§ 13. Dr. Kim HowellsTo ask the Secretary of State for Transport what support the Government are giving to encourage the transfer of freight traffic from the roads to the railways.
§ Mr. MacGregorI recently announced three important new measures to boost the prospects for rail freight. These provided for improvements to the existing freight facilities grant scheme; the introduction of a new grant scheme to assist with Railtrack's charges; and the publication of a paper on the potential for weight incentives for lorries used in combined transport.
These measures taken together with privatisation, open access, and substantial investment in channel tunnel services, will provide the best prospects for encouraging more freight traffic to the railways.