Cuts to rail investment in England are expected to have an impact on Scottish targets for transferring freight off the roads.

The Strategic Rail Authority (SRA) has said it is freezing the grants which transfer goods from lorries to trains.

The move applies to England, but it has major knock-on effects in Scotland, which relies on joint funding for many of its projects.

The SRA was expected to award a further �50m towards the scheme this April.

England and Europe are Scotland's main trading partners, with goods going south and through the Channel Tunnel.

The Scottish Executive have their own budget for rail freight but many of the projects are funded jointly with England.

Freight grant

Only recently a scheme for getting timber from Fort William and Arrochar to Wales by train was helped by a grant from the SRA and the Welsh Assembly.

The rail freight company EWS said it was extremely disappointed.

Graham Meiklejohn of EWS said: "The decision of the SRA means there is no possibility of moving trucks from the M8 in Glasgow which are travelling down the M74 and the M6 in England.

"It means more trucks returning to the Scottish road network permanently, flying in the face of Scottish Executive and government policy."

The Scottish National Party transport spokesman Kenny MacAskill described it as a retrograde step.