Thirty-year rolling electrification programme needed
THE HOUSE of Commons Transport Committee has recommended that a 30-year rolling programme of electrification should be authorised to begin ahead of the start of Control Period 7 in 2024. The Committee also stated that the Trains Fit For The Future inquiry has requested the publication of the Department for Transport’s list of ‘no regret’ electrification schemes identified by Network Rail and to detail those schemes it plans to deliver, the costs and the timescale.
The ‘no regret’ schemes are projects that provide a sound economic case for electrification, typically on the busiest parts of the network that are not currently electrified but have a strong business case to be so. The Committee welcomed the Government’s commitment to removing diesel-only trains by 2040, including freight. However, the achievement of this requires a clear plan from Government on how to decarbonise the network, which it states should be published “as a matter of priority”. This should include a defined idea of what proportion of the future network will use electrification, battery and hydrogen power.
The Committee has concluded that in order to meet the Government’s ambitious targets of the elimination of diesel trains by 2040 and net zero by 2050, the electrification programme should begin as a matter of urgency instead of waiting for the start of CP7 in 2024. This would have the added bonus of retaining the current workforce’s skills and experience developed through the most recent electrification schemes. The possible extension of third rail electrification, which could help deliver decarbonisation more rapidly and cheaply than overhead electrification, is also under consideration. Also being studied seriously are battery and hydrogen technologies, both of which should feature in the longterm decarbonisation strategy. That said, they will not be suitable for high-speed rail and freight, but will be useful primarily for rural traffic.
The Rail Minister Chris Heaton-Harris told an All-Party Parliamentary Rail Group (APPRG) meeting on March 23 that “a big number” of miles of track would be electrified, but didn’t specify a numerical target. Heaton-Harris told the Committee there were questions concerning the costs of electrification, saying: “We are still very expensive in the UK. We’ve got to get value for money for the taxpayer, and we are well away from that.”
The Government’s Transport Decarbonisation Plan is due to be presented around now and it will provide some details regarding the use of battery and hydrogen trains. Heaton-Harris told the APPRG the Government would be “very much influenced by” any advice from Network Rail concerning the deployment of such trains, and electrification, included in the Traction Decarbonisation Network Strategy.
The overriding conclusion is that electrification is the only immediate decarbonisation option for most of the network. But the Committee said Network Rail and the industry needs to be subject to greater transparency and controls over costs must be implemented to ensure any rolling programme provides good value for money.
Committee Chairman Huw Merriman said: “It will be some time before battery and hydrogenpowered trains are ready to depart the station, leaving electrification as the main option. Electrification has a patchy record of delivery. It’s time to invest in a rolling programme that will speed up delivery, drive down costs and hold to account those who do not deliver to time or budget.”
Against this it is also the case that the UK rail network is already a low carbon form of transport, contributing only 1.4% to the UK’s domestic transport emissions and just 0.5% of the UK’s total carbon emissions. So the case could be argued, why bother? But in the larger scheme of things rail must play its part if the UK is to meet the Government’s target on net zero emissions by 2050.
Consequently, tough decisions need to be made now regarding future fleets, given the life expectancy of most fleets is around 30 years. This makes the resolution for East West Rail to rely on diesel traction even harder to fathom. It is understood that once the full Oxford-Cambridge route is finished then a decision to electrify it could be made. HeatonHarris told the APPRG the decision related to timing, and that services could be introduced more quickly if a decision about whether or not to electrify was made later. However, if electrification was to begin immediately it could ‘catch up’ before the entire line has been completed.