Useful Facts and Figures

In the past ten year rail freight has grown by 66 per cent; in the year 2005-06 rail freight moved 22.11 billion net tonne kilometres, a level of traffic not seen since 1977. Graphs of railfreight growth. Rail has 12% of the UK surface freight market (i.e. road + rail) with the industry's measurement of net tonne kilometres showing an increase of 7.5% in the year 2005/06 over the previous year.

More than £1.5 billion private investment in locomotives, wagons, facilities and systems has taken place since 1995.


The economic, social and environmental arguments for rail freight

Economic

• Road congestion is claimed to cost businesses in and around the capital £1.2 billion per annum. Draft Freight Strategy, Transport for London Summer 2005

• Congestion is currently costing transport users and operators at least £15 billion a year and could double over the next ten years. Source: RAC Foundation 2005

• An average freight train can remove 50 HGVs journeys from our roads - Network Rail 2007

• An aggregates freight train can remove 120 HGV journeys from our roads - Network Rail 2007

• Road Traffic in total grew by 1.7 % in 2004, cars by 1.2%, LGVs by 5%, HGVs by 2.9% - Transport Statistics Great Britain, 2004 Edition, DfT 2005

• The distance that goods travel increased by 24% in the past 10 years - Transport Statistics Great Britain, 2004 Edition, DfT 2005

• Recent research indicates that heavy goods vehicles only pay for around 59% - 69% of the full (including the social and environmental) costs they impose upon society. these costs include greenhouse gas emissions, air pollution, noise, congestion, accidents and deaths. - Environmental and Social Costs of Heavy Goods Vehicles and Options for Reforming the Fiscal System, Oxford Economic Research Associates, report prepared for English Welsh and Scottish Railway, January 1999

• A 40 tonne, 5 axle lorry causes over 10,000 times more damage to road surfaces than an average car. - Design Manual for Roads and Bridges, Highways Agency, 1994

• HGVs are up to 160,000 times more damaging to road surfaces than the average car; some of the heaviest road repair costs are therefore almost exclusively attributable to the heaviest vehicles – Freight on Rail research 2006

• Road Traffic estimated to rise by 40% by 2020 - House of Commons question Jamieson to John Thurso (Lib Dem) 2005

• Motoring now cheaper than in 1975 – The overall cost of motoring fell by 11% in real terms between 1975 and 2004. the corresponding costs of rail and bus fares rose by 70% and 66% respectively. - House of Commons question Atkins to Norman Baker (Lib Dem 2005

• Road freight tonne kilometers moved in GB by GB registered lorries rose by 10% between 1994 and 2004. Between 2003 and 2004 there was a 0.3 rise form 151.7 bn tones to 152.2bn tonne km. Freight lifted increased by 6 per cent from 1,643 million tonnes in 2003 to 1,744 million tonnes in 2004; - Transport of goods by road in GB 2004 DFT 2005

• The average cost of all road schemes has risen by 42% over past 5 years. Worst examples were A46 Newark-Widmerpool improvements scheme which will cost £220 million instead of the £82m agreed in March 2001, the M6 Carlisle-Guardsmill extension (175m now, £46m in March 2000. In percentage terms the much criticized West Coast Main Line modernization programme has risen by 34% from the original estimate of £5.8bn in 1999 to £7.8bn now. DfT & SRA figures 2005

• Food miles have been rocketing – between 1978 and 2002 the amount of food trucked by HGVs increased by 235 and the distance for each trip increased by over 50%. In 2002 food transport accounted for 25% of all HGV kilometers in the UK - Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) 2002

Environmental

• Per tonne carried, rail produces between five and ten times less emissions than road transport – EWS March 2007

• Carbon dioxide emissions from road hauliers increased by more than a third between 1990 and 2002. Road freight now accounts for 8 per cent of UK carbon dioixide emissions. – Department for Environment, food and Rural Affairs 2005

