In the spirit of cross-industry collaboration, Martin Bignell, RFG’s Scotland and North of England representative, joined the Railway Industry Association (RIA) at their Scotland Rail Summit in Edinburgh on September 3rd. RIA members largely consist of the rail supply chain, from systems and signalling and OLE engineering companies, to specialists in data, groundworks and myriad […]
Since 2019, a group of railway staff, led by myself and Mark Bridel from Network Rail, and Kev Adlam of GB Railfreight and the voluntary Branch Line Society, have worked together and with partners including David Jenkinson and Ross Taylor from DB Cargo and many others across the Freight community, to deliver a series of […]
Ok, so I lost the sweepstake! A surefire 10th October General Election, which looked like a no-brainer when I committed my £1, has been overtaken by events with Rishi Sunak naming 4th July as the big day. This is perhaps a surprise and yet at the same time – not. The election had to be […]
In the ever-evolving landscape of the rail freight sector, knowledge transfer and professional development have become crucial components for success. The Rail Freight Group’s annual Cross-Member Mentoring Programme works to assist with that, fostering collaborative relationships and promoting the growth of talent across the sector. This year’s programme has seen an impressive response, with 39 […]
Digital technology has been enabling efficiencies in the rail freight sector for years, and RFG’s own Digital Forum is providing a neutral space for RFG members to come together and discuss the opportunities and challenges from existing and emerging technologies. It is evident that within member companies, and companies more widely, there is great digital […]
The RFG launched its pilot cohort for the brand new Cross-Member Mentoring Programme in January. Some 40 mentees were matched with a mentor and 29 different organisations were represented, giving people in freight the opportunity to develop new skills and expand knowledge of the many different areas of rail freight over a 12-month period. Mentees […]
When I told someone (in the freight industry) that Solent Stevedores had been named Business of the Year at our annual Rail Freight Group Awards, he expressed surprise. Surely a rail freight company should be the winner? When I explained that Tarmac had won the accolade a couple of years ago, he was even more […]
There was a common theme in my conversations at the Multimodal exhibition last week. And it wasn’t rail reform! The businesses we spoke to, at our Rail Freight Pavilion and on their stands, were all keen to talk about rail freight growth and the actions they are already taking to get more goods on trains! […]
The failure of the Nuneham Viaduct between Oxford and Didcot is currently causing some significant disruption for freight services. The bridge, built a century ago, has been declared unsafe by Network Rail, meaning that passenger trains are suspended and the forty or so daily freight trains diverted, mostly via London and the West Coast Main […]
Decarbonising transport must be a primary objective to reach Scotland’s climate target goals and rail freight has a big role to play. To reach the climate target goals, the focus needs to be on modal shift from road freight, so it’s useful to understand where this achievement will come from by looking at how road […]
