NIC: Government must act to decarbonise rail freight

The rail freight industry should be completely decarbonised by 2050, but the Government needs to send a clear signal on how it should achieve that goal.

That’s the message from the National Infrastructure Commission (NIC), in its Better Delivery: the Challenge for Freight report.

The NIC says the rail industry needs clear action from central Government if it is to succeed in its vision to lower overall carbon emissions.

“Simply setting a zero emissions target and doing nothing else risks rail freight transferring to road with no new capacity, potentially creating more congestion,” the organisation warns.

“The Government will need to take a decisive role in determining how rail freight should reach zero emissions, and consider where and to what extent this involves rail freight subsidies to support transition to new zero emission locomotives, investment in further electrification, or road upgrades.”

In its report, NIC notes that owing to long replacement cycles for rolling stock and locomotives, the next replacement cycle is going to be the only opportunity for locomotive owners to prepare for such a shift in legislation.

As such, Government needs to decide how the rail freight industry is going to achieve the 2050 deadline by 2021, including specifying what investments it will make, in advance of Network Rail’s Control Period coming into force (2024-29).

NIC estimates that under current proposals, between 48% and 50% of the UK rail network will be electrified by 2039. While it notes the cost of electrification is high (up to £4 million per kilometre), it says this approach “could turn out to be cheaper and quicker, improving network efficiency and providing wider benefits for passenger services” than other options, such as investing in battery or hydrogen locomotives.

NIC notes that at present, 87% of all rail freight locomotives are diesel-powered and that the replacement rate for freight locomotives is currently averaging about 3.5% of the total freight locomotive fleet per year. It warns that at this rate, only around 70% of the current fleet will have been replaced by 2040.