Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions

Port of Tyne rail freight grant will save thousands of lorry journeys - Hill
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date 10 January 2000
source Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions
type Press release

The new Tyne Dock Rail Freight Terminal will save thousands of lorry trips that would otherwise have taken place in and out of the port, Transport Minister, Keith Hill said today.

Opening the new terminal, Mr Hill said:

" The Government has provided a freight grant contribution of around 60 per cent towards the £1.2m capital costs of the new rail terminal. It will provide significant benefits to the local environment, saving around 90,000 lorry journeys over a five year period in and out of the port.

"A key goal of our integrated transport policy is to effect a continuing shift from road to rail. But we recognise that making this shift can be expensive. That's why we continue to encourage rail freight by making significant funding available for freight grants.

" Nearly £80m has been paid in freight grants since 1997 and we estimate that, in that time, they have diverted close to 30m tonnes of freight from Britain's roads. That will have greatly reduced the amount of congestion, noise and pollution in the areas affected."

Notes to editors
Two grants are available under the Freight Grants Scheme. Freight Facilities Grants are available towards the capital cost of rail and inland waterway freight equipment in cases where the traffic would otherwise move by road. Track Access Grants are available to meet the cost of Railtrack access charges for freight flows which could not be attracted to rail or would otherwise transfer to road.


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Railhub Archive ::: 2000-01-10 DET-001