Land development implications of the British rail freight renaissance

The post-war era saw a dramatic decline in both the volume and market share of freight transported by rail in Britain. This decline was associated with the closure of thousands of rail freight facilities and reduction by one third in the route mileage of the national railway network. However, as a result of railway privatisation and increasing constraints on the competitiveness of the road haulage industry, the long decline has halted and rail freight traffic is growing. This article reviews the implications of this change for the demand for rail freight facilities and for extra capacity in the railway network, and considers how the land-use planning and transport planning systems might respond.