Decarbonisation strategy

Am I alone in believing that rapid, large-scale electrification of our railways is the wrong response to the need for decarbonisation?

Our railway system contributes a very small percentage of transport emissions (let alone the nation’s total emissions). Even if we could magically totally decarbonise the railways tomorrow, the improvement would hardly be noticeable.

Some extensions to existing electrification could bring benefits for rail operation and costs, while a longer-term plan for a rolling programme is developed.

But we need a holistic approach to overall decarbonisation across all transport modes and other sectors, in order to achieve maximum environmental benefit for the expenditure involved.

Malcolm Jevons, Mexborough