Providing practical solutions

Analysing and understanding data is important, and needs to relate to the specific issues each organisation has. There’s no one size that fits all. So, in response to member feedback, we’ve developed the Freight Data Hub. This enables each user to explore the data to meet their needs. This will enable the freight sector to increase its use of data when making decisions. This approach will result in more targeted decisions, a cornerstone of the effective use of resources freight needs in order to grow.

Freight-Friendly Pathing Framework

One factor that has restricted the growth of freight services is the availability of freight friendly paths. This is because, when deciding on paths for trains, signallers tend to prioritise passenger vehicles over freight. This makes freight journeys longer, slower, more expensive, and more polluting.

To counteract these problems, we’ve produced a framework for delivering freight-friendly pathing. It can shorten journey times and reduce CO2 emissions while minimising the impact on passenger journeys. It’s estimated that it can reduce average costs by £4,515 per return trip. DB Cargo and Freightliner are using the tool with us now, so that the paths they are allocated in the December 2025 timetable meet freight needs better.

Helping freight fully exploit equipment, safely

Another area where improvements would help freight is gauging. The W10 and W12 gauges were designed for freight carriages in 2002 but some wagon-container combinations do not automatically fit these gauge definitions. Instead, costly and time-consuming analyses of individual freight vehicles are needed to make sure it is safe to use new containers on a specific train. Our research looked at the definitions of W10 and W12 gauges. It found that these definitions can unlock 64 new wagon – container combinations for W10 gauges. They also create more sections of compliant network. For W10 gauge, that’s an additional 1,234 miles, and for W12, an additional 841 miles. These definitions will be included in the relevant revised standard in March 2025.

Our recent research has also worked out how to run longer freight trains safely. We’ve updated the methodology for calculating the trailing load limit so that existing and new locomotives on the network can haul more wagons. The estimated savings of this are significant, at over £2,000 per return journey per ton—another way in which our research is helping freight be more competitive.

Helping freight growth now

Freight growth is one of the key industry challenges we are focused on. Stakeholders throughout the freight sector are working collaboratively to help make it happen. We’re proud that our tools and research are helping too. As the sector develops, we look forward to further opportunities to contribute to reaching the 75% growth target.