But it shouldn’t take a problem in the road haulage sector to persuade businesses to turn to rail. It should be the first consideration for customers and policy makers alike due to rail’s trump cards – its green credentials and wider socio-economic added value.
The sheer volumes a typical freight train can transport – the equivalent of 76 HGVs – should be enough for businesses to reconsider their mode of haulage. Rail freight already removes seven million lorries off our roads every year, reducing traffic jams on our already congested roads, and reducing social impacts from noise and safety incidents.
While goods will still require road transport at certain points in their journeys, reducing those road miles wherever possible delivers benefits to the UK as a whole and especially for those communities close to major hubs of activity, such as ports, logistics centers and construction sites.
And with each ton of rail freight producing 76% less carbon than the equivalent transported by road, using rail to move goods already prevents 1.4 million tons of carbon from being emitted in the UK every year. While some people may argue that road vehicles and petrol are getting cleaner and greener too, freight operators are striving to stay ahead of the curve.
Several rail freight companies are now trialing the use of Hydrotreated Vegetable Oil (HVO) fuel in their operations which is estimated to reduce emissions by 90% compared to the red diesel typically used by freight trains, and the implementation of stop-start technology is helping drive trains more efficiently saving 11,000 liters of fuel annually per locomotive.
A renewed focus on rail freight can also support the government’s levelling up agenda. Our research shows that a growing rail freight sector is ideally placed to help support levelling up, as it operates on a truly national basis across the UK. The total economic and social benefits of rail freight are valued at nearly £2.5bn (US$3.3bn) annually with 90% of the benefits generated outside of London and the Southeast.
The potential exists for rail freight to do much more as a key pillar of Britain’s freight and logistics network. Creating a new rail freight path in the existing timetable can generate up to £1.5m (US$2m) each year, meaning that space made for more freight trains will immediately deliver additional economic benefits with no investment required.
Recent government figures show that freight is making a recovery since the peak of the pandemic but we shouldn’t be aiming just to attain pre-pandemic levels, there needs to be a fundamental shift from road to rail. The Plan for Rail has committed to introducing a rail freight growth target and RDG has recently called for a tripling of rail freight volumes between now and 2050, which is in-line with growth forecasts published by Network Rail.
Given the benefits of rail freight, government needs to pull those policy and funding levers to encourage more businesses to consider rail as their primary option. For rail freight to fully realize its economic and environmental potential there also needs to be optimization of existing capacity and infrastructure investment to decarbonize the railway generally, making the network even greener and cleaner than it already is. Whether it’s goods or people, to build back better and to create a fair, clean economy for tomorrow, the country relies on a thriving railway.