Concerns that freight will lose out on extra capacity

Backing for HS2 from the logistics sector is conditional upon Government pledging unequivocal support to grow rail freight, says a leading business group.

In its High Speed 2: The case for

released freight capacity report, published on November 6, Logistics UK (formerly the Freight Transport Association) said HS2 will release space for up to 144 extra freight trains per day on the existing railway, potentially removing 10,944 Heavy Goods Vehicles (HGVs) from the roads every day.

However, it warned four steps need to be taken for the logistics community’s full support for the new railway:

Government should reconsider its principles for released capacity, and that should include clear support to grow rail freight.

The West Coast Partnership should fully welcome freight interests into its analyse and option development work, to accommodate growth.

The Office of Rail and Road should ensure existing contractual and regulatory safeguards for freight are respected and enforced - not just for HS2, but for the UK network.

All parties to work on reducing the barriers to end-to-end journeys, by working to create a fully national strategic freight network that includes capacity released by HS2 at its core.

The report states that the rail freight industry contributes £870 million per year to the UK economy and supports an economic turnover

of £5.9 billion. It says it carries more than £30bn worth of good per year.

“We are concerned that the process to allocate released capacity may favour passenger operators because it will be run by the incumbent passenger operator (West Coast Partnership), and that there is no guarantee that capacity will be provided for freight,” said Logistics UK Multimodal Policy Manager Zoe McLernon.

“There is no policy or legal requirement that a proportion of released capacity must be allocated to freight. Logistics UK urges government to reconsider its principles and provide clear and unequivocal support to grow rail freight.”