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Freight proposed for high-speed line
Page 8
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by Dominic Perry A rail-freight leader wants freight to be considered when plans for a new high-speed passenger rail link between London and Scotland are drawn up over the next year The Shadow Strategic Rail Authority (SSRA) is inviting consultants to work on a detailed feasibility study into building a track capable of handling the fastest train services in Europe.
Tony Berkeley, chairman of the Rail Freight Group, is writing to SSRA chief executive Mike Grant about the issue. "I think it is good to look at this line but I shall encourage them to look at a freight line as well." he says. The SSRA's duty is to promote both passenger and freight growth."
Grant says inter-city rail travel at speeds of up to 225mph would relieve overcrowded air space and boost regional economies. Berkeley argues that although a dedicated passenger line could release capacity for freight on existing lines, there would still not be enough capacity for all the potential demand for rail freight.
Details of the new line are due to be finalised by March 2002 but consultation, funding, construction and testing could delay its opening for more than 10 years, But Berkeley warns that the Channel Tunnel rail link suggests it could take far longer "It will have been 20 years from start to finish and that isn't a very long line," he concludes. "These things don't come easily."
• The state-owned German railway, Deutsche Babe, is reported to be planning an entry into the UK rail freight market via English, Welsh and Scottish Railways (EWS).
Current majority shareholders in EWS, the US transportation group Winsconsin Central, put its 42,5% share of the company up for sale in November.