Make our Scottish Railways ‘Rolling Roads’

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Move freight transport from road to rail

We can revolutionise the transport of freight in this country, slash emissions and boost the efficiency of our economy by emulating most mainland European countries. This can be done by investing heavily in our Victorian-era railways to increase the ‘loading gauge’ of our infrastructure. This would then allow all railfreight to travel between all our cities. Lorries could simply drive onto freight wagons or be lifted directly onto trains. No expensive modifications would be required to make the road trailers compatible with our currently restrictive railway. With this big investment made by the Scottish Government, there would truly be a modal shift of freight from roads onto our railways. Even a much smaller investment would improve the loading gauge; create more double-track sections; add more passing loops; reduce speed restrictions; electrify our mainlines and allow 24/7 railway operations, therefore making it much easier and cheaper for freight to travel by rail. We’re told by the Scottish Government that one train can replace up to 76 lorries so imagine if we invested in our railways for freight. We could take the pressure off our roads, increase the abysmal safety record of those roads, and emissions would plummet.