Breakout 6 - Recognising and enabling freight’s potential

Growing pains for rail freight
A series of unpredictable events has once again brought rail freight back into the public realm, with even the BBC noting its recent role in shoring up the supply chain. The last time this happened in the mid-1990's, Britain was cementing its fixed link with mainland Europe, whilst simultaneously disassembling its single integrated rail industry. How times change.  In the meantime, the dash from coal to gas saw rail's principal source of traffic plummet, and as the industry has continued to rebuild around containers and construction, a fresh set of external factors have arrived. Amidst post-lockdown seismic shifts in passenger travel (and online shopping), post-Brexit acute shortages of HGV drivers almost as long as the queues of HGVs at Dover, compounded by Climate Crisis concerns, diesel fuel volatility and a war in Eastern Europe, the goal for rail freight has arguably never been more wide open. Apart from the uncertainties of yet another major rail industry restructuring, where freight once more risks being dealt with under AOB on the agenda, in the rush to make Britain's Railways "Great" again in the eyes of the electorate. Against this background, what are the main opportunities and challenges for rail freight going forward, and as the wider rail industry once more regroups and reshapes itself, how can freight finally secure a seat and a voice on the top table?

Speaker: Nick Gallop, Managing Director, Intermodality