Varamis Rail, the upstart start-up, is on the cusp of achieving its London ambitions. The company has intimated that it is only about a month away from extending its express logistics service into London. After attempts to move into Euston and Kings Cross, the company is set to move into Liverpool Street from May.
Liverpool Street may already be Britain’s busiest station. If Varamis has its way, it’ll be just a little bit busier still. The fledgling operator, which uses repurposed passenger electric multiple units for parcel traffic, is planning to extend its Glasgow-Birmingham operation to include London from next month.
Terminal problem solved
“Varamis intends to launch a five-night-a-week service into the heart of London,” says founder and managing director Phil Read. Already, Varamis has been looking at bringing its trains into London. The company has looked at Euston, the most obvious choice for an extension southwards of its existing Glasgow – Birmingham service.
However, those ambitions have been frustrated by capacity issues. Platform availability is at a premium. The long-term redevelopment of Euston is also a challenge, notably in connection with building HS2, the high-speed rail line between Birmingham and London. Ironically, its construction will place pressure on Euston in the next several years. A second choice of King’s Cross has also been ruled out on similar capacity issues.
Zero emissions and zero congestion
Liverpool Street has already been evaluated by Varamis Rail. The operator ran a high-profile demonstration event at the station just over a year ago. Although Liverpool Street is the busiest station in the UK, there is out-of-hours capacity, and the station has latent facilities for handling light logistics (parcels) traffic.
“Zero emissions and zero congestion is what Varamis is all about,” explained Phil Read. “We’ve already proven that Liverpool Street can handle our sort of traffic. It also sits in the heart of the City of London, which generates the customer base that needs our services. Getting that sort of freight into the city centre, by rail, is something that needs to be promoted. It’s especially relevant to London, where commerce needs reliability, without the hassle of the road infrastructure.”
Benefit logistics and wider economy
The announcement from Varamis is timely. It comes just as an unconnected group is working to bring similar light logistics into Waterloo – the station that was usurped as Britain’s busiest. That terminus also has the dormant capacity that was originally built to take light logistics – such as parcels and perishables – for the London market. It is only since the privatisation of the British railway network that such traffic has been largely abandoned.
“Varamis Rail continues to promote the sustainable benefits that the UK rail industry has to offer the logistics sector and wider economy,” said Phil Read. “Our existing service between Glasgow and Birmingham has proven that. The concept of express logistics by rail is viable. It has given an opportunity to key stakeholders not only from the logistics sector but also from the government to visualise a more sustainable method of moving high-volume goods into the heart of central London with our fleet of repurposed fully electric former passenger trains.”
The pragmatic approach of Varamis Rail is in stark contrast to the recent decision by the Royal Mail to dispense with its own fleet of electric trains. However, the UK government has a long-standing commitment to target a net-zero emissions economy by 2050. It has also mandated a rise in rail freight of at least 75% by that date. “If those targets are to be met, then ambitious, carbon-free initiatives like the Varamis Rail service are not just desirable, they are essential,” concluded Read.