The Rail Freight Group is a company which lobbies on behalf of its members "to promote cost effective rail solutions for freight. Our members include customers, logistics providers, suppliers, terminal operators, ports and freight train operating companies." On May 22 2009 it published a paper 'A High Carbon Olympics at Stratford?'

The Executive summary says:

Although rail freight has carried a good proportion of bulk materials for the Stratford Olympic site, there appears to be no ODA policy on sustainability which requires suppliers of other materials which can satisfactorily be carried by rail to do so. A state-of-the-art logistics terminal on site has been built but, for the Olympics to gain the full sustainability benefit from it, the ODA and its delivery contractor must specify the use of rail connected consolidation centres around the country to link with this terminal.

Experience on other major projects such as Heathrow T5 has demonstrated the cost and environmental benefit of such an arrangement.

We estimate that, with this use of rail, deliveries to the Stratford site could be reduced by 50%, from an estimated 600 to 300 trucks a day at peak, and by 800,000 road deliveries overall. Rail freight produces five times fewer emissions compared with road, so such a saving would be a major contribution to restoring the ‘green’ image of the 2012 Olympics.

We challenge the ODA to get real with its sustainable transport policy, which will be meaningless unless it achieves the kind of environmental benefit which these savings represent The ODA must be proactive in identifying consolidation centres and insisting that suppliers use them.

The report later asks:

What will happen if rail is not used?

Daily truck movements into and out of the site are forecast by CLM, the Olympic Delivery contractor, to peak at around 500 trucks a day, although with delays to the programme and for other reasons this figure is likely to increase. Restrictions on night time deliveries around the site mean that these all have to take place between 0800 and 1800. There will be some 9,000 workers on the site at peak, and some of these will use their cars, adding further to the congestion around the site.

This is all likely to expose the frailty of the local Boroughs’ roads and, no doubt at some stage, there will be pressure on local authorities to allow 24 hour a day deliveries to ‘keep the Games on programme’, something unlikely to be necessary if the ODA implemented a rail delivery plan quickly.

The report can be read at:A High Carbon Olympics at Stratford?

See also: Prescott Lock project runs aground