Urban Freight and Rail - The State of the Art

whole, or in part, from a dominant position as road transport services have grown and developed in capability and levels of sophistication that have not, regrettably, been matched by rail service providers. Rail’s generic weaknesses, particularly in door-to-door capability, cost – compared to road transport alternatives, which largely exclude consideration of external costs – and service availability have been the principal causes of the decline in rail’s share of the urban freight market. The development of city planning, zoning and rebuilding practice has also created problems by effectively sterilising operational and commercial options that were formerly open to rail.