Railway Industry Association publishes review on Government decarbonisation

The Railway Industry Association (RIA) has called upon the Government to do more to help the decarbonisation of the rail network.

The review has found a mixed picture in meeting the recommendations made by the Parliamentary Transport Committee.

The Committee looks at how the UK can reduce its reliance upon diesel-only trains and the report set out various recommendations for the Government.

The recommendations include ways to secure funding to decarbonise the railways, commitments to electrification and developing the use of hydrogen and battery trains.

RIA published the report a year ago and has found that the Government made good progress on three of the 12 recommendations.

The review found that limited progress had been made on four of the recommendation and no progress on five of the recommendations.

Good progress includes work on the Midlands Mainline, Transpennine Route Upgrade and Wigan to Bolton electrification.

RIA’s review calls on the Government to publish the Rail Network Enhancements Pipeline (RNEP), a £10bn list of crucial rail upgrades.

RIA Progress report table, image - RIA

Darren Caplan, Chief Executive of RIA spoke on the findings of the review into Government decarbonisation.

Mr Caplan said: “One year on from the Transport Committee’s report, our review shows that, encouragingly, the Government is making some progress in key areas.

“It was positive to see commitment to several longer-term major electrification schemes in the Integrated Rail Plan, which will help to reduce emissions on key routes.

“However, there is concern at a lack of progress in several important areas.

“There still needs to be a much more ambitious programme to electrify the railways, starting now if the Government is to hit its own electrification targets by 2050.

“Whilst the Government is heading in the right direction it needs to accelerate the decarbonisation of the railways.

“Doing so not only helps drive long-term growth right across the country but also, supports thousands of skilled jobs and significant investment right now.”

 

Featured image - RIA