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There has been a change in the colour of Europe'srail freight yards. A few years ago the locomotives all belonged to a national state-owned rail monopoly. Now, across much of [...]

In January and February 1993, the amount of goods transported by rail freight fell in response to price increases. Rail freight is universally considered as a good thing, yet the government is not willing to subsidise it as it is too expensive. The industry has been in decline since 1955 and the reasons are that Britain is no longer dominated by heavy industry suitable for rail transport, it does not provide door-to-door delivery and only a narrow range of freight services are offered. A way of increasing rail freight may be to make roads comparitively more expensive by imposing toll charges.

The failure of Charterail, the rail freight company, has depressed hopes of increasing the use of rail transport for freight. The company used a new method of handling freight which involved the use of road trailers which could be transferred to rail wagons without the use of lifting equipment. The company failed because it could not remain profitable whilst paying British Rails' charges for using railtracks. This problem is unlikely to improve as British Rail will have to charge more to make a profit after privatisation.