A Shipper’s Guide to using Rail

Logistics UK has created a useful guide that gives a basic introduction to making use of rail freight. It is aimed at shippers of goods who might be considering rail as a part of their supply chain solution. It covers potential opportunities and factors to be considered, as well as giving background on how the UK rail freight industry operates and contact points for exploring your options further.

Members can access the guide below.

The Making Use of Rail guide covers the following key points:

• Making use of rail can improve the quality of your logistics chain – in cost, reliability and environmental performance
• Since privatisation, the rail freight market has changed enormously in terms of efficient practices. The image that the industry had in British Rail days has long been superseded
• The UK has a strong competitive rail freight market with operators and logistics providers available to help make rail freight an effective part of modern supply chains
• Old restrictions on making rail a viable option, such as the quantity of freight required or the distance it has to travel, are being challenged
• Government and third party investment is optimising the rail network for freight users