By Vivienne Russell
The unreliable and congested transport network is undermining the long-term competitiveness of business in the UK, industry leaders warned this week.
The unreliable and congested transport network is undermining the long-term competitiveness of business in the UK, industry leaders warned this week.Time to change gear?, a CBI report published on February 18, rated different modes of transport for both capacity and reliability. The road network came off worst, judged as poor for both reliability and capacity. Air travel reliability was deemed to be satisfactory but airport capacity was rated as poor.
There was better news for the rail network, which earned a satisfactory rating in both categories.
John Cridland, CBI deputy director-general, said: ‘Anyone who commutes knows the daily frustrations of bottlenecks and delays on Britain’s roads and railways. It is the same for freight, where delays to deliveries equate to lost sales. When the upturn in the economy comes, poor transport must not be allowed to hold UK business back.’
The CBI is urging the government to keep the transport budget at the level outlined in the 2007 Comprehensive Spending Review and to come up with a more coherent plan.
The business lobby has also set up a transport group to consider the use of private finance to improve transport.
