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The UK’s Transport Decarbonisation Plan states that the railways will be zero carbon by 2050. Do you think this target is achievable?
Yes, but only if we see some action in the very near future. The decarbonization of rail covers three main areas – the continued use of electric multiple units (EMUs), alternative traction, such as batteries and hydrogen power, and freight.
EMUs are already widely used, but the electrification of the railways has stalled over the past five years in the UK. The Great Western electrification program, enabling direct London Paddington to Cardiff Central electric services to operate for the first time, was the last major scheme undertaken by Network Rail, and that was in 2020.
There are other projects ongoing, such as the Transpennine Route Upgrade, which will see electrification between York and Manchester, but this is not enough. If you look at what needs to be done with electrification to have a sustainable long-term future, we are almost missing the boat in terms of the roll-out.
What role can batteries play?
We can’t physically electrify all the railways in England and Scotland by the required dates [The Scottish Government has set out plans to decarbonize all passenger rail services in Scotland by 2035]. Therefore, batteries will be an interim step, until hydrogen is a viable option.
Batteries can be used for discontinuous electrification, whereby you use a battery that charges under wires to power the train when it reaches a complex part of the railway, such as a tunnel or station which isn’t electrified. This approach means electrification can be achieved much quicker.
Alternatively, larger batteries can be used to power trains for the final 30-40 miles of their journeys. This approach has its limitations, however, mainly concerning the weight of the battery and where the battery is placed on the train.
We also mustn’t lose sight of the fact that batteries are in great demand, currently, especially for use in private transportation. And there are limitations around raw materials and concerns over high manufacturing costs. We also need to consider battery recycling. What happens to it once it reaches the end of its life? Some train batteries can be repurposed into energy storage solutions, but across the board, batteries can only really play an interim role.
Is hydrogen ready for rollout?
Hydrogen offers great potential and the HydroFLEX train, developed by the Birmingham Centre for Railway Research and Education and railway rolling stock company, Porterbrook, provides a superb example of how it can benefit rail, but actual widespread roll out is a long way off.
Although we can manufacture a hydrogen train and the development of fuel cell technology is advancing fast, we simply don’t have enough green hydrogen. The supply of green hydrogen is very limited in the UK currently. We need to develop strong generation and distribution channels before it can be used widely in rail.
The Scottish Government is doing some great work in terms of expanding its offshore wind capabilities to produce green hydrogen, but more still needs to be done. The other consideration is that powering a train using hydrogen is currently about 15x more expensive in terms of operating costs compared to using diesel.
This cost will reduce in term purely due to economies of scale, but first we need supplies of green hydrogen in the UK. There is undoubtedly a market there, but it probably needs a helping hand from the government or even the train operating companies endorsing it.
How else can railways be made more environmentally friendly?
One of the things we are working on as a company is increasing the number of train paths on certain networks through modern signaling systems. We look at complex areas and work out how trains can operate closer together. We did this, for example, in London with Thameslink, where the same infrastructure went from handling 14 trains per hour to 24 per hour, with designs for 28 per hour. We are working on similar projects on the East Coast Main Line and the Transpennine Route Upgrade.
Modern signaling and increasing capacity on lines can avoid the need to build new infrastructure, which is obviously very costly and comes with a huge carbon cost.
Travelling by train is also much more environmentally friendly than travelling by car, so the more people we can get using the railways the better. One of the big challenges, however, is achieving that modal shift from cars to trains. Mobility-as-a-service (MaaS) could help people make that shift.
MaaS is all about joining the different public transport sectors up, so taxis, busses, trains, metros, river ferries, etc., are all aligned in one portal. This portal can then offer passengers the best price and public transport route for their journeys. MaaS will be instrumental in getting people out of their cars and on to public transport.
Do you think decarbonization in the rail sector will accelerate following the introduction of the Great British Railways, a state-owned public body that will oversee rail transport in Great Britain from 2023?
It may, but I do believe that we are firmly on the road to decarbonization already. It is just a case of making sure we have everything in place to get to that end point. We do, however, need more support from the government, or at least a willingness from the government to get on with it.
Are there any other countries we should look to for best practice?
Denmark, although it is smaller and the rail infrastructure is not as complex as it is in the UK, is great example of a decarbonized rail network. The country is really leading the way in terms of having a multi-modal view on transportation and it has a fully electrified railway, with modern rolling stock and great passenger experience.
It is difficult to compare to the UK, however, as here we are tackling the challenges of old railway networks and a tendency to upgrade rather than buy new stock. In Europe, countries are investing in new, modern rolling stock when they need to upgrade, which is far more efficient to run. In the UK we seem to spend a fortune on retrofitting old trains with new equipment. There is a cost to this which may not be recognized up front.