 |
|
It is difficult to understand how, three
years after EWS made a significant £50m investment in
125mph traction together with a commitment to support it
with 125mph coaching stock to meet the needs of the
Royal Mail business and with over three years remaining
of the contract that they seem fit to make alternative
arrangements integrating road and air.
|
Royal Mail claims that by withdrawing from
the railways and carrying Britain's 82m pieces of post each
day by road or air will save it £90m a year. Unions,
environmentalists and politicians have reacted with dismay,
insisting that this conflicts with the government's aim of
shifting freight off the roads to minimise motorway
congestion and pollution.
|
67010 & 67026
|
|
To date, Royal Mail has
claimed that it was only offered three options by train
operator EWS for maintaining its presence on the
railways - 66 nightly services, eight nightly trains or
22 services on container trains shared with other forms
of freight.
However, a leaked EWS document has revealed that the
company offered 37 different train plans between
September 2001 and May 2003. The options varied from six
to 94 trains per night, at speeds of up to 100mph,
serving different networks taking in London, Scotland,
Wakefield, Bristol and the Midlands.
|
|
67009 passing Cogload Junction
|
67023 passing Margam
|
|
|
|
