Rail freight

Freight leaders urge government to review decision to leave EU customs union

12 June 2017Freight leaders have today urged the new government to review its decision to leave the EU customs union following the uncertainty following the general election last week. Though the Conservatives won the most seats of any party, it failed to re...

Collapsing coal commodity continues to drive down rail freight activity

09 June 2017The total amount of rail freight moved in the last year fell by 3% to 17.2 billion net kilometres compared to 2015-16, with four out of seven commodities recording a decrease, according to the latest data from the ORR. However, campaigners have p...

GB Railfreight signs three-year deal with DP World London Gateway

05 June 2017GB Railfreight has today announced that it has signed a three-year contract to manage the movements and preparations of trains running in and out of the DP World London Gateway Port. The company started its operations at the Gateway in March earl...

Freight leaders call for immediate infrastructure investment after election

25 May 2017A key organisation representing rail freight in the UK has today urged the main political parties to back up manifesto promises for freight with immediate investment in infrastructure. In a statement, the Freight Transport Association (FTA) said...

RFG: Put rail freight at heart of post-Brexit trade links

10 May 2017Rail freight should be put at the heart of post-Brexit trade links, a statement sent by the Rail Freight Group (RFG) has today stated. The group has published a list of five key freight priorities for the next government to consider in order to b...

CBT calls for investment in freight capacity to cut road congestion

21 April 2017Sending more goods by rail could have the potential to ease congestion on the UK’s busiest roads and yield great economic benefits, new research published today has revealed. The findings of the ‘cross modal freight’ study from...

NR timetabling shake-up to repurpose almost 5,000 freight paths for passenger use

04 April 2017A massive timetabling change is being implemented on the rail network over the next two years by Network Rail, which will see 4,702 allocated freight paths per week be relinquished to free up capacity for passenger services. The infrastructure ow...

GB Railfreight signs biomass haulage contract

20 December 2016GB Railfreight has been awarded a contract to provide 50 new purpose built high capacity biomass hopper wagons for Lynemouth Power Limited. The hoppers are due to start service on 1 October 2017, transporting biomass between Port of Tyne and Lyne...

RFG: Rail reforms must not neglect freight customers

07 December 2016The Rail Freight Group (RFG) has warned that the government’s planned reforms to the British railway must be of benefit to freight shippers as well as passengers. At the Conservative policy think-tank Policy Exchange yesterday evening, the...

Rail freight activity continues to decline in Q2

02 December 2016Activity in the rail freight industry has continued to struggle in Q2, as the decline in coal being moved also spread to renewable sectors such as biomass, the latest ORR figures show. According to new statistics from the ORR, in Q2 this year 4.2...

GB Railfreight acquisition completed

17 November 2016EQT Infrastructure II has completed its acquisition of GB Railfreight Ltd from Groupe Eurotunnel. It was announced last month that Group Eurotunnel was considering the offer from EQT for its subsidiary company, which is the third largest freight...

Clear policy statements needed for rail freight development

10 November 2016Philippa Edmunds, Freight on Rail manager, reflects on the DfT’s new rail freight strategy and what it means for the sector.

Groupe Eurotunnel to sell GB Railfreight

19 October 2016Groupe Eurotunnel (GET) has received a binding and irrevocable offer from EQT Infrastructure II for the potential acquisition of its subsidiary, GB Railfreight (GBRf). If GET accepts the offer, it will use the profits to boost its core infrastruc...

Rail freight activity considerably down in Q1

30 September 2016Activity in the rail freight sector is declining compared to the same time last year, linked to a number of factors including the decline of the coal sector. New statistics from the ORR show that the total volume of freight moved in the first qua...

Rail freight sector must do more to ‘sell its collective benefits’

13 September 2016The rail freight industry must do more to ‘sell’ its benefits as it faces challenges such as a lack of network capacity, the DfT’s rail freight strategy has said. The report notes: “The rail freight industry has many poten...