Railtrack and new campaigner join Freight on Rail

9th April 2001

Freight on Rail is delighted to announce that Railtrack is joining the group to further strengthen its expertise and influence in the rail-freight arena. At the same time Philippa Edmunds, an experienced campaigner and PR professional, is taking over as co-ordinator for the group.

Freight on Rail is a campaign working to get goods off roads and onto rail as an important step in developing a more sustainable distribution system.

Lindsay Durham, Business Development Manger Railtrack said, "We want to work with our industry partners and are keen to encourage understanding of rail-freight issues at local and regional levels. We see Freight on Rail as the right means to foster this dialogue and education."

Freight on Rail's new campaigner Philippa Edmunds says " It is a very important time for the rail industry. Getting freight off our congested roads onto the railways is the right option in economic, social and environmental terms. The role of Freight on Rail is to facilitate this shift to rail by harnessing the knowledge and power of this coalition. Nobody is pretending this is simple, but with £4bn committed to rail freight from the Government in its Ten Year Plan and congestion currently costing UK companies around £20 bn a year, according to the Freight Transport Association (FTA), this shift is the logical way to avoid business grinding to a halt."

She added that "Van and lorry traffic is forecasted to grow by 44% and 25% over the next ten years, so doing nothing is not an option. Although rail-freight has been growing it still only accounts for 7% of the UK freight market, compared with 20% in France and 39% in Sweden, illustrating how we are missing opportunities to move freight more sustainably."

Philippa Edmunds has twelve years experience in environmental transport campaigning and private sector PR. Most recently, she was working in a communications consultancy with clients in the Transport and IT sectors.
 

Notes to editors:

Freight on Rail is a partnership between transport trades unions, freight operating companies, Railtrack, the Rail Freight Group and Transport 2000. It works to promote the economic, social and environmental benefits
of rail freight both nationally and locally. It advocates policy changes that support the shift to rail and provides information and help on freight related issues. In particular, it aims to help local authorities through all stages of the process such as planning a rail-freight strategy, accessing grants and dealing with technical matters.

For further information contact:- Philippa Edmunds, Freight on Rail campaigner
Tel: 020 8241 9982
email: philippa@freightonrail.org.uk
web site www.freightonrail.org.uk

FREIGHT ON RAIL MEMBERS

• English Welsh and Scottish Railway
  
• Freightliner
  
• Transport Salaried Staffs Association
  
• Rail Freight Group
  
• ASLEF
  
• RMT
  
• Railtrack Plc
  
• Transport 2000