Industry insider: reverse the freight decline

Long-term planning regarding use of the rail network assumes that demand for rail freight haulage will increase steadily. The Government quantified this in December 2023 by saying that the target should be to grow volume by at least 75% by 2050.

However, statistics issued by the Office of Rail and Road (ORR) on June 6 reveal that there was no growth in tonne kilometres moved in the year ended March 31, with the amount of freight lifted declining by 6% to 69 million tonnes.

The publication of ORR figures for market share lags behind, but for the 2022 calendar year statistics showed that road use dominated with an 81% share of tonne kilometres, with waterborne traffic recording 12%, leaving rail with a diminished share of 7%. The statistics are worse for tonnage lifted, where road transport recorded 90%, waterborne 5%, and rail falling to just 4%.