It is the first grant made by the SRA since it took responsibility for freight grants in February.

The money will go to the Potter Group - based at Queen Adelaide, Ely, Cambs - which is spending £90,000 of its own money.

Potter is handling the paper products for Forest Alliance which will be despatching products from Germany and Switzerland.

"It will save 20,000 lorry movements on already congested roads over a five-year period" said Julia Clarke, freight director of the SRA.

"Shifting traffic from road to rail was a key goal for the SRA, said Julia. But it could be costly to begin with. More grants would be made."

http://www.sra.gov.uk