THE LINER TRAIN
The description 'Liner Train' is applied to a conception of transport based upon joint use of road and rail for door-to-door transport of containerised merchandise, with special purpose, through-running, scheduled trains providing the trunk haul. It is envisaged as the future method for handling those flows of traffic, which are composed of consignments too small in themselves to make trainloads, but which aggregate beavy regular flows sufficient to support one or more trains per day.
Broad Outline of Method
The advantages of the Railway are in the disciplined, safe, rapid movement of large tonnages at low cost. These advantages have generally been outweighed, firstly by the slow discharge of wagons, and secondly by the delays and damage inherent in collecting wagons in marshalling yards. The idea underlying the Liner Train is to by-pass both these obstacles to speed and economy. The expensive chassis of the wagon will no longer be marshalled, or be detained while goods are handled. Terminal delays will affect only the body.
The Liner Train then is a train of chassis which will remain continuously coupled. It will cater for the longer distance traffics and will run to a strict timetable calling for high utilisation of the stock. It will carry containers and, when fully loaded, it will have a gross load of 680 tons and a payload of 360 tons. The speed will be a maximum of 75 and an average of 50 miles an hour.
By their combination of speed, reliability in all weathers, freedom from damage or pilferage, and convenience of service, Liner Trains will surpass anything known by rail or road.
Potential Traffic
The Liner Train aims primarily to capture full load traffic not on rail, and to handle remuneratively traffics which are at present carried at a loss on rail.
The traffic studies show that about 16 m. tons a year of freight which is on road would be suitable for rail if the right conditions for conveyance could be created. The traffic is of the right physical nature and it moves in heavy and regular flows between a limited number of places and over sufficiently large distances. The conditions which must apply are speed, reliability, minimum handling and immunity from loss and damage, coupled with rates at a level acceptable to the customer and remunerative to the Railway.
The assessment of the potential tonnage is judged to be conservative. It includes only traffics which have been identified so far by examination of the individual flows of traffic in the 93 m. tons initially judged to be favourable to rail. A more thorough-going examination of 130 m. tons rejected as unsuitable for rail haul by traditional means may lead to some addition to the 16 m. tons identified so far.
To the tonnage which may be drawn on to rail can be added about 10 to 12 m. tons of existing wagonload rail traffic. Much of it originates at private sidings and is consigned to stations. Most of this is unremunerative at present, but will
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