Rail Freight to Benefit from Government Funding
A pledge has been made by the UK government that a figure in excess of two hundred million pounds will be injected into the freight sector. The specific target within the industry is rail freight - volumes within which the government aspires to double over the next 23 years.
The cash confirmation was included within a report issued by the Department for Transport, entitled 'Delivering a Sustainable Railway'. In this, the government body detailed its projections for rail freight, which Transport Secretary Ruth Kelly subsequently described as "the most ambitious strategy for rail in over 50 years".
Amongst the plans highlighted is the creation of a Strategic Freight Network (SFN), in tandem with Network Rail and other groups within Rail Freight. However, in contrast to Ms Kelly's statement, certain industry analysts expressed more cynicism.
The Rail Freight Manager at the Freight Transport Association, Chris MacRae, said it was not apparent how the SFN would be formed. He stated: "It should be noted that two hundred million pounds, while very welcome, is less than 2% of the ten billion pounds the government is committing to spend on enhancing capacity on the network as a whole". He added: "The disparate nature of this funding and its processes do not always make it easy for companies planning to use rail to be certain of future funding."
However, one positive view did emerge, this from Tony Berkeley, the Chairman of the Rail Freight Group. Mr Berkeley's positivity was based on the fact that the SFN would receive full funding over the coming five years, in contrast to white papers of the past. Although conceding that the amount of wo h million was ostensibly not a vast sum, he stated: "They are not all going to need to be done in the next five year control period." By "they", Mr Berkeley was referring to modernisations around the ports of Tees and Tyne, as well as an increase in capacity in respect of the Felixstowe-Nuneaton line.
Source - Freight International Newsdesk
