The Scottish Government has awarded a grant of more than £250,000 to develop a rail facility to improve freight handling between Rannoch and Irvine.

The Freight Facilities Grant (FFG) jointly awarded to UPM Tilhill (awarded £192,300) and CSP Forestry (awarded £58,600) will allow for the movement of 120,000 tonnes of timber by rail from Rannoch to Irvine over the next eight years. The development will remove 180,000 lorry miles per year from Scotland's roads. 

The award to CSP Forestry is for mobile and handling equipment for the movement and loading of timber on to the train, and the grant to Tilhill is for the provision of a rail line-side loading facility.

Transport Minister Stewart Stevenson said: “I am delighted that UPM Tilhill and CSP Forestry are using Government funding to work together and switch so much heavy freight from road to rail.

“As a Government we are committed to getting more freight off Scotland's roads and onto rail and water. By taking more lorries off our roads this funding will help ease congestion and reduce damage to the environment.  It will also benefit local tourism by removing timber lorries from the narrow scenic roads around Loch Rannoch and Loch Tummel.

“These projects make an important contribution towards achieving our ambitious target of reducing Scottish emissions by 80 per cent by 2050. This target is twice as ambitious as the UK target and signals Scotland's serious intent to lead the global effort to combat climate change. 

“I would like to encourage more Scottish businesses to think about their freight priorities and how these impact upon the environment.  If we want to tackle the effects of climate change, it is clear we all need to take action. The freight industry can play its part by taking advantage of this funding as moving more freight away from our roads will be good for the environment and greatly reduce congestion.”

Peter Whitfield, Timber Operations Director, UPM Tilhill, added: “UPM Tilhill is pleased to have been awarded this grant. Enabling the transport of harvested timber by rail reduces the impact on local communities, and makes good use of the existing infrastructure.

“The Freight Facilities Grant enables both UPM Tilhill and our partners to carry out harvesting operations in a timely and sensitive way. The timber will be delivered to Scotland's newest CHP (combined heat and power) Plant at Caledonian Paper.”

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