Scotland’s rail freight strategy – good news for industry says FTA
Tuesday 22 March 2016
The Freight Transport Association is backing today’s launch of Scotland’s rail freight strategy stating that it will be good for the freight and logistics industry.
Transport Minister, Derek Mackay, launched the Scottish Government document ‘Delivering the Goods’, described as a new vision for Scotland’s rail freight sector which will tap into new and growing markets. The Minister called upon industry and business to unite behind the delivery of the strategy and support the rail freight sector.
FTA was consulted by the Government and contributed to the strategy when it introduced its own document ‘Agenda for More Freight by Rail’. The Association’s Head of Policy for Scotland – Chris MacRae said: “It is vital that the challenges to rail freight in Scotland are recognised.
“Volumes have fallen with the demise of coal traffic and loss of steel. The biggest opportunity is intermodal traffic – both deep sea container export goods and domestic Anglo-Scottish traffic, including retailer.”
In its ‘Agenda for More’ document, the Association outlined the need for the rail industry to address the challenges of its own costs and competitiveness with other modes of transport if it is to grow or retain volumes in these markets. Full details of the FTA document can be found at: http://www.fta.co.uk/export/sites/fta/_galleries/downloads/rail_freight/14094_agenda_for_more_guide.pdf
The essential need and role of rail freight will be discussed in full as part of the FTA workshop programme at the 2016 Multimodal event held at the NEC, Birmingham from 10-12 May. At the event FTA will start the exploration with the railway industry of the next steps in addressing costs and competitiveness. Multimodal is the UK and Ireland's leading freight transport and logistics exhibition and FTA will be hosting a series of sessions on Wednesday 11 May. The full programme of FTA workshops can be found at: http://www.multimodal.org.uk/seminars/day-2-workshops
Notes to editors
To find out more about the Scottish Government rail freight strategy go to: http://www.transport.gov.scot/rail/rail-freight
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