International & UK Railway News Monday 16th December 2013

RFG News Issue: 103 December 2013

Posted on: 14 December 2013 The latest issue of the RFG's regular newsletter RFGN is now available for download here. It leads with the remarks of Baroness Susan Kramer, Secretary of State for Transport, who was our guest of honour at our annual Christmas Lunch. She outlined her support for the rail freight sector and HS2 as an ‘engine for growth’.

Kramer: Rail is the industry that moves industry

Baroness Susan Kramer, Minister of State for Transport, has backed the High Speed 2 (HS2) project as a critical means of increasing capacity on the rail network, which she said was a priority for the Government.

Addressing the 16th annual RFG Christmas Lunch yesterday, she described the rail freight sector as “the industry that moves industry” and called rail freight vital to the growth of the economy.
She said HS2 was “desperately needed to relieve congestion” and to ensure the continued growth and success of the sector.

“Rail freight contributes around £870m directly to the economy and £5.9bn overall to the UK’s output. Most people also know that the UK’s rail freight industry is a Great British success story. Freight moved by rail increased by almost two thirds between 1994 and 2010 and is projected to keep growing even further and we need make sure the capacity is there.

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Retain the whole package - Open Letter to TRAN Committee of European Parliament.

Thirteen associations and companies with interests in the passenger and freight rail sectors (and without links with incumbents) from many parts of the EU wrote to you and colleagues in the EP TRAN on 15 November 2013, urging you to ensure that the 4th Railway Package survived in a way that actively encouraged private sector investment in the rail sector. Since writing, the voting has been delayed in an attempt to reach agreement. Thus, we write again with further names added to stress the importance of creating both a technical and legal single market in rail and of completing the whole package together, since we believe that all the elements are inter-related.


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