A voice for freight in passenger consultations
RAIL freight chiefs will be able to offer their opinions during future passenger franchise consultations, in order to improve relations between freight and passenger operators.
Speaking at the annual Rail Freight Group conference on April 19, Department for Transport Head of Rail Strategy Projects Kate Jennings said there has been an “improvement of the recognition of freight in the franchising system” since the latest Government has come into power.
“My team is hoping to make sure that all the consultations that happen on each of the franchises involve freight stakeholders, and that you have an opportunity to make sure your voice is heard - in the live competitions that are happening at the moment and High Speed 2. We need to make sure your voice is heard,” she told delegates.
Jennings also reiterated the importance of the forthcoming National Infrastructure Commission-led Future of Freight report, the first draft of which is expected to be published this autumn, followed by the final report due by spring 2019. And she urged the rail freight industry to contribute.
“I know when Lord Adonis
announced this study [ RAIL 841] he implied road freight was always going to be the most important thing, and that probably ruffled some feathers,” she said.
“But I would say we are working with the NIC. What ministers want is a strategic view of how best we use our transport system. Generally, it is pretty full, and we can’t afford to waste it. This is a real opportunity to influence Government spending into the future.”
Jennings also hinted that the process for building new infrastructure and major projects, such as new railway stations, could be elongated as part of the new Market Led Proposal guidance set to come in ahead of the start of Network Rail’s Control Period 6 (2019-24).
She told delegates: “We will look at the strategic business case for investment and focus on the outcome we want. We won’t leap straight into ‘we need a station’ or ‘we need some concrete’. We will step back and say ‘how do we make best use of the rail system?’ and ‘what is the right outcome for the economy?’ Then we will make decisions about how we spend money on that basis.
“We will only commit funding to the net proposals, but we won’t commit upfront - we will do it in a phased way, based on the strength of the business case. I think this is very relevant to freight, because there is a commitment to a freight fund. However, we haven’t defined how much that is or what the governance is.”