Government’s rail freight investment delivers the goods

Philippa Edmunds, Freight on Rail, London N1

09 November 2012

Gauge capacity enhancements have enabled rail freight to take a bigger market share of the container traffic from the port of Southampton, thereby relieving roads such as the A34 from Southampton to the West Midlands, says Philippa Edmunds

It is very positive that the shadow chancellor Ed Balls recognises the need to transfer long-distance freight to the railways as targeted Government interventions work (‘Balls seeks infrastructure deal’ LTT 12 Oct). Since the gauge upgrade out of Southampton port was completed in February 2011, rail’s market share of container traffic has increased from 29% to 36%, thus reducing road congestion, pollution and exposure to road accidents around the port and long-distance along...