Back in the autumn, the then newly-appointed Rail Minister Paul Maynard published the Department for Transport’s new Rail Freight Strategy. Widely welcomed by the industry, the document sets out how Government will work collaboratively to ensure rail freight’s continued success in the face of changing markets.
In the foreword to the strategy, Mr Maynard noted: ‘The Rail Freight Strategy that we are publishing today sets out our vision both for how rail freight in its traditional sense can continue to grow – even if some of its traditional core markets are now in decline – and for the potential opportunities for the broader logistics sector and rail industry to collaborate and innovate in order to help relieve the pressure on our road network’.
Since publication, the various work-streams underpinning the strategy are making some progress, with industry input. And whilst you cannot pin down specific consequences of strategies easily, there are some encouraging market trends too, with the quarterly results published by Office of Rail and Road showing intermodal traffic increasing by 5% and construction by 7% compared to the same quarter last year (see story above).
Yet against this backdrop of support an…
