This guide is designed to provide you with information that will allow you to investigate rail freight opportunities.

The question and answer format is intended to make the site easier to use. We have also avoided using jargon wherever we can.

"It's often commented by customers new to rail freight that the industry is complex to understand and difficult to access. The Guide answers those fundamental questions encountered by first time users and potential customers to rail freight, issues like:"

• What services are there out there?
• How reliable is rail freight?
• What are the commercial advantages of rail freight?
• Who does what & who should I talk to?
• Where are the terminals and who operates them?
• What’s included in a rail quote?
• How would I get grant support?

Browsing this guide will arm you with this information and more to see how rail could work for your company, and provide the right contacts to approach to take your ideas further.

The Guide isn’t designed to be a technical reference to railway operations, like getting connections, how rail wagons are approved or where the network provider’s responsibilities begin and end. Network Rail produce a very comprehensive technical guide, available on line at www.networkrail.co.uk/freight that is full of this type of information.