LATEST statistics from the Office of Rail and Road (ORR) suggest freight traffic is starting to recover from the disruption caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.
Total freight moved in the third quarter (Q3) of 2020/21 was up by 2.1% compared with the same period 2019/20, to 4.07 billlion tonne-km (ntkm), while total freight lifted increased by 12% to 17.8m tonnes. Although freight train kilometres fell by 1.4% in the same period, this is thought to be a result of operators running longer and heavier trains during lockdown, requiring fewer trains to move the same tonnage.
The construction sector saw a significant increase, partly attributable to the traffic now being generated by HS2 civil engineering projects. Compared with the same period in 2019/20, construction volumes rose by 0.07bn ntkm with the sector maintaining second place overall, with a28% share of the market.
Intermodal traffic remains the largest sector, with 42% of the overall total in Q3 2020/21, seeing a 2.3% increase in Q3.