• Over the past 6 years alone rail freight is estimated to have saved two million tones of pollutants, 6.4 billion lorry kilometers and 31.5 million lorry journeys. – Rail Freight Group

• Energy efficiency is directly related to carbon dioxide emissions, rail is significantly more energy efficient than other modes with the exception of shipping. Per tonne carried, road transport will requires between 4 to 7 times more energy than rail. – The case for rail, Railfuture 2004

• Carbon dioxide levels in the air have risen from a pre-industrial 270 parts per million to 379 pppm today. Levels are rising at 2ppm each year and in ten years are likely to be at 400ppm. At 500pppm Greenlands ice cover will melt completely. Source: Chief Government Scientist David King 2005

• Globally we need to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 60 per cent by 2050 if we are to avoid catastrophic climate change.
  Source: Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution

• The health impacts of traffic pollution cost £11.1bn each year. Source: Environmental Transport Association

• The 73% increase in road transport between 1980 and 2002 has resulted in a 39% increase in greenhouse gas emissions from transport which now accounts for 26 per cent of total UK emissions - Transport Trends DfT 2002

• Road transport makes up around 21% of total man-made carbon dioxide emissions in the UK RAC report 2003

• Carbon emissions in the UK grew by 2.2 % in 2002-2003 – DEFRA March 2005

• Sharp increase in carbon dioxide increases in the atmosphere over the past two years with levels over 2 parts per million (ppm) in contrast to an average of 1.5 ppm over the previous 50 years – International Scientists Nov 2004.

• Emissions from road freight transport increased by 59% between 1990 and 2002(emissions from air transport rose by 85% in same period - Office of National Statistics 2004

• Carbon dioxide emissions from road hauliers increased by more than a third between 1990 and 2002. Road freight now accounts for 8% of UK carbon dioxide emissions - Sustainable Development Indicators DEFRA 2005

• Rail overall produces less than 1% of the total UK emissions of Carbon dioxide compared to 21% from road transport – Railway Forum 2005

Safety

• Rail travel is nine times safer than car travel per passenger mile – Rail Safety and Standards Board (RSSB) 2003

• DfT research stated that because of their size and weight, when they are involved in accidents the level of injury tends to be higher. The same research found that HGVs were twice as likely to be involved in fatal accidents as cars. – Focus on Freight December 2006

• In 2005 in accidents involving HGVs 6 people were killed, 65 serious injured and overall 750 injured on urban roads
  49 people were killed, 275 seriously injured and overall 2092 injured in rural areas
  24 people were killed, 118 seriously injured and overall 595 people injured on motorways - ROSPA 2006

• Rail safety – 13 passengers died during 2005. 3,200 people died in road accidents during the same period - Transport Statistics 2005 & Office of Rail Regulation (rail figure excludes trespassers and suicides)

• Blameworthyness ratio – lorries and LGVs had the highest blameworthiness ratio of all work vehicles, over 4 times higher than buses (PCVs, taxis and emergency vehicles – Road Safety Research Report no 58 Nottingham University for DfT: In depth study of work related road traffic accidents August 2005

• HGV/LGVs are responsible for more fatalities than any other work vehicle type regardless of blame. In particular on rural A roads and motorways, reasons = poor observation, close following, fatigue, load problems, vehicle defects & time constraints. A quarter of fatalities are caused by LGV/HGV drivers breaking the speed limit. Road Safety Research Report no 58 see bullet above for DfT August 2005

• RAC Foundation survey found that HGVs were the second biggest fear for motorists travelling on motorways. Trailgating was the highest - 2005.

• More people have been killed on Britain’s roads since the Second World War than the number of British soldiers killed on active service during the war. Source: Slower Speeds Initiative

• On non-built-up dual carriageways 86 per cent of articulated HGVs exceeded their 50mph speed limit in 2005; on non-built-up single carriageways 77 per cent of articulated HGVs exceeded their 40mph limit. Source: Department for Transport 2006
  
  Statistics Updated on 5th April 2007 by Freight on Rail (DfT = Department for Transport)