Senior executives from Freightliner appeared on Sky News’ Climate Show over the weekend (December 9-10) calling on the Government to set a long-term target to treble rail freight volumes by 2050.
Freightliner, part of Genesee & Wyoming Inc., said such an ambitious target will be a clear statement of intent from Government and provide confidence to the private sector to make significant investments in long-term assets that deliver growth.
Tim Shoveller, CEO G&W UK/Europe, told the Climate Show: “There is an increasing desire for businesses to become more sustainable and meet their ambitious sustainability targets.
“Rail freight is a critical part of the solution, but to make rail the mode of choice for trunk haulage and bulk movements, the economics must work for customers. That means that rail must be able to compete with road haulage”
“The economics of rail freight have been getting more challenging in recent years. As an example, fuel duty, which is one of the largest costs for road hauliers, has been effectively frozen for 14 years.
“When you compare this to track access charges, the charges we pay to run our trains on the network, these have increased by over 35% through inflationary increases alone for the same time period.”
“We are calling on government to set an ambitious target to treble rail freight volumes by 2050 and support the rail freight industry with some key initiatives and policies.
“A clear statement of intent from Government will provide confidence to the private sector and be a catalyst to make significant investments in long-term assets in what is a highly capital-intensive industry.”
Freightliner is calling on the Government to support the rail freight industry in three key areas:
Freightliner also highlighted other opportunities and challenges facing the rail freight sector during the programme, including the impact of climate change on the resilience of the rail network, the challenges of keeping electric traction running when electricity prices are so high and the need for increased capacity across the UK rail network, especially considering the recent HS2 announcement.
G&W UK/Europe CEO Tim Shoveller with Sky journalist Tom Heap at Freightliner's Manchester Trafford Park Terminal
Louise Ward, Safety and Sustainability Director, G&W UK/Europe said: “We’re not just calling on the government for support, we are also setting our own sustainability targets and roadmaps within Freightliner, for the benefit of our customers and our organisation”
“This includes expanding our use of electric freight trains as well as investments in alternative fuels, such as hydrotreated vegetable oil (HVO), and developing new technologies for future locomotives. As the largest freight operator of electric trains in the UK, we want to increase the number of electric services, but to do so requires electricity costs to be affordable and some of today’s gaps on the rail network to be electrified.”
Freighliner said the trebling of rail freight will mean more than 20 million (HGVs) journeys are removed from motorways each year, reducing carbon emissions by 2.5 million tonnes of carbon dioxide – the equivalent emissions of someone flying around the world 300,000 times.
Tom Heap interviews Freightliner’s Safety & Sustainability Director, Louise Ward at Freightliner's maintenance facility in Crewe