The Scottish government has announced it will fund up to £3 million to help construct a new £11.2 million rail freight terminal in Inverness taking more than 17 million ‘lorry miles’ off UK roads, writes Peter Brown.
Money from the Freight Facilities Grant to West Fraser Limited will see a facility built at the company’s Dalcross site, which will help move more goods to the UK market by rail.
Over 10 years the project should remove more than 8.5 million lorry-miles from Scotland’s roads, and more than 17 million from UK roads, the Scottish government stated.
Cabinet secretary for transport Fiona Hyslop said: “This project can make a clear, measurable, and early contribution to the reduction of emissions from HGVs, as well as contributing to our targets to increase the volume of freight being moved by rail.
“In fact, this particular project could equate to removing the equivalent of up to 100 HGVs permanently from our roads per week, with the potential for even more should other companies use the facility.
George Webb, European purchasing director for West Fraser Limited, said: “This facility will help accelerate the switch from road transport to rail, improving efficiency, removing some 20,000 HGV journeys off the A96 and A9 and eliminating approximately 9,000 tonnes of CO2 emissions per year, in the first phase.”
