Railfuture congratulates the Rail Regulator for halving the cost that freight train operators pay Railtrack to use the tracks. This is part of a raft of measures announced yesterday to encourage more freight to be carried by rail.

This is very welcome news because recent moves by the government have made rail freight less competitive. Lorry freight has gained even more of an advantage over rail freight since the weight limit of lorries was raised to 44-tonnes last year, making road freight more cost effective. The next blow for rail freight was a lowering of lorry tax and fuel (low sulphur diesel), following the fuel protests last summer.

But this new announcement begins to turn the tables. The regulator, Tom Winsor, talks about levelling the playing field between rail freight operators. But Railfuture sees these measures as more importantly beginning to level the playing field between road freight and rail freight.

Lorries don’t cover their costs in terms of damage to the roads, causing accidents, noise pollution, congestion, blight and damage to the environment. In contrast, freight by rail is far more environmentally friendly –causing less air pollution and taking up less land- and of course frees up space on our over-loaded roads.

Railfuture is glad that Railtrack now have an incentive to grow the volume of freight traffic on its network. We consider the use of public funds to ensure this a wise move because the British public will benefit from more freight being carried by rail rather than road.

Posted by Alix Stredwick