THE benefits of railfreight are being highlighted in an industry report published today, which claims that businesses are saving £2.7 million a day by using trains to transport their goods.
That's the key finding of analysis sponsored by the Rail Delivery Group and carried out by KPMG. The RDG includes representatives of all the franchise owning companies as well as freight operators and Network Rail.
The report goes on to say that a further £500 million a year of economic, environmental and social benefits come from railfreight because it reduces the number of lorries, avoiding more than 7.6 million road journeys last year.
The railfreight sector has been achieving growth in several areas, although some industry leaders are calling for further network improvements, including more electrification.
The report says railfreight "is now vital to Britain’s economic competitiveness. It transports over £30 billion worth of goods a year from supermarket groceries and premium whiskies to over half the fuel delivered to power stations to generate electricity.
"Railfreight also helps ensure British manufacturing can compete globally by sending products on the first leg of their global journey, connecting factories with container ports."
Peter Maybury, chairman of Freightliner and the RDG freight group, said: “Railfreight has been transformed over the past two decades and is set to keep growing. By continuing to drive efficiency and improve performance, operators could help more than double the size of the sector over the next three decades and increase the economic benefits of rail freight to over £4 billion a year.”
Meanwhile GB Railfreight managing director John Smith has been calling for network improvements to boost railfreight still further, including the doubling of the branch to Felixstowe docks and electrification from there via Ely and Peterborough to Nuneaton.
He told Railnews: "We are lacking some strategic infill and upgrading to help freight in the plans for CP5. I would want Felixstowe to Nuneaton to be electrified, for example, while the Felixstowe branch itself must be one of the busiest single track railways in Europe.
“The Humber Ports are a major source of railfreight – Immingham is our King’s Cross. But only a little way inland there’s Barnetby, still with Victorian signalling. Some of the signals in the yard there must be the oldest still in use. Taking the King’s Cross comparison, it’s like reaching Finsbury Park and finding semaphores everywhere.
“Neither do I really understand some of the details of the electric spine. We are reviving and electrifying a stretch of railway between Oxford and Bletchley that’s been out of use for 20 years, before we electrify across Suffolk, double the Felixstowe branch or deal with the Immingham approaches.”