RFG warns of barriers
Page 12
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
• The cost of carrying freight by rail is being kept artificially high because insurers are charging rail freight operators too much for cover, according to the Rail Freight Group.
RFG, which represents freight operators, claims the £1,000-a year-premiums for third party insurance is prohibitive for smaller companies who want to launch rail freight services.
This cost is stifling competition and is keeping prices high for end users, it claims.
Only a handful of underwrit
ers provide the insurance, operators must win a licence from the rail regulator. "It's a very significant barrier to entry which is ruling out many of the smaller scale operators," says RFG director Julia Clarke.
The group has called on rail regulator John Swift and insurers to reduce the minimum level of insurance required—currently £155m—and to make the terms of cover more flexible.
Swift has promised to review the insurance situation before publishing revised guidelines for rail operators next month.