UK Construction and Law

Rail freight must grow 40 per cent by 2040, with construction goods up 45 per cent, as the Railways Bill enters Lords committee

By Staff Writer  |  9 September 2026

A written statement on 8 September sets a new statutory milestone for Great British Railways: at least 40 per cent more freight in net tonne kilometres by 2040 on the way to 75 per cent by 2050, with an expectation of 45 per cent more construction goods. The same afternoon the Railways Bill began its committee stage in the Lords, where the rail minister defended the freight duty against a passenger equivalent.

The statement was published at 09:56 on Monday and the Department for Transport release followed at 12:02. The 2050 target already existed; the 2040 figure is new, and the Railways Bill provides for the Secretary of State to set it for Great British Railways so that the duty to grow freight sits inside the new body's decision making with statutory status.

The numbers in the statement

The target is at least a 40 per cent increase in freight moved by rail, measured in net tonne kilometres, by 2040. Beneath it sit three expectations by commodity: 65 per cent more high value goods, 45 per cent more construction goods and 7 per cent more critical goods. The department estimates that delivering the 2040 target lifts the value of goods moved by rail from 33.7 billion pounds to 49.5 billion, and saves a million tonnes of carbon dioxide a year against the same freight going by road.

Great British Railways will have a clear mission to help grow our economy by moving more of the goods British businesses rely on. Our new target gives the rail freight industry the certainty it needs to invest, helping businesses move more products, deliver the materials needed to build new homes and infrastructure and support jobs across the country.

Heidi Alexander, Secretary of State for Transport, 8 September 2026

The release adds the construction arithmetic: a single freight train carries enough material to build around 30 homes, and Network Rail estimates the targets could increase rail freight of construction materials by 45 per cent, with cars, wine, white goods and medicine up by around two thirds.

Under the Bill as described in the release, Great British Railways takes strategic oversight of network access and carries two duties to support freight growth, and a dedicated board member is to be responsible for freight. The department's stated purpose is to work more closely with freight operators to release capacity on the network.

Grand Committee, day one

The Bill's first committee sitting in the Lords ran the same afternoon. On an amendment from the Liberal Democrat benches for a passenger growth target to match the freight one, the Minister of State for Rail said a commercially minded Great British Railways would attract passengers because their fares are its revenue, and that the freight provisions exist precisely because no such pull operates for freight.

By contrast, there is no intrinsic motivation for GBR to increase rail freight when there is limited network capacity and freight services are in the clear minority of services. That is why the Bill already includes a freight duty and a freight target, to ensure that freight is given equal weight to passengers in a system where passengers may have naturally taken priority otherwise.

Lord Hendy of Richmond Hill, Minister of State for Rail, House of Lords Grand Committee, 8 September 2026

He added that a stronger or additional passenger duty could undermine the freight ambition. On access, he told peers the current system has failed to unlock meaningful freight growth, that freight operators' needs have too often gone to the back of the queue, and that paths labelled strategic freight are often a mixed bag of surrendered paths and leftovers rather than a plan.

Opposition peers pressed the other way. Concern was raised that Great British Railways, running around three quarters of train movements on the network, will also decide access for the remaining quarter, including freight operators, devolved operators and open access, and that those operators value an independent decision maker in the Office of Rail and Road. Amendments requiring fair and non-discriminatory access decisions were tabled and will return.

For suppliers of aggregates, cement, steel and precast, the practical point is the number: a 45 per cent expectation on construction goods by 2040, now attached to a statutory target, and a body that will be judged against it when it allocates paths.