Rail charges to be cut
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• Rail-freight operators are in line for a huge cut in track access charges in a bid to boost traffic volumes. Rail Regulator Tom Winsor says charges should be halved to help meet the government's target of an 80% increase in rail freight by 2010.
In a report that criticises the way Railtrack imposes charges on freight operators, Wnsor says the rail-freight sector has for too long been treated as "little more than a nuisance and an impediment to the running of the passenger rail network". He is caking for a more transparent system of charging.
Graham Smith, planning director for English Welsh & Scottish Railway, the UK's largest rail freight operator, says a cut in charges is justified now the road haulage sector has won cuts in Vehicle Excise Duty, an end to the fuel duty escalator and an increase in gross vehicle weight to 44 tonnes.