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Treasury blocks £30bn plan to electrify Britain’s railways

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The Treasury has blocked a £30bn blueprint to electrify Britain’s railways, raising doubts over Boris Johnson’s target for a net-zero train network by 2050. 

The plans, first circulated in Whitehall nearly 18 months ago, have been shelved on fears that the cost cannot be justified in the wake of the pandemic, according to industry insiders.

Sir John Armitt, chairman of the National Infrastructure Commission, warned: “2050 isn’t getting any further away and we need a detailed and costed plan for ensuring rail is decarbonised.”

The original report, revealed in draft by the Telegraph in July last year, underlined the importance of taking action immediately to meet climate change commitments. It also highlighted how Britain’s railways remain far more dependent on diesel locomotives compared with countries on the Continent.

Called the Traction Decarbonisation Network Strategy (TDNS), the rail blueprint proposed electrifying 12,500 km of railway over the next 30 years with a further 1,400 km of track dedicated to hydrogen trains and 1,000 km which will be battery-powered.

The Government underlined the importance of the blueprint in its wider Transport Decarbonisation Plan published in July this year. It said: “We will use TDNS to guide our work with partners across the rail sector to deliver an affordable, deliverable programme to fully decarbonise our railway.”

Alongside the 2050 net zero pledge, ministers promised to remove all diesel locomotives from the railways by 2040.
Sir John said: “Given the costs involved, it’s not unreasonable for some prioritisation of routes to take place, to ensure public money is being targeted at the places where it will make the most difference to passengers and the environment.

“But the simple fact is the slower we start the slower we’ll finish.”

Less than 40pc of the UK’s railways are currently electrified, compared with Italy, Spain and Germany where 65pc, 63pc and 60pc of services are electric.

The TDNS blueprint warned officials: “Action must be taken now in order to deliver on the required 30-year time horizon. Delaying the start of this will place pressure on achieving decarbonisation targets.”

Electrifying the railways remains expensive, costing up to £2.5m per kilometre. The National Infrastructure Commission warned last month that this would act as a key hurdle.

It said: “The high costs associated with installing overhead line electrification pose a challenge for decarbonising all rail routes, for some, battery or hydrogen trains may offer an alternative means of decarbonising.”

The Government said Great British Railways, once established, would produce a 30-year plan to electrify the railways.

However, the new public sector body is not planned to be fully up and running until 2024.

A Government spokesman said: “The whole Government is committed to the decarbonisation of our railways, and we have electrified around 800 miles of track since 2017.

“As set out in the Williams-Shapps Plan for Rail and our Transport Decarbonisation Plan, this Government plans to make the railways the backbone of a cleaner, more environmentally friendly and modern public transport system across the country.”

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