A better joined-up railway with strong incentives to accommodate rail freight growth is a key requirement, according to the freight sector’s submission to the Williams Review.
It wants Government to align policy across road and rail freight, to ensure a level playing field before investing. And it says that a network and timetable co-ordinated on a UK-wide basis is essential for the sector to deliver £30 billion worth of goods each year, while being flexible enough to meet customer demands.
Hans-Georg Werner, chairman of the Rail Delivery Group Freight Board, said: “An aligned approach, locally and nationally, will not only support the rail industry as a whole, but will deliver significant benefits to rail freight. The contribution made to the UK economy by rail freight and the environmental benefits associated with it are vast - we need to support the further growth and development of this sector to ensure we can continue to keep Britain moving.”
The priorities were published by the RDG, following engagement with freight operators, Network Rail and the Rail Freight Group.
It points out that rail freight delivers around £1.7bn of benefits to Britain, that moving goods by rail reduces carbon emissions by 76%, and that a single freight train can remove 76 Heavy Goods Vehicles from the roads.
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For the FULL story, read RAIL 880, published on June 1, and available digitally on Android, iPad and Kindle from June 5.
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