Data shows that just 13% of Great Western Railway’s trains are electrified as the Government looks set to miss Net Zero rail targets

25 November 2022

Liberal Democrat Energy and Climate Spokesperson and MP for Bath, Wera Hobhouse, challenged the Government on 24th November at Topical Questions in the Commons Chamber over their slow progress on decarbonising the railways. Ms Hobhouse called on the Government to stop ordering new diesel trains and speed up the electrification of the railways. She said the current Government plans looked more like 'Not Zero' rather than Net Zero.

It comes after the Campaign for Better Transport said the Government was falling behind on its Net Zero rail pledges. Earlier this year the Government was also criticised by the Rail Industry Association. They criticised the Government after it said it would act on Transport Select Committee advice to get rid of diesel trains. Following an audit of their progress by the Association, it discovered that 5 of the 12 commitments passed down have not been acted upon by the Department for Transport.

The progress being made on electrification of the railways is also stagnant. Currently, just 38% of the UK rail network is electrified, far below the average of 60% across Europe. Network Rail’s admittance that 280 miles of rail needs to be electrified every year to hit Net Zero causes further worry about how on course we are to hitting our rail Net Zero targets. Last year, just an extra 2.2 km of rail became electrified, way below what is needed.

On trains, an average 29% of the passenger train fleet is still either bi-mode, meaning they run electric on electrified track and when there is no electrified track they use diesel engines, or completely diesel trains. Operators Caledonian Sleeper and Hull Trains still only use fully diesel trains. In relation to the South West and Bath, Great Western Railway ranks 17th out of 24 in terms of percentage of fleet which is electrified with just 13% of its locomotives fully electric.

Liberal Democrat Energy and Climate Spokesperson and MP for Bath, Wera Hobhouse, commented:

“Public transport has to be made viable for truly mass use to address the climate crisis. That being said, if that public transport is not green public transport then we will only be solving part of the problem. The slow progress on electrification of the rail network and the phasing out of diesel trains are prime examples of these delays costing us in the fight against climate change.

“Great Western Railways fleet having barely over 1 in 10 trains electrified shows the scale of the challenge we are facing. Without the Government investing in green infrastructure for our railways they are passively allowing us to miss our climate targets. It is unacceptable in the face of such a potentially large disaster for us all.

“The delay misses the bigger picture. What Consevrtiave Government’s have consistently failed to realise is that the need to transition to green modes of transport is a huge opportunity. We Liberal Democrats are calling for large scale investment in the research and development of exciting new technologies such as regenerative braking to decarbonise the railways. The fruits of this investment will be of benefit to us all. Net Zero presents an exciting future for growth and society at large. We should be grasping the opportunity, not dithering and missing out on having those benefits now.”