UK Freight Gets £132m Boost

The UK's Department of Transport (DfT) is funding freight initiatives across the country with a £132m grant, in a bid to significantly cut road and traffic congestion.

The government will put aside £80m to enhance capacity for rail freight on the Peterborough to Nuneaton route, which provides an alternative to busy rail routes between the midlands and London.

A further £43m has been earmarked to improve the key south to north corridor, which links the port of Southampton with the UK's second biggest city Birmingham.

The DfT is also allocating £1.7m to improve access between the West Coast Main Line and Liverpool Docks in the north, by reinstating a new section of track and enhancing the gauge on two rail routes.

The funding comes on top of the £65m put aside earlier this year to support freight through "upgrading infrastructure and securing greener ways of moving the nation's goods," says the DfT.

The government says its hopes the improvements will help remove around 300,000 lorry journeys from UK roads every year.

By Ozge Ibrahim