petroleum and aggregates, from private siding to private siding in a single train movement’ (Butcher, 2012, p. 3).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Sean McCartney

Sean McCartney is Professor of Accounting and Business History, Queen Mary, University of London, UK.

John Stittle

John Stittle is Senior Lecturer in Accounting, Essex Business School, University of Essex, Colchester, UK.