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Ten points for Freight

Help out the fight for Freight on Rail and use these action points to lobby opinion in favour of rail freight.

We asked Philippa Edmunds from Freight on Rail to draw up a list of information and action points that our members can use.

This is ‘Philippa’s List’ …

1) WHY SUPPORT RAIL FREIGHT?

  • Rail freight provides a low carbon, energy efficient, safer alternative to road distribution which can help the government achieve its carbon reductions targets.
  • Rail freight produces 3.4 times less CO2 per tonne-km than road transport so switching to rail freight gives a 70% reduction in CO2 emissions compared to the equivalent road journey.
  • Rail is safer - HGVs are still three times as likely as cars to be involved in fatal accidents
  • Rail freight reduces road congestion as an average container train can remove 50 long distance HGVs and the heaviest bulk cargo trains are equal to 160 lorries. The DfT estimates that congestion costs up to £1 per lorry mile on congested roads.
  • Rail freight has removed 6.7m lorry journeys from UK roads (1.4 billion lorry kilometres) since 2007/08 but still has only 11.5% of the surface transport market (rail and HGV). This would increase if it were not for the limitations of the rail network

 

2) RAIL FREIGHT NEEDS POLITICAL SUPPORT

We need to back the DfT’s June 2009 ‘Strategic Freight Network – The Longer Term’ which argues what’s needed to increase rail freight volumes. Investment of £220m has been committed between 2009 - 14 towards the strategy – but this is modest compared to the costs of upgrading motorways. Road widening costs nearly £58 million per mile!

 

3) INVESTMENT NEEDED AFTER 2014

We need commitment to funding after 2014 to enable more gauge clearance and capacity enhancements of key SFN routes. Capacity upgrades on Felixstowe - Nuneaton, for example, could remove 40 million lorry miles a year.

 

4) RETENTION OF CURRENT ENVIRONMENTAL BENEFITS SCHEMES

In the areas of revenue grants, Mode Shift Revenue Support (MSRS) will replace the Rail Environmental Benefit Procurement Scheme (REPS) next year – but has no confirmed budget beyond March 2011. We need a confirmed post-2011 budget. (Rail currently gets around £17m a year in revenue support)

 

5) REVISE FREIGHT FACILITY GRANTS (FFGS)

As regards capital grants, uptake of the existing budget has been poor. With an annual budget of £7m, only £1.8m was awarded in 2008. Reasons include

  • the risk of having to repay grants if environmental benefits are not delivered
  • 50% contribution ceiling
  • poor promotion by DfT
  • slow down in growth in bulk sector

FFGs needs to be reworked in line with rail freight forecasts to cater for growth in domestic inter modal, international and deep sea traffic – and to be aligned with government SFN policy.

 

6) RAIL FREIGHT NEEDS TERMINALS

Rail freight needs national, regional and local spatial planning policies which

  • protect key rail transport corridors/key sites for interchanges and
  • enable planning permission to be gained for terminals/interchanges.

National Policy Statements need to cater for rail freight and insist that regional depots should be capable of being served by rail.

The Independent Planning Commission (IPC) should make it easier to get planning permissions for large Strategic Rail Freight Interchanges (SRFIs) – but anything under 60 hectares is reliant on regional and local spatial plans supporting rail freight so that local planning authorities can give terminals planning permission.

Unless there is the policy of support for rail freight terminals, it is difficult for councillors to vote in favour of terminals which have wider regional and national social and environmental benefits but have local disbenefits, such as more HGV movements.

We need to press for regional spatial planning to be preserved

7) STABLE TRACK ACCESS CHARGES

We need stable track access charges to enable freight operators and customers to plan long-term and thus agree long-term contracts.

8) ELECTRIFICATION

We need to argue for the reinstatement of Gospel Oak to Barking electrification. The benefits include

· stopping some North Thameside freight services crossing the Great Eastern Main Line between Forest Gate and Stratford (which would improve infrastructure capacity and performance on both Great Eastern Main line and Crossrail)

  • providing a diversionary route across North London for electrically hauled freight

9) SEVEN DAY RAILWAY

If rail freight is to grow its supermarket trade for example, these customers want 24/7 access to the railway.

10) NO TO MEGA TRUCKS

Although the UK Government rejected trials of mega trucks in June 2008, the European Commission has not ruled them out.

  • while road and rail complement each other, long distance trunk movements of freight can be more safely and more sustainably carried by rail than in even larger lorries.
  • previous increases in lorry dimensions have resulted in more lorries driving around less full, causing more road congestion and more pollution,
  • mega trucks would destroy the majority of rail freight which has a much better environmental and safety record than road - and force trainloads of freight back onto our congested roads.