Rail freight wants help
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• English Welsh and Scottish Raiiway, Britain's biggest freight-train operator, is asking the government for cash aid to help it beat competition from hauliers.
The rail firm wants the government to slash its trackaccess charges, which it pays to use the rail network, so that it can win more work from hauliers. EWS says that Gordon Brown's recent concessions to trucking have left it at a disadvantage and it wants a cash injection to redress the balances.
A spokesman for EWS says: "There has been the introduction of 44 tonnes from January, a reduction in VED and a standstill on fuel duty. We are saying to the government you have given these concessions to the road haulage industry so what about us? We are not saying don't help the hauliers out, but put us on a level playing field."
EWS wants its trackaccess charges to be cut in half from their current annual level of i164m.
The company has already met with the Office of the Rail Regulator to push its case. EWS is also nervous that recent problems with the rail
network, following Railtrack's new speed limits and track repair-programme, could see it losing more loads to the roads.