COMMENT
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RAILFREIGHT IN THE SIDINGS
Less than two months after the Government White Paper restricted UK hauliers to a 41 tonne maximum to help boost railfreight, the railfreight community is now undergoing a crisis of confidence. Some even predict what has been termed "one of the few big ideas for railfreight" could be dead by the end of this year. So what are hauliers supposed to make of this news, coming so soon after announcements that railfreight grants would increase by a third and that a Strategic Rail Authority would be set up to promote railfreight? And what of the predictions that railfreight volumes would treble within 10 years? The only thing hauliers have been able to cling to with the 41-tonne limit is that increased railfreight may do the environment some good. Now, even that is in doubt. So while it might be good news for haulage that the 400,000 international journeys predicted to go by rail by 2005 may stay on the road, it's a development that will be tinged with irony for UK operators trying to compete internationally with one hand tied behind their backs.
Anything that might make the money raised from 0-licensing available for reinvestment in the haulage sector rather than simply disappearing into the funds sloshing around the Treasury has got to be an improvement. But if Traffic Area Offices are to be given agency status and allowed to get their hands on this money, they must spend it the right way—that means investing in the links needed to make the Joint Enforcement Database Initiative (JEDI) system for roadside checks a workable reality.