Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent assessment she has made of the potential effect of the cost profile of (a) rail and (b) road freight operations on modal shift.

The Department does not hold data on relative changes to operating costs between road and rail freight. As part of continued support for the rail freight sector, the Department has operated the Mode Shift Revenue Support scheme since 2010. Network Rail also offers the Access Charges Discount Policy to stimulate growth, supporting new to rail traffic.