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For all the talk of there being some big percentage or other increase in railfreight since privatisation, I get the impression this is mostly down to coal being shipped further and the actual tonnage of freight carried had barely risen (and will have fallen now in the recession). I commute between Cheltenham and Bristol and while the M5 (like most motorways) is awash with lorries, I pass next-to-no freight on the railway. The few freight terminals that remain in the west country seem to be slowly shutting (Bristol East Steel, Bath waste, Quidhampton china clay just a few in the last year or so); the Enterprise network seems to barely exist; Advenza Freight has gone belly-up. It would be interesting to hear from current freight company employees what their 'take' is on what the future holds?
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