Railway companies today have a myriad of challenges – from ensuring punctuality and giving a good service for passengers to managing stock and creating enough space for freight. 42 Technology aims to solve some of these challenges facing the UK supply chain – whether consumer or industrial – through its adaptable carriages that enable flexible use of passenger trains for freight transport, as 42 Technology’s Transport Sector Lead Zane van Romunde explains.
The initial idea for Adaptable Carriage originated in 2014 as a result of Jon Spratley, 42 Technology’s managing director, making his daily commute with two of the company’s other engineers from Hitchin to Huntingdon by train. The journey is the reverse of the London commute, the train was almost empty and the three engineers started talking about how the considerable spare passenger carrying capacity, particularly on off‐peak trains, could potentially be used for something more productive.
42 Technology then submitted an entry into RSSB’s ‘Tomorrow’s Train Design Today’ competition and was one of ten design teams shortlisted to receive up to £75K to fund the next stage development of its scheme. Having developed the business case for Adaptable Carriage, 42 Technology was then named as one of three overall winners to share in a £2.2M competition prize fund to continue developing its initial concept into a working, full scale prototype.
This fails to address the underlying reason why the railway parcels service ceased to be commercial. The fundamental problem for railway in the small consignments business is that the road parcels business has become very efficient gaining economies that the railway cannot reproduce. This is because of the hub-and-spoke network structure, which consolidates the hub-to-hub transfers into large vehicles travelling full; and the local delivery/collection rounds are also done full and optimised. It is called consolidation.
A small consignments service run in off-peak passenger wagons (which did used to happen not so long ago – it is why many older multiple units have an interior lockable door that allows you to lock one cabin out of use) cannot achieve these consolidation economies.
This space concept might be better utilised to accommodate cycles, passengers bringing shopping or boxes, and wheelchairs & mobility devices. Trains to airports are often jammed with luggage, so giving operators (or even passengers) the flexibility of having more floor space would be more readily adapted to the passengers and their items. Knowing space would be available for bulky items could reduce the need for some road travel.