Everyone knows it: freight belongs on rail.

This takes pressure off roads, protects the environment and cuts CO2 emissions.

Our Campaign.

We want the UK to reach its climate targets. Freight transport has a key role to play in this. The more freight the country shifts from roads to rail, the greater the reduction in greenhouse gas emissions. We want to play our part, so we created our "Freight belongs on rail" campaign. The aim of our campaign is to encourage more businesses to choose rail freight over road haulage for their transport needs, thus helping the UK Government to achieve its goal of net zero carbon emissions by 2050. We're also calling on the UK Government to set in legislation an achievable and deliverable target for modal shift (the switching of transportation from road to rail) thus driving greater innovation, collaboration and accountability.

Rail really points the way ahead.

Rail freight’s role has become even more pivotal during the COVID-19 Pandemic and, going forward, could be enhanced further with the industry poised to support the economic recovery from COVID19, help the country reach net zero and assist in levelling up the UK economy.

Learn from the businesses already benefiting.

Tarmac

Rail freight remains a vital part of the UK construction supply chain, with more than 20 million tonnes of aggregates and materials moved by rail each year.

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FCC Environment

FCC Environment, one of the UK’s leading waste and resource management companies, has started operating from DB Cargo UK’s new rail freight terminal for construction spoil at Cricklewood, North West London.

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Ward Recycling

Derbyshire-based metal recycling and waste management specialist, Ward, has opened a new rail-connected, metal processing site at DB Cargo UK’s site at Barking in East London.

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To encourage more companies to switch from road to rail, we are asking the Government to:

Set out in primary legislation a legally-binding target for future modal growth, thus driving greater collaboration and innovation (as we have seen with decarbonisation).
Work with the rail industry to incentivise businesses to switch their goods from road to rail.
Establish an efficient logistics sector which has hubs and terminals in the right places, with strong rail connectivity to help avoid a road-led recovery.
Commit to investing in the infrastructure required to decarbonise rail freight including a long-term programme of electrifying the railways.
Ensure that the future industry structure supports rail freight growth and unlock continued third-party investment that will allow rail freight operators to deliver greater long-term economic and environmental benefits.
Make the best use of capacity on the network, using a benefits-led assessment that considers the relative value of different capacity choices and which maximises the opportunities for getting more freight on each train.
Upgrade Britain’s infrastructure to make it fit for the digital age, which can allow both freight and passenger trains to run more efficiently.

Efficient, green, safe & reliable.

We are the backbone of the economy.

Rail freight contributes £2.45bn to the UK economy each year. This consists of over £1.65bn in benefits enjoyed by customers of rail freight. Around £800m in benefits to wider society through removing 7m lorry journeys from the road network each year.

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We are a climate hero.

Decarbonisation and growth in rail freight will bolster efforts to meet net zero. Rail freight already offers significant environmental benefit to the UK economy. It is estimated to: – Prevent 7m lorry journeys per year – Reduce emissions on average by 76% when compared to road transport equating to around 1.4m tonnes of CO2 emissions saved each year.

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What we are doing for climate-friendly logistics:

1. Enabling companies to make their supply chains as low-emission as possible.

Our largest trains remove over 100 HGVs from the road!

1. Enabling companies to make their supply chains as low-emission as possible.

Thanks to our trains, we can provide companies and society as a whole with eco-friendly and sustainable supply services that take goods and freight to almost every corner of the UK. Our trains make it possible to cut CO2 emissions by almost 80 % compared to lorries.

2. Making climate-friendly logistics easier.

As a business we're investing in digitalisation and automation.

2. Making climate-friendly logistics easier.

We are investing in the automation and digitalisation to speed up the entire logistics chain, from booking to final delivery. Digital information systems such as our new Customer Portal make green logistics as easy as online shopping, from booking through to final delivery.

3. Combining rail and road in a smart way.

No one form of transport is perfect in every situation.

3. Combining rail and road in a smart way.

Unfortunately. The real game changer for sustainable mobility is a logistics chain that uses the right transport option for each stage. This way, it is possible to combine the environmental benefits of rail with the flexibility of roads: eco-friendly trains handle the long section of a route between terminals, while lorries are used only on the "last mile" between our terminal and the customer's premises. Our goal is to expand this combined transport network so that CO2 emissions in the transport sector are halved by 2030. This is equivalent to taking a large coal-fired power plant offline every year.

We need your support for this.

If you are in favour of climate-friendly transport, please sign up for our campaign. Every name makes us stronger!

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Sales Team

+44 (0) 1302 575000

uk.dbcargo@deutschebahn.com