Rail freight has been very dependent on bulk haulage in the past, which has died in the past couple of years as coal power generation has been cut back, but intermodal freight is expanding fast. Big flows from the major ports come in to / out from distribution centres like DIRFT (just of the M1 at Daventry), where the loads are split for road haulage / onward rail haulage to other hubs. Combined rail / road haulage is increasing now and there's a lot of investment going in to this sector.
I agree with that. Why on earth do we put up with the endless streams of hgvs on the motorway. Hubs should be rail not road, shorten the distance trucks have to travel, or indeed the size of them and possibly electric becomes viable. Dont bash the greens for being green @WoodyLubber , blame the lack of imagination and the complete lack of an integrated strategy.
