Can the train save the planet?

WHEN a friend of mine made a bid for a trolley bus on ebay, having already successfully purchased a milk cart which he parked outside his house, I thought he was walking the high wire. It was a 70-seater threeaxle Cardiff silent monster which used to trundle up to Llandaff Fields and often took an enforced rest when the poles decided to go ‘awol’ from the overhead wires.

I loved to ride them when I lived in Cardiff, until they were withdrawn in 1970; in Llanelli the gentle giants replaced the clatter of the trams and were running until 1952.

Ironically, the trolley bus was prophetic in the light of the need for an electricity-driven and green-sourced transport system.

But what can save the planet following ‘Cop-out 26’ is the train. As we leave behind the maelstrom of steam and soot of the past and the whirr and the whine of the pungent diesel engine, welcome the high-pitched whooping of the electric train.

Despite its bad environmental track record, it is surely the future of public transport. The European Green Deal includes a radical shift from road to rail for goods and passengers.

In Europe 80% of rail transport is powered by electricity and, in many countries, with a green source. For example, in France 75% of electricity comes from nuclear power. So there is a big job to be done to shoe-lift people out of their cars and into public transport, a task the Welsh Government has embraced with its plans for an integrated system, public ownership and greater connectivity. Imagine a green return to the 19th Century building of railways: the romance of the railway carriage, the opulence of the station, the child’s utopian fantasy and the nostalgia of a sad departure.

Or be more trendy like the Swedes, who have a new green vocabulary where flygskam refers to the shame of flying and tagskyrt is train bragging. Then the Westminster Government, not to be left out, has revived an old favourite – the gravy train, best enjoyed in the moonlight.