Canadian rail networks prepare for shut down
NewsAs Canada heads towards a nationwide rail strike CN and CPKC have stopped accepting certain cargo types as they prepare their Canadian networks for a full shutdown.
Freightliner calls for cargo targets
Freightliner, the UK’s biggest container rail haulier and part of Genesee & Wyoming, Inc (G&W), has called on the government to set a target to treble rail freight volumes by 2050, and thus remove over 20M HGV journeys from the motorways each year.
Currently, rail’s share of UK land transport is just 9%, although it rises to 20-25% for deepsea containers.
Tim Shoveller, CEO, G&W UK/Europe, said: “There is an increasing desire for businesses to become more sustainable and meet their ambitious sustainability targets. Rail freight is a critical part of the solution, but to make rail the mode of choice for trunk haulage and bulk movements, the economics must work for customers. That means that rail must be able to compete with road haulage.
“The economics of rail freight have been getting more challenging. As an example, fuel duty, which is one of the largest costs for road hauliers, has been effectively frozen for 14 years. When you compare this to track access charges, these have increased by over 35% through inflationary increases alone for the same time period.”
The company is calling for, inter alia, a halving of track access charges that freight operators pay to run trains on the network and doubling the modal shift grant that businesses can access to support using rail. Continuous investment in rail capacity is also required.
Louise Ward, safety and sustainability director, G&W UK/Europe, commented: “We’re not just calling on the government for support, we are also setting our own sustainability targets and road maps within Freightliner, for the benefit of our customers and our organisation.
“This includes expanding our use of electric freight trains as well as investments in alternative fuels and developing new technologies for future locomotives.”
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This complete item is approximately 285 words in length, and appeared in the December 2023 issue of WorldCargo News, on page 8. To access this issue download the PDF here
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