{"id":168997,"date":"2025-01-22T15:33:27","date_gmt":"2025-01-22T05:33:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.railfreight.com\/?p=59197"},"modified":"2025-01-22T15:33:27","modified_gmt":"2025-01-22T05:33:27","slug":"new-rail-freight-report-card-for-uk","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/?p=168997","title":{"rendered":"New rail freight report card for UK"},"content":{"rendered":"

The cost of rail freight has risen over three times faster than road haulage over the last decade. That\u2019s put the sector under even greater pressure, despite environmental benefits. The findings come in a report compiled for the industry\u2019s Rail Partners. The lobby group claims to represent more than 99% of the UK industry.<\/strong>
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The freight sector today (Wednesday 22 January) called on the UK government to \u201csupercharge\u201d rail freight growth. According to the report, rail freight operators are eager to invest in the UK and to help decarbonise supply chains. The report says a thriving rail freight sector can support the delivery of the UK government\u2019s policy, including kickstarting economic growth, achieving net zero and building new houses.<\/p>\n

Costs must be addressed<\/h2>\n

New analysis, commissioned by Rail Partners in its report \u201cA Greener Track\u201d, shows that market conditions have become increasingly challenging for rail freight operators. The cost of moving goods by rail has risen over three times faster than by road in the last decade. This, says the report, has partly been driven by government policy. On the other hand, the road haulage sector may argue that their service has become more affordable, therefore widening the gap between the two modes.<\/p>\n

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Rail vs Road cost analysis from Rail Partners “A Greener Track” report (Image and graphic – Rail Partners)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

That is acknowledged in the report. \u201cTo secure rail freight growth, the widening gap between road and rail freight costs must be addressed,\u201d says Rail Partners\u2019 synopsis. \u201cThe UK government has committed to setting a rail freight growth target, but concrete actions are needed to help rail freight compete with more carbon intensive modes of transport.\u201d<\/p>\n

Legislation on the horizon<\/h2>\n

Rail Partners and freight operators are calling on the government to use the upcoming legislative consultation on rail reform, expected later this month, and other policy measures, to create a framework that builds on Labour\u2019s Getting Britain Moving document to actively champion rail freight growth. This includes retaining existing legal protections such as long-term access rights and a stable charging regime.<\/p>\n

Each year the rail freight sector delivers \u00a32.45bn in economic benefits to the UK economy<\/a>, finds the report. Although the previous government\u2019s \u201clevelling up\u201d agenda (more equitably balancing economic growth across the UK) has been played down, the report emphasises that 90% of that economic benefit is invested outside of London and the South East. \u201cFreight operators create jobs across the UK, directly employing 6,500 people,\u201d it says. \u201cMany more roles [are] supported in the wider logistics supply chain.\u201d<\/p>\n

Work with government<\/h2>\n

\u201cRail freight is one of the lowest-carbon forms of land transport,\u201d reiterated Andy Bagnall, Rail Partners chief executive. \u201cWith rail costs rising three times faster than road, Britain increasingly risks losing out on the benefits the sector has to offer in terms of growth and supporting government\u2019s wider missions.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Rail has the environmental edge, upon which it can capitalise, says the report. Even a pair of class 66 diesels at the head of an intermodal train cleans up for Britain. Image: \u00a9 Freightliner<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Bagnall echoed the report findings, that freight operating companies want to invest in the UK and work with the government to make rail more competitive, to help decarbonise the transport sector and reduce congestion on roads. \u201cRail freight growth will not happen on its own,\u201d he said. \u201cWithout measures to address the widening cost gap between rail and road, freight customers could be priced out of making the right decision for the environment and the economy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rising fuel costs, track access<\/h2>\n

\u201cA Greener Track\u201d report says there is a broad consensus among politicians and industry that more goods should be moved by rail. This has led to successive governments committing to set long-term targets to grow rail freight. There are regulated targets to grow freight by 7.5% in England and Wales, and by at least 8.7% in Scotland by 2029.<\/p>\n

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The needs of rail freight in the UK, according to A Greener Track report from Rail Partners (image Simon Walton)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

However, the report argues that these targets are set against a backdrop of more stable environments for other modes of transport. \u201cWhile road freight operators face the challenge of rising fuel costs, governments have repeatedly chosen to freeze or reduce fuel duty to mitigate this,\u201d says Rail Partners<\/a> synopsis. \u201cIn contrast, there has been a 26% real terms increase in track access charges paid by freight operators since 2015.\u00a0Affordability is key in a price sensitive, low-margin freight and logistics sector.\u201d<\/p>\n

Policies make rail more competitive<\/h2>\n

Commenting on the report, John Smith, the chief executive of GB Railfreight, said there was a bias towards road transport expressed in government policy. GBRf, as reported earlier by RailFreight.com<\/a>, is investing in cleaner traction, but still faces an uneven task in growing the sector. \u201cThis report sets out the need for a level playing field between different modes of freight transport to drive growth,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Clouds are gathering over rail investment, as part of a wider review of government infrastructure spending. However, the rail freight sector still has considerable room for growth<\/a>. \u201cGovernment policy decisions, such as the freeze on fuel duty, continue to benefit road freight over rail freight,\u201d added John Smith. \u201cAs rail freight operators, we want to continue to invest in the UK and stand ready to work with government on policies that will make rail more competitive to support growth and the delivery of their missions.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The cost of rail freight has risen over three times faster than road haulage over the last decade. That\u2019s put the sector under even greater\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":59199,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[15084,4611,7477,11313,11110,78,47,2626,5110,15085,1348,85,333],"tags":[12634],"class_list":["post-168997","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-a-greener-track","category-andy-bagnall","category-gbrf","category-in-depth","category-john-smith","category-rail-freight","category-rail-news","category-rail-partners","category-report","category-road-transport","category-track-access-charges","category-uk","category-uk-government","tag-railfreight"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/168997","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=168997"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/168997\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":169323,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/168997\/revisions\/169323"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=168997"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=168997"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=168997"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}