40 years ago, when the railways moved half the nation's freight, Britain had a network of over 4,500 railfreight terminals, handling a wide range of bulk freight (eg coal, iron ore, aggregates, steel, petrochemicals) and non-bulk freight (eg manufactured goods, food and drink).

Post-war expansion of the motorway network and road haulage services, combined with an increasingly out-dated and under-invested railway network, led to a continued decline in railfreight, particularly for non-bulk goods, and with it the network of railfreight terminals and interchanges.

Today, less than a quarter of the terminals remain, the majority for bulk commodities such as coal and aggregates. Most of the remaining terminals for non-bulk goods (now less than 100) do not provide suitable locations, facilities or space for modern distribution, itself now largely road-based.

Whilst railfreight has seen a renaissance in recent years, with an increase of over 60% in traffic since privatisation, most of the forecast growth moving forward will be from the non-bulk sector of the freight market - consumer goods moving between ports of entry and inland distribution centres.

In order for tap this growth, manufacturers, retailers and their distributors, need better access to the rail network, with modern rail-linked interchange and warehouse facilities, in strategic locations on the road and rail networks. There are now few suitable locations available for such interchanges.