The Rail Partners reception saw guests from across the rail industry and parliament attend, alongside rail minister Huw Merriman MP and shadow business and industry secretary and was co-hosted by Bill Esterson Daniel Zeichner, Labour MP for Cambridge and Martin Vickers Conservative MP for Cleethorpes and Chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Rail Group.

The event provided a fantastic opportunity to highlight the many benefits, opportunities and future potential of rail freight and saw freight operators and customers join the Rail Minister and fellow parliamentarians.

The reception follows on from the release of Rail Partner’s report ‘Freight Expectations: How rail freight can support Britain’s economy and environment’. The report revealed the potential economic benefit rail freight could bring to the UK economy as being almost £5.2 bn per annum if the Government were to support an ambitious target and treble rail freight by 2050.

The report also revealed that recent innovation within the freight sector would see an average freight service create 76% less CO2 per tonne than that of an equivalent road movement. With the fact that a  single freight service can take up to 129 heavy goods vehicles off of the road at one time, freight offers a unique ability to support the delivery of decarbonisation, improved air quality and a welcome cut in road congestion.

The focus on freight saw cross-party speakers discuss the importance of investment in rail infrastructure to support rail freight throughout the country in order to aid the economy and environment. Rail minister Huw Merriman MP also revealed findings from “Freight Expectation” which had highlighted the importance of a long-term growth target and reaffirmed the Government’s commitment to setting one, bringing assurance to the industry, however, he was not able to commit to the scale of the target due to the Great British Railways Transition Team’s examination of evidence submitted by the sector and developing its choices with an announcement set to take place later this year.

Shadow Secretary for Business and Industrial Strategy, Bill Esterson also stressed Labour’s commitment to working with the rail sector in order to deliver infrastructure investments such as HS2 and Northern Powerhouse Rail, as part of its industrial strategy.

Andy Bagnall, Rail Partners’ chief executive said: ‘We can deliver a minimum of over £5 bn of economic benefits annually and remove 20 million HGVs from the road network each year. In the report, we set out the policy framework that’s necessary for government to work in partnership with the industry to deliver that.

‘With the right government support, working in partnership with our freight operating members, it will enable them to respond to the needs of the wider business community as a critical part of a sustainable supply chain.’

Becky Lumlock, chief executive of Freightliner said: ‘Rail freight transports a vast array of essential goods and supplies. Our customers range from shipping lines to supermarkets, from quarries to car factories and from waste companies to whiskey manufacturers. We are linking companies across the country with export markets all over the world. The environmental and economic benefits of moving these critical goods are substantial, and the new freight report outlines how the sector delivers economic growth, supports our journey to net zero and contributes to levelling-up.

‘I strongly believe that there is a bigger role that rail freight can play in supporting UK plc, which is why we’re calling for the Government to set an ambitious long-term target to treble volumes by 2050. That would be a real step-change.’