Road to rail figures "loaded"
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• Lord Sandford, Parliamentary UnderSecretary, DoE, claimed in an Upper House debate last week that a 50 per cent increase in the amount of freight carried by rail would amount to only a two per cent reduction in road freight — rather less than one year's increase in road freight traffic.
In the debate on transport problems and the railways Lord Mowbray and Stourton, for the Government, said that the provision of direct rail services from regional centres to the Continent by means of a Channel Tunnel would give industries in the regions better access to their markets and reduce any disadvantages of remoteness.
Lord Champion described Lord Sand ford's figures as "a trifle loaded". The really important figures in this connection were ton-miles, and if 50 per cent were added to the ton-miles carried by the railways it would take 14 pc of the ton-miles off the roads.