The Rail Freight Group is concerned that incentives to encourage mode shift of freight from road to rail – have been axed in the Scottish Government’s Spending Review 2011.
the Scottish Government has previously threatened the Freight Facilities Grants scheme, but the RFG and the environmental lobby Transform Scotland negotiated a funding cut as an alternative.
David Spaven, RFG’s Scottish representative said: “The Scottish Government’s recent Report on Proposals and Policies for a Low Carbon Scotland says that £15m annually has to be spent between now and 2022 on freight mode shift to deliver on carbon targets, yet there will now be no obvious grant mechanism for achieving this aim.
“There is now a new ‘Future Transport Fund’ but there is absolutely no clarity on if and how this might be used to help get more lorries off the roads. It also covers walking & cycling, electric car development and so on, so we have no idea what, if anything, might be available for rail freight development.
