Network Rail wants 80% of British network electrified by 2050
NETWORK Rail is recommending to Government that 80% of the UK rail system should be electrified by 2050 to achieve decarbonisation targets - and it wants to start work as soon as possible.
An early glimpse of NR's interim Traction Decarbonisation Strategy shown to the Rail Industry Association on May 21 says electrification should double from the current 40% ofthe network, requiring around 11,000 single-track kilometres (STKs) of further electrification over the next 30 years.
NR also believes Control
Period 7 (starting in 2024) will be too late and work needs to begin sooner to ensure the necessary upgrades can be delivered.
Long-distance passenger routes and areas with heavy freight traffic will be the priority, including those serving container ports at Felixstowe and Southampton and their inland terminals, South Wales and lines serving major quarries, such as those in the Mendips and Derbyshire.
Those sections of long-distance passenger routes currently still relying on diesel traction, including the Midland Main
Line, Chiltern and parts ofthe Great Western Railway, LNERand Avanti West Coast networks, are also proposed for electrification, raising the prospect of large-scale upgrades on routes to the West Country, West and North Wales and northern Scotland.
Of the remaining 4,000 STKs of railways across the UK, about 700 are considered suitable for battery operation and around 1,000 STKs at the extremities of the network such as the Far North of Scotland and East Anglia could be operated with hydrogen-powered trains.
Around 3,000 STKs currently have no clear choice for future traction requirements, although the figures are expected to be refined and updated when the rest ofthe interim strategy is published in July, ahead of the Department forTransport's national transport plan expected in the autumn.