Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of introducing a new approach to access charges to help incentivise rail freight operators to (a) fund greener assets and (b) use the network more efficiently.

As set out in Getting Britain Moving, we will reform the existing access, charging and capacity allocation regime, to enable GBR to become the directing mind and decision maker on use of its infrastructure. Part of this will involve considering how the new system could enable non-GBR operators, such as freight, to be incentivised to invest in greener traction or make better use of the network.

However, before the Bill is introduced to Parliament, it is important to find out what industry stakeholders and the public think of these proposed reforms. Feedback from the eight-week public consultation, that we intend to launch in due course, will therefore help to inform the proposition on track access charging.