It’s the mid-1980s. Despite the trauma of the still-recent Miners’ Strike, coal is still ‘king’ for British Rail’s Railfreight sector. Coal from pits and ports to power stations provides much of the sector’s income and there’s no sign of that changing for the foreseeable future. Other traditional heavy industries such as steel, petrochemicals and construction are in long-term decline but still provide the railway with tens of millions of tonnes of traffic every year.
But the picture is far from rosy. Beyond the intensive merry-go-round (MGR) coal circuits, much of Railfreight’s operation is inefficient and loss-making, and depends on a diverse fleet of ageing and unreliable locomotives, many of which date back to the early 1960s.
“The Government was keen to ensure that British suppliers benefited as much as possible”