Rail freight volumes need to treble by 2050

The government has committed to setting a freight growth target on Great British Railways (GBR), the proposed state-owned public body set to oversee rail transport in Great Britain from 2023, as a key part of its governance.

In its consultation, the GBR Transition Team has sought evidence to support the target, as well as seeking views on how the target should be described.

Rail Partners, a successor to the Rail Delivery Group which lobbies on behalf of freight operators, said trebling rail freight across Britain could further support the transition to a decarbonised economy, rebalance the UK economy, and help businesses scale up both domestically and internationally.

Rail Partners Chief Executive, Andy Bagnall, said: “The demand for rail freight is already here today as customers increasingly look towards rail as a sustainable, cost effective, and reliable way to get their goods to market.

“Setting an ambitious growth target is key, supported by a wider policy framework to shift freight off the roads and onto the rails.

‘Rail freight plays a critical role in the journey to net-zero. It removes seven million heavy goods vehicles from the roads each year, saving 1.4 million tonnes of carbon.”

The target would also increase the sector’s contribution to UK plc to around £7.5bn per year. Rail Partners said this will provide freight operators, customers and third parties with the confidence to make significant investments and infrastructure to ensure freight growth is realised.

Rail Partners believe the target should:

• Be underpinned by five year interim targets aligned with GBR’s funding cycle, to ensure focus on delivering freight growth in the short-term
• Apply across the GB network, reflecting the GB-wide nature of rail freight though GBR’s regional divisions may set specific targets at regional and route level to ensure local focus on delivering for freight.
• Apply across all commodities. To ensure that all opportunities for freight growth receive equal focus and to give flexibility for industry and GBR to respond to changing customer demands and economic
• Be supported by policies, infrastructure, and incentives (such as an expansion of the Mode Shift Revenue Support scheme and reintroduction of the Freight Facilities Grant in England) that will enable freight.

Rail Partners has identified a series of infrastructure and infill electrification schemes which it says could unlock a significant increase in rail freight and support the transition towards a carbon net zero freight sector.

Infrastructure schemes

• HS2 (including Golborne link alternative) to release capacity on the conventional network
• Transpennine Route Upgrade
• Felixstowe to Nuneaton railway upgrade
• Syston-Trent gauge enhancements
• Eaglescliffe-Northallerton gauge enhancements
• W10a-W12 gauge enhancements between Didcot and Cardiff on GWML
• W12 gauge clearance on classic network from Channel Tunnel to Wembley Yard
• Angerstein Wharf chord

Infill electrification

• Thameshaven Branch Line linking to London Gateway
• Link line between the Great Western Mainline at Acton and the West Coast Mainline and the North London Line
• Felixstowe-Ipswich Branch Link
• Connections to key container terminals
• Link lines between the East Coast Mainline to terminals in Leeds and Wakefield
• Corby to Syston and Erewash Valley
• Teesport to Northallerton
• Nuneaton to Birmingham Grand Junction (via Hams Hall and Landor Street Junction)
• Basingstoke to Southcote Junction and Oxford to Denbigh Hall Junction
• Power supply upgrades on key mainline routes such as East Coast Main Line and West Coast Main Line

In its response Rail Freight Group has also called for an ambitious target to be set for GBR “to drive rail freight growth and the need for GBR to work with the private sector freight operators and customers to bring more goods to rail”.

Phil Smart, Assistant Policy Manager at Rail Freight Group, said: “Our members want to move more of their supply chains onto rail and that will need the right partnership between GBR and the private sector. An ambitious growth target will help drive the right behaviours and build confidence in the sector. We look forward to seeing more details of the target from Government in response to this consultation.”

The RFG response can be found here

Rail Partners’ response can be found here