Blog: Government’s give and take on UK transport emissions

Like buses, you wait ages for policy announcements and then two come along at once. Over the last few weeks the Department for Transport made two important announcements: firstly, plans to phase out the internal combustion engine in new cars and secondly, the much more low key announcement on plans to shelve much of its electrification of the mainline railway network.

One key area of concern in the Government’s consultation document is where it outlines how bidders for the next East Midlands Franchise should not expect mainlines through Derby and Nottingham to Sheffield to be electrified.

Bidders should therefore prepare to procure a new fleet in 2022 of so called ‘bi-mode’ trains - which are equipped with both electric propulsion and diesel engines, allowing them to work on electrified and non-electrified tracks. 

The cancellation of plans to electrify the East Midlands route is perhaps not surprising given the challenge that Network Rail is grappling with to make the electrification of our Victorian mainline railways cost effective.

However, making these two announcements within a week of each other, highlights contrasting situations for UK rail and road.

On the one hand, Government is planning on phasing out the use of conventional petrol and diesel internal combustion engines for cars and yet, on the other they are committing the UK to depend on diesel operated trains for decades to come.

By 2040, the UK may no longer have cars on the road with internal combustion engines, but the bi-mode fleet of trains on the Midland Mainline won’t even be half way through their operational lives.

These two announcements epitomise the lack of understanding that the Government has on the challenge that we are facing over air quality and reducing emissions.

In order for the Government to truly tackle the problem of transport emissions we cannot focus on just one type of transport.

The UK is likely to have non-electrified lines for the foreseeable future, and there is currently no clear answer to how such lines could be operated in a sustainable way.

Government therefore has an urgent need to promote and support research and technical development to enable the rail industry to decarbonise the operation of the non-electrified lines.

The Institution will be releasing a report looking at the issue of transport emissions in
Summer/Autumn 2017.