404
Views
1
CrossRef citations to date
0
Altmetric
Theme: The future of Britain's Privatized Railway System

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

Pages 321-328 | Published online: 01 Jul 2013
 

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.

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.

Log in via your institution

Log in to Taylor & Francis Online

PDF download + Online access

  • 48 hours access to article PDF & online version
  • Article PDF can be downloaded
  • Article PDF can be printed
USD 53.00 Add to cart

Issue Purchase

  • 30 days online access to complete issue
  • Article PDFs can be downloaded
  • Article PDFs can be printed
USD 435.00 Add to cart

* Local tax will be added as applicable

Related Research

People also read lists articles that other readers of this article have read.

Recommended articles lists articles that we recommend and is powered by our AI driven recommendation engine.

Cited by lists all citing articles based on Crossref citations.
Articles with the Crossref icon will open in a new tab.