Governments in London, Cardiff, and Edinburgh should strengthen financial backing for rail amid ambitious growth targets and economic challenges. In response to the UK Department of Transport’s (DfT) ongoing review of mode shift grants, Rail...Read more
Work has started on the final engineering project to upgrade the Hope Valley line in the north of England. The line, which crosses the Pennines (north-south ridge chain), and connects Sheffield with Manchester, will be...Read more
The latest quarterly freight figures have some pleasing headlines. However, beyond the standfirst of growth in domestic intermodal and an upturn in biomass movements, there’s a less rosy picture in the big ticket items of...Read more
A trial has been held of a sub-fifty mile (80km) intermodal haul in Central Scotland. The revival could connect an intermodal terminal in Paisley, to the west of Glasgow, with the rail freight terminal at...Read more
The UK Rail Accident Investigation Branch has released its findings after an investigation of a runaway train incident at Liverpool Street Station in London. The non-fatal accident happened in October 2022. It involved a freight...Read more
Fiona Hyslop, Cabinet Secretary for Transport at the Scottish Government, has spent a week in consultation with the rail freight industry. The minister’s multiple appearances included addressing assemblies in Glasgow at a rail industry seminar...Read more
Rail freight has been increasing its share at the Port of Southampton. The runaway success of the DP World Modal Shift Programme could claim to be largely responsible. The company has been applauded by the...Read more
HS2, Britain’s high-speed rail project, is buried in statistics. However, there is one statistic that burrows its way out from all the others. 646 freight trains have delivered one million tonnes of construction materials to...Read more
The UK express logistics boom continues. Independent carrier Varamis Rail has unveiled its fifth train, only weeks after adding a fourth electric multiple unit to its uniform fleet of repurposed passenger trains. Varamis Rail currently...Read more
This week, the rail freight industry in Scotland has the opportunity to air their views in the presence of the senior minister from the Scottish Government. The Rail Freight Group Scottish Conference will be addressed...Read more
Tuesday, 5 March, is the date for the annual Rail Partners Freight Parliamentary Reception. Any event on the Terrace Pavilion at the House of Commons in London has its own attraction. However, this year’s reception...Read more
Last week’s introduction of the UK government’s Draft Rail Reform Bill could be the catalyst for a whole system approach. That’s the view of Logistics UK, the industry-wide business group representing members from rail, road,...Read more
Plans for a strategically important rail freight terminal attached to an extensive logistics park near St Albans are in flux once again. A UK judge has ruled that a challenge to the sale of land...Read more
The UK Government freight growth target, aimed at almost doubling overall volume by 2050, will help unlock demand to move more goods by rail. That’s the view of the Great British Railways Transition Team (GBRTT),...Read more
The 32-page draft Rail Reform Bill very much escaped, rather than launched, on Tuesday, 20 February. On what editors would call “a busy news day”, the procedural legislative launch of a pre-legislative document was somewhat...Read more
There is a pioneering scheme at the Port of Southampton, encouraging intermodal logistics customers to switch their loads from road to rail. That scheme should be rolled out across the UK. Rail minister Huw Merriman...Read more
It’s rare for rail freight to make the mainstream pages of the newspapers, at least for the right reasons. However, the hot topic of express logistics has captured the imagination of the British press, with...Read more
Prioritise getting freight off roads and onto rail is the unsurprising manifesto pledge from Rail Partners, the influential policy and lobby group, representing operators in the freight and passenger sectors in the UK rail industry....Read more
A temporary closure of Scotland’s West Highland Line will enable essential upgrades to an iconic bridge. Network Rail, the infrastructure management agency for Great Britain, has announced that the West Highland Line will be closed...Read more
Direct Rail Services (DRS), the rail freight arm of Nuclear Transport Solutions (NTS), has completed a significant task in the transportation of radioactive materials. The very last flasks of radioactive waste from the Winfrith treated...Read more
A British alternative has been demonstrated to the EU proposed Digital Automatic Coupler (DAC) programme. An examination has been backed by an industry-recognised safety body. The work has been carried out by a nationwide consultancy,...Read more