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DfT plans to omit rail freight
Page 16
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from 2009-14 spending plan
Freight will not be included in a rail network blueprint due out this summer, but the DfT insists it is still vital. Roanna Avison reports.
THE DEPARTMENT for Transport (DfT) has insisted that rail freight is key to its development plans but will not be included in the rail-network blueprint to be published this summer.
The DfT's clarification comes after rail-freight company EWS called on the government to include freight in the High Level Output Specifications (HLOS) report it is currently working on.
This report will outline how much the government will spend on the passenger rail network between 2009 and 2014, but it will not include freight.
A spokesman for EWS says there is also a requirement for freight enhancements which in most cases will be independent from the passenger network to be looked at in the HLOS report: "Areas around the ports and other pieces of the network, such as rural routes which may not carry that many passenger trains, are crucial to rail freight and the government should invest in these too."
But a DfT spokesman points out that freight is a commer cial proposition and therefore taxpayers' money will not be spent to benefit businesses.
"But the improvements to the network for passengers will clearly have a knock-on effect and benefit freight," he adds. "However, the spokesman was adamant that rail freight remains at the forefront of the government's plans, because the strategic future of the railways involves freight.