What is stopping more freight moving from road to rail?

The government has set a new target to increase the amount of freight going on trains by 40% by 2040.

The plans have been welcomed by councils and business leaders in the East of England, who say it will be good for the economy and the environment and tackle congestion on busy roads such as the A14 and A12.

They would have a big impact in Suffolk, which has the country's largest container port in Felixstowe and one of the largest rail freight terminals in the UK.

But ministers have been warned that the growth in rail freight will not happen unless there is significant investment in rail infrastructure.

The latest Department for Transport (DfT) data, from 2024, shows that 8% of domestic freight in the UK is moved by rail compared to 82% by road and 10% by water.

The newly announced target to increase rail freight is a step towards another more ambitious government target of increasing it by at least 75% by 2050.

The government says moving from road to rail will ease congestion and produce significantly less carbon.

According to Network Rail, a freight train can remove up to 76 lorries from the road network.

Both the business community and local councils view this latest target as a positive step but want to know what investment in infrastructure is going to come along with it.

Cairistine Foster-Cannan, chief executive of Local Government East, which represents 50 councils across the region, told the BBC's Politics East: "It's good for the economy, good for congestion and it's good for the environment."

But she warned: "In order to turn this ambition into a reality, we need significant investment in the region's critical rail infrastructure.

"And in particular, that's the Ely and Haughley rail junctions, which are critical for moving freight from the ports in our region to the Midlands and beyond nationally."

Paul Simon, of Suffolk Chamber of Commerce, said the government target would only be met "by immediate, purposeful and joined-up action by government across all relevant departments".

He added: "In particular, this requires speedily securing Treasury approval to fund the Ely and Haughley rail junction improvements in the next comprehensive spending review."

Both are major intersections for passenger and freight traffic.

Lines from Norwich, Peterborough, King's Lynn and Cambridge all run through the Ely North junction while the points at Haughley, north of Stowmarket, can switch traffic off the main London to Norwich line, over to the Midlands.

But both junctions need upgrading with better track and signalling to allow them to handle more traffic.

There has been a long campaign to improve the junctions but the work is expensive and complicated, particularly at Ely where new level crossings would also be needed.

The latest DfT estimate is that it would cost £20m to improve Haughley and at least £500m to upgrade Ely.

But despite promises from previous governments over many years to fund the work, nothing has yet happened.

Suffolk Chamber of Commerce says every £1 spent on the project would return £5 to the UK economy.

Phil Smart from the Rail Freight Group said it supported the new target and believed it would influence behaviours within government and Great British Railways, the new public body being set up to run much of the rail network.

"What the government's got to do is to make capital investment available for expanding the rail network," he said.

He said the government needed to start spending the money but added that private investment could also play a role.

Dozens of haulage companies in the East of England make a living from ferrying containers to and from Felixstowe.

Tremayne Johnson is operations director at Bartrums, of Eye, Suffolk which has been running for almost 100 years and employs 310 people.

"The material impact of a switch to rail is so far off in the future," he says

"A typical UK haulage business at the moment has a lot to worry about and those are things like the price of diesel and the shortage and availability of drivers."

Experts say there would still be a role for hauliers in moving containers from railway stations to their final destination. They could just make shorter journeys.

Labour MP for South West Norfolk, Terry Jermy, told Politics East: "I have been having talks with Heidi Alexander, the transport secretary, over the last couple of months.

"If we want growth in the Eastern region then the Ely junction improvements need to be top of the list.

"Our job as politicians in the East is to really make sure the Ely junction improvements are very much in the Department of Transport's mind.

"Historically under the last government, the East missed out on a lot of funding for infrastructure."

A government spokesperson said: "We recognise the importance of the Ely Area Capacity Enhancement and Haughley Junction upgrade. The scheme will continue to be considered as future funding opportunities emerge.

"We are committed to working with partners to strengthen the investment case for these projects, including the potential for local or third-party funding."

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BBC Politics East will be broadcast on Sunday 20 September at 10:00 BST on BBC One in the East of England and will be available after broadcast on BBC iPlayer.

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