Page:The Reshaping of British Railways (Beeching Report).pdf/146

 After addition of collection and delivery costs, estimated direct costs per capacity ton are:—

Direct rail costs per capacity ton

Road costs per capacity ton

Margin in favour of rail

10-ton container

16-ton container

16-ton container

10-ton container

16-ton container

Miles

As will be seen, except for the 10-ton container moved 100 miles, Liner Train costs compare favourably with capacity ton costs for the largest road vehicles at present permitted.

Recognising that tonnage capacity cannot always be fully used and that some empty running may occur at times, both on road and rail, comparisons of 75 per cent. and 50 per cent. utilisations of rail capacity with 80 per cent. and 60 per cent. utilisations of road capacity, follow:—

75 per cent. Rail Utilisation v. 80 per cent. Road Utilisation

Miles

100

200

300

Margin in favour of rail per ton

Direct rail cost per ton

Road cost 16-ton vehicle per ton

10-ton container

16-ton container

10-ton

16-ton

S. d.

S. d.

S. d.

S. d.

S. d.

27 0 21 0 23 9 3 3 2 9

29 9 23 6 40 0 10 3 16 6

32 0 26 6 55 6 23 6 29 0

50 per cent. Rail Utilisation v. 60 per cent. Road Utilisation

100 40 6 31 6 31 9 8 9 + 3

200 44 6 35 6 53 6 9 0 18 0

300 48 0 39 6 74 0 26 0 34 6

Applying these figures to the expected build up of traffic, it is estimated that the following will be the financial results:—

Year

Tonnage m.

Receipts £m.

Direct costs £m.

Contributions to systems costs £m.

1965 4 7 9 -2

1966 12 21 21 ..

1968 30 51 42 +9

1973 39 67 49 18