GB Railfreight's chief executive John Smith has welcomed an easing of proposed increases in railfreight charges which has been published by the Office of Rail Regulation. He says the industry should now take further steps to move forward by creating a working group which would include the operators and the DfT.

The draft determination for Network Rail's next five-year Control Period, which starts in April 2014, contained good news for railfreight operators because it reduced proposed increases in track access charges for freight trains.

The prospect of the increases had been causing concern in the industry, which feared that recent improvements in traffic could have been reversed under the impact of significantly higher costs.

The ORR proposals still include a new freight specific charge for certain cargoes, but these charges have been capped at a lower level than before, while a specific charge for biomass has been scrapped.

John Smith said: "GB Railfreight welcomes the draft determination from the ORR and we thank the regulator for engaging with us on what is a very difficult issue for the rail freight industry.

"It is critical that this initial engagement now turns into a longer-term conversation in order that we tackle some of the issues around freight charging that have remained unaddressed since privatisation.

"To safeguard this dialogue, we have recommended to Government that this takes the form of a working group, consisting of the Department for Transport, Network Rail, the ORR and the FOCs.

"A well-considered, long-term charging framework would maximise the £500 million which Government has already invested in or committed to in boosting the capacity of the freight network. And it would help allow the rail freight sector to continue to deliver significant environmental benefits and keep the economy moving.”