Change track on rail freight

From: Mike Hogg, North of England Representative, Rail Freight Group, York.

ROB McIntosh makes an eloquent case for the descoping of the North Transpennine upgrade, outlining how rail freight and full passenger electrification have been excluded by the law of ‘‘diminishing returns’’, to wait for some unspecified future date when ‘‘additional funding may become available’’ (The Yorkshire Post, December 14).

This is little comfort for the ports and businesses looking to use rail now as part of their supply chains, unlocking economic growth across the region.

The promise of ‘jam tomorrow’ will not take a single HGV off the crowded motorway today, and runs counter to Transport for the North’s and many other stakeholders’ stated views.

With as much as £2.9bn to be spent on the 65-mile route, it seems incredible that the incremental work to provide capacity for freight cannot be included at the same time as the main passenger-beneficial works.

By cutting back now, before the development costings are even complete, the Government is missing an opportunity to exploit infrastructure synergies between passenger and freight traffic, and also to reduce the overall disruption to passengers by going in once only during the route’s upgrade rather than returning to the project ‘later’ to do more.

We and our members, many of whom have already invested heavily in their rail freight facilities, are at Network Rail’s disposal to find a solution.

For this, there must be a change of heart from Government – rail freight must be restored to this vital project in order to provide the links across the North that the economy so badly needs.