§ Mr. Ashdownasked the Secretary of State for Transport what information is available about him to the relative cost of transporting one tonne of freight by road and rail in (i) 1966, and (ii) 1983, expressed as user expenditure per tonne at 1983 prices.
§ Mrs. ChalkerThe only available estimates are for total users' expenditure on road and rail freight and for tonnes moved by each mode. The table shows estimated average costs per tonne and per tonne-kilometre at 1983 prices, but such simple expenditure comparisons between road and rail give a misleading picture of the comparable costs of the two modes because of the different types of freight covered and services provided. Rail freight consists mainly of bulk commodities: full train loads accounting for over 90 per cent. of tonnage in 1983. By comparison road freight is largely concerned with individual loads often of several different commodities for several destinations—bulk commodities accounting for only 30 per cent. of tonnage in 1983.
Comparisons between 1966 and 1983 are also effected by changes in the rail freight operation. In 1966 about 70 per cent. of freight was wagon-load traffic, by 1983 it had fallen to less than 10 per cent. The figures include the effects of taxes and grants.
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Estimates of expenditure on road and rail freight: United Kingdom Users' Expenditure at 1983 prices (£m) Tonnes carried (m) Tonne-kms (bn) Users expenditure per tonne (£) per tonne-km (pence) Road 1966 * 15,900 1,680 75 *9.5 21.2 1983 19,200 1,440 103 13.3 18.6 Rail 1966 * 1,590 220 25 *7.2 6.4 1983 645 150 17 4.3 3.8 * Inflated using implicit GDP estimates of inflation. NoteAll freight figures include parcels traffic.