Speech to Freight on Rail Conference 6 July 2005

By Keith Norman, General Secretary

The session before this was called, 'Planning, protecting and promoting rail freight'.

My union is more concerned with the latter.

We don't want to protect freight on rail - we want to expand it.
And we don't believe we will have a better opportunity than now to win support for our case.

Why do I say this?

Because two of the main political and social concerns at the moment are
· The congestion of our roads
· The state of our environment

We have a golden opportunity to say to government, 'We can help you to do something about both these burning issues - without affecting public life-styles.' This is an important point for government. If government can achieve its objectives without inconveniencing its potential voters, that is an attractive option for them.

Moving more freight to rail is in exactly this category. Without asking the public to do anything moving more freight to rail can

· reduce CO2 emissions and other pollutants in line with the government's commitments to the Kyoto protocols
 
· radically reduce heavy traffic on our major roads, thus cutting down congestion

This is why my union is mounting a campaign we call 'Who Cares?' which will involve

· lobbying politicians

· seeking the support of the public through environmental and social groups as well as
 
· utilising contacts and supporters in the business community.
 

Our campaign takes a fairly simplistic view towards the subject.
It says 'Here are the problems - carbon emissions, blocked roads, international protocols. And here is a way of solving those difficulties - moving more freight traffic to rail.

Of course, as soon as we begin to examine the issue in detail, there are those we only see problems and difficulties. This is the negative approach that we encounter only too often. The siren voices that say, 'It's too difficult. It's too complicated. It's too hard.'

ASLEF says it is not simple, but it is soluble.

There are three basic problems we need to address

· A shortage of transport hubs - the places where rail interacts with road.

· An unclear situation surrounding land which could be used to construct terminals

· Difficulties surrounding the possibility of Crossrail in London restricting freight in the capital.

All these are capable of solution - so long as the will is there. So long as we are united behind the objective.

That is ASLEF's job as we see it: creating a shared will, desire and objective.

Our new 'Who Cares?' campaign is under way.

· Next week members of ASLEF will be lobbying MPs on 13 July from 1300 in Committee Room 14. The objective of the Parliamentary lobby is to involve as many MPs as we can in support of the principle of the campaign. I invite as many of you as can make it to come along and show your support.

· We have written to two ministers, at transport and environment seeking a meeting to press our case and seeking their support.

· We have spoken to our own group of MPs who will ask questions in the House about the 'disappearance' of some of the land where further transport hubs could have been built. Some land seems to have been sold off in the process of privatisation. We must ensure that Network Rail do not sell any more land that could be useful for setting up hubs in the future. In fact, even our MPs are not even certainly as to who owns this former British Rail land.

· We have proposed to a number of supporters that we develop - jointly - information/media and schools packs for the campaign over the summer.
This would be an folder containing an A5 colour insert from each organisation picking up each one's three main points of concern, and demands, on the issue.
 
I invite you all to supply copy for an insert.

Play your part in showing how many organisations support increased freight on rail. We have so far contacted EWS (English Welsh & Scottish Railway), Freightliner Group Ltd, Network Rail, Rail Freight Group, TSSA, Transport 2000, Friends of the Earth, The Green Party, Greenpeace, Countryside Alliance, PD Ports plc, GB Railfreight and the Transport and General Workers Union.

Please join us. Show the breadth of support across campaigning groups, the industry and its employees. This makes the issue more difficult to dismiss or ignore.
 
The various solutions would presumably vary from direct government intervention to tax concessions to direct action.
 
Some organisations may want to consider tax concessions for moving to rail, or even penalties like road haulage ceilings or higher taxes or tolls on lorries on motorways.

There is a place for all views in the pack. I urge you to support this initiative and make the idea of the pack a success. Please contact ASLEF headquarters if you are willing to participate in the initiative.

Well done, it can put the issue as a major point of debate.

To show how wide we want this alliance to be, let me tell you that we've even contacted the Countryside Alliance. That's a bit of a first - which could well fox the opposition!

The proposed pack could prove a useful campaigning and publicity tool with national media, politicians, trade unions, government and freight customers - as well as a useful and welcome educational resource if we aim one of the packs at schools.
 
· We'd like to set up a successful Who Cares? website to which we could all have links.

You may have some ideas about adapting part of an existing site for this purpose. Let us know if you have? All our campaign literature is available at the union's website - aslef.org.uk.

· If you feel it would be useful to discuss the campaign's direction further, ASLEF would be happy to host such a meeting at our headquarters.

The arguments we are putting forward about pollution are self-evident.
 
· per tonne carried, rail produces around 10% of the carbon dioxide produced by road transportation

· the 73% increase in road transport between 1980 and 2002 has resulted in a 39% increase in greenhouse gas emissions from transport which now accounts for 26 per cent of total UK emissions

· road transport makes up around 21% of total man-made carbon dioxide emissions in the UK

Something needs to be done: we have the solution.

The arguments we are advancing about traffic congestion are obvious

· it costs business around £20 billion a year

· an average freight train can remove 50 HGVs journeys from our roads

· an aggregates freight train can remove 120 HGV journeys from our roads

· road traffic in total grew by 1.7 % in 2004, cars by 1.2%, LGVs by 5%, HGVs by 2.9%

You don't need figures: you just need eyes to see how blocked UK roads are becoming.

The movement of freight is the hidden part of the UK rail system. No one sees it, so we think of the railways being just the passenger side. We think it gets ignored because it isn't visible. It is our task to make it visible, to make it an issue.

The campaign to move more freight by rail can find friends in the most surprising places. We even have some sympathy from major haulage contractors and workers. They are no happier at seeing their lorries sitting on motorways than anyone else. If they could ensure a clear path for freight movement down long stretches of the UK, they would not spurn it.
 
They know there will always be a job for them after freight has reached the transport hub. Rail doesn't take goods exactly where it's wanted. There will always be a need for road traffic to take freight to its final destination.

I am optimistic that we can make a difference if we push our case now.

· The public is increasingly aware of the pollution and road congestion issues.

· The government is anxious to make progress on them without changing public life-styles.

· The industry is equipped to take up the new traffic.

· The workforce is united behind the expansion of freight traffic on rail.

· Customers can reap benefits which they may not be aware of at present.

We hope to mount a wide and popular campaign which will make a real difference to public attitudes that will result in increased freight traffic on UK railways.

With the active support of everyone at today's conference, we will do it.