FCP believes that all feasibility studies about the provision of infrastructure for freight services must be based on a thorough understanding of the market demand for each segment of the freight market.
We offer experts in a range of fields who have the background skills to forecast demand over the long life cycle required for investment in railway infrastructure and the equipment needed to run services.
Once the market in a given area is defined within suitable probabilities the nature of the product needed to produce a profitable outcome can be assessed.
The standardisation of equipment and choice of product made by the majority of licensed operators has meant that point-to-point services are designed to operate with high payloads although some secondary distribution has been found to be possible by using the resources deployed on trunk services to provide some local trips to private sidings.
FCP believes the status quo fails to recognise the operating cost characteristics of the freight multiple unit, which is closely related to road haulage operations. A key benefit of the FMU, like its passenger equivalent, is the ability to use simplified infrastructure. There is no need for an engine run round facility and the trains can like lorries be easily repositioned to carry a return load.
