Source: https://www.transporttimes.co.uk/news.php/It-s-time-to-talk-about-the-future-of-rail-freight-387/?utm_source=Transport+Times&utm_campaign=169bd00310-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2018_10_30_11_03_COPY_01&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_c0cafa3f39-169bd00310-250779481

It's time to talk about the future of rail freight

In the transport industry, certain issues capture the public's attention, while others fail to, time and time again. In pubs up and down the country, debate rages about the UK's innovative new high speed rail network, season ticket fares and those much needed improvements to the local roundabout, motorway or T junction, yet other vitally-important topics, such as rail freight, remain ignored. The enhancement of the UK's rail freight network remains the single biggest 'no brainer' in the world of infrastructure – the demand is there, the business appetite is apparent, now we in the industry need to band together to implement a coherent, nationwide programme of development.

In many ways, a freight train is much more influential in the life of the average person than a passenger service. It delivers our online shopping, that new tablet or mobile phone, our confectionery and soft drinks, it transports the limestone and cement used to build our homes; and this influence is increasing. No longer synonymous with coal and the industries of old, rail freight is fuelling the UK construction boom and moving imported goods from our ports to consumers. In the past five years, the weight of construction materials transported by rail has increased by 45 per cent, and total demand for rail freight is forecast to double by 2043.

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