Government seeks new operators for Channel Tunnel freight

Freight traffic through the Channel Tunnel rose 34% in February compared with the previous month, Baroness Vere told the House of Lords on February 24.

However, freight through the Tunnel in January 2021 had itself been 37% down on the corresponding month last year (passenger traffic was down 71%).

Speaking during a Lords debate on the Channel Tunnel, Vere said that Government was keen to see the expansion of rail freight through the tunnel, adding: “It is ultimately a commercial decision for rail freight operators whether to facilitate new services, but the Government is open to engaging with industry-led proposals and potential new operators where there is a commercial proposition.”

Asked by Lord Bradshaw what could be done to make rail freight more feasible, she replied: “We are developing, and indeed have developed, bespoke customs regimes for rail freight traffic through the tunnel.

“We have already approved regimes at Barking, Dagenham, Daventry, Scunthorpe and

Widnes. We are also looking at, for example, gauge clearance for alternative access routes to the Channel Tunnel. At the heart of all this, the industry has to demonstrate to Government that if we put these interventions in place, it will come forward with commercial proposals.”

Regarding gauge enhancement projects that could support Channel Tunnel traffic, Vere told the Lords: “Clearances for W10 and W12 will probably offer fairly poor value for money, so further development is more likely to consider W9A, which would allow containers on specialist wagons with lower decks.”