Over 400 lorry journeys a week are to be cut from Scotland's busy road network following a funding announcement by the Transport Minister Stewart Stevenson today.

Over £3m of funding has been allocated to two haulage companies for the provision of two new freight rail services from the central belt to Inverness.

Eddie Stobart Limited will receive up to £982,000 of funding from two grant schemes to help fund a new rail freight service transporting Tesco goods between Grangemouth and Inverness.

John G Russell has been awarded up to £2.1m in two separate funding allocations for a new Coatbridge to Inverness rail freight service.

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Speaking at the opening of Tesco's new distribution centre in Livingston the Minister said: "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.

"Many of us have experienced congestion on roads such as the A9. These awards will help free up traffic flow on the A9 and reduce emissions.

"This funding will remove 3.17 million lorry miles from Scotland's roads a year and deliver £6.3m in environmental benefits over the next five years.

"Projects such as this 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."

Sir Terry Leahy, Chief Executive of Tesco said: "Tesco is committed to helping the environment and by moving this freight onto rail it is estimated we will save over 13,000 road journeys a year. This shows just how ambitious Tesco is when it comes to cutting our environmental footprint, while delivering the very best for our customers."

(GK/NS)