The head of major transport union TSSA has warned the Tories against further Network Rail rail sell offs.

Speaking at the annual TUC conference, Manuel Cortes attacked the Department for Transport’s Rail Freight Strategy, published yesterday, as “typically shortsighted” and “unhelpful”. He said the report showed the Government is going “full steam ahead with its privatisation…agenda”.

Cortes, the general secretary, called on the TUC General Council to join the campaign to stop publicly owned Network Rail from further sell-off of sites.

Speaking specifically about the freight industry he said: “This is another industry that privatisation has poisoned. And more market solutions will continue to fail it which why we support public ownership of rail freight so we can direct and plan the shift of good off our roads”.

Cortes urged said Britain “to get green” about the British rail freight industry. He said freight carries are not used as much as they were ten years ago because they no longer move as much coal. He said this is the time to move get containers off HGV wagons on roads and onto rail. This change, Cortes argued, would reduce the carbon footprint of goods.

He also criticised the Government for considering further sell off of Network Rail land in major cities, arguing these should be reserved for the development of rail cargo terminals.

TUC annual congress runs from Sunday 11 to Wednesday 14 September in Brighton. To see the rest of our coverage go to LabourList’s trade unions page.