Governance of strategic rail freight corridors: DfT consults on European Commission proposals

The Department for Transport is consulting on the European Commission's recent proposal concerning a European rail network for competitive freight.

This covers the creation, selection, governance, funding and management of international rail freight corridors. The European Commission believes that effective transnational management of international rail freight infrastructure cannot be achieved individually by each Member State.  For this reason, its draft regulation includes the concept of 'governance bodies', groups made up of infrastructure managers of member states along corridors, with independent legal status with a key steering role in relation to the implementation, investment planning and organisation of a corridor.

All member states are required to participate in at least one, two or three international rail freight corridors (dependent on the volume of the state's annual rail freight tonnage) at the latest three years after entry into force of the regulation.  As the UK moves around 20 billion tonne-kilometres per year, it would have to participate in at least one international rail freight corridor within three years of entry into force of the regulation.  The draft regulation's objectives appear to be consistent with the aspiration in the Government's Strategic Freight Network to develop a European gauge cleared rail freight route through the Channel Tunnel via HS1 to the Midlands or beyond.