SUSTAINABILITY |
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Rail and the ride to net zero Jason Hurst, Director, Public Services Advisory, Grant Thornton UK LLP dives into the details of the government’s emissions targets
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n April 2021, the UK government announced that they would set in law one of the world’s most ambitious climate change targets, committing to cut emissions by 78 per cent compared to 1990 levels by 2035. As a significant contributor to greenhouse gas emissions, change in travel is required if the government is to meet this target. The Williams-Shapps Plan for Rail has set out ten outcomes that present the vision for Great Britain’s railways, including ‘Britain’s railways can and will spearhead the nation’s ambition to become a world leader in clean, green transport. Decarbonisation, greater biodiversity and improvements in air quality in towns and cities will ensure rail is the backbone of a cleaner, greener public transport network.’ Rail travel has a crucial part to play in the decarbonisation agenda. While sustainability ties directly to people’s quality of life, rail also has a wider role to play in driving social value. The Williams-Shapps Plan for Rail focuses on allowing greater control for local people, empowering community rail partnerships and seeking better use of the assets held by the railway, in particular stations, by enhancing their role in the local community. How rail can support net zero Worldwide, the need to decarbonise society has gained momentum over recent years. The rail industry is not immune from this, nor should it be. In fact, rail has an increased role in seeking to capture passengers from other more polluting forms of travel such as flying. The Williams-Shapps Plan for Rail asserts that rail is one of the least polluting areas of UK transport infrastructure, accounting for c.1.4 per cent of transport emissions but carrying c. ten per cent of all passenger miles and nearly nine per cent of freight (based on pre-pandemic levels). Whilst the level of emissions are relatively low, this does not exempt the railways from needing to cut emissions to achieve net zero. The Review identifies electrification as the likely way of decarbonising the majority of the network. Transformative change of the rail network will require significant investment. The obvious fix of electrification alone carries with it significant cost (the Great Western Mainline electrification has to date cost over £2.5 billion) – the Achieving Net Zero report suggested that, as a minimum, 50 per cent
of rail tracks must be electrified by 2040. The UK government has announced almost £600 million to commence the electrification of the Leeds-Manchester Trans-Pennine route. Other solutions will also be required, such as: • The use of battery-operated fleets where electrification is not achievable. • Other technologies such as hydrogen powered trains. • Or the introduction of bi and even tri mode trains. Innovation will be crucial in order to meet the government’s targets, and this cannot be expected to be driven solely by government and Great British Railways (the independent body proposed by the Williams-Shapps Plan for Rail to have responsibility for track and train operations). Great British Railways will be expected to bring forward costed options to decarbonise the whole network and private sector rail operators must be empowered to bring ideas forward for further development. This will require industry-wide collaboration and appropriate incentivisation – government, Great
British Railways, operators, and train leasing companies must all pull in the same direction if such ambitious objectives are to be achieved. A holistic view of transport infrastructure will also be required.
Accessibility to the rail network to all • For some time, a significant section of society has perceived the railways as principally a provider of commuter travel and inaccessible to those with reduced mobility. • This perception needs to be changed, both as part of a push to encourage the return of passengers to the railway, but also to ensure the rail network is accessible to all. • This will, however, require investment and take time, but, this need cannot be ignored.
Rail Professional
