Rail freight funds must be safeguarded if the UK is to attract the private investment it needs to make rail a success.
This is the view of Rail Freight Group executive director Maggie Simpson giving evidence to the Parliamentary transport committee on rail infrastructure investment.
Ms Smith said that retaining a fund specifically for freight enhancement would side-step the politics accompanying the Department for Transport’s five-year investment rounds.
“While the DfT tries to assure the industry that these five-year terms will not make investment more political, it is inevitable they will,” she said
“By earmarking the funds for freight, it means future governments won’t move the money to pay for other products.”
