News / Great British Railways would offer rail freight the 'opportunity of a lifetime' to grow

© Peter Moulton

The UK government has pledged to overhaul the country’s failing rail networks, with rail freight offered the “opportunity of a lifetime” to accelerate growth.

The long-delayed William-Shapps Plan for Rail white paper calls for a new organisation, Great British Railways to plan and run the network, with a statutory duty to promote freight and get cargo off the road onto the tracks.

The report notes: “Freight use of railways has recovered quickly [since the start of the pandemic] and seems likely to ...