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SHIFT FROM ROAD TO RAIL 'GOVERNMENT PRIORITY' The Secretary of
Page 11
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State for Transport, Lord Adonis, has said he would consider targets for modal shift from road freight to rail freight as it is an "important government priority".
Speaking at the Transport Select Committee hearing last week, Adonis responded to questioning from MP Graham Stringer, who queried why the DfT did not have a target for transferring freight on to trains, as opposed to lorries, at ports.
Adonis said: "The transfer of freight onto rail is an important government priority which is why we are spending millions of pounds on the strategic rail
freight network, which, as we speak, is improving gauges north of Northampton and west of Felixstowe to get container trains to the big logistics centres they go to from the ports."
Stringer added that the government had "not been shy of targets over the past 10 years" and "large proportions of freight are worthy of a target".
A spokesman for the DfT says: "We have set no targets for rail's share of the freight market. Our clear policy aim is to see goods being moved in a sustainable way, which maximises benefits to the economy and to society."