The railways have a very crucial role to play in helping the UK decarbonise in the next 30 years.
It is already a naturally low-carbon transport mode and with the targets to remove diesel-only trains in the coming years, this is set to further improve.
However, how realistic is it that the railways will hit the targets set?
Lizi Stewart is Managing Director for UK Transportation at Atkins, one of the world’s most respected design, engineering and project management consultancies.
The company is shaping the future of transport, making journeys easier, safer and more reliable.
Lizi has written an article for railbusinessdaily.com on the net zero targets highlighting the necessity of all industries to hit the targets.
“Last year the UK was the first major economy to legally commit to becoming ‘carbon-neutral’ by 2050. The rail industry’s role to achieve this is to make transport as green as possible, as set out in the Department for Transport’s (DfT) 2018 vision to make the UK the world’s leading carbon-free railway by 2040.
As of 2020, less than half (around 42%) of our railway is electrified, meaning that the greater part of our network operates with diesel trains. In under 20 years, the Government has committed to removing diesel only trains from the network. To succeed large sections of the network will need to be electrified, mixed with developing alternative green traction systems.
The final report of the Government’s Decarbonisation Taskforce estimates that 4250 route km will fall into the “must be electrified’ category. Therefore, to reach the DfT’s vision in 20 years’ time, this equates to a little over 200 route km per year to be electrified. For reference, Germany carries out a steady 200 single track kms a year. Since our railways are at least 2-track, with many being 4-track, we must act on this twice as fast as Germany to reach our goal.
Boom and bust is fast becoming an irrelevant talking point – the issue is the supplier capacity and the planning skills to deliver this significant programme of electrification efficiently, with a ruthless focus on annual continuous improvement in performance. We are running out of time to deliver and we need to act now on electrifying our railway to meet the government’s targets.
‘But what about alternative solutions’, I hear you say. For most of the railway network, conventional electrification is the only viable answer. Hydrogen and batteries are also likely to be part of the solution, but are only suitable for lower traction performance, speed and relatively short distance routes.
Current hydrogen production requires the use of steam methane or electrolysis, and these are not currently low carbon processes. Therefore, critical to bringing hydrogen into the mix is capturing our carbon through a Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) industry or powering electrolysis through low carbon electricity. Net Zero potentially requires the UK to have up to 40% of UK’s energy mix dependent on CCS – we currently have no operational carbon capture.
Importantly, to make this vision of electrification totally green, we must ensure that the energy required to power our railways is also green and from low carbon sources. We will not have met our goal while electric vehicles, and electrification of our railways continue to be powered by energy from gas and high carbon generation. As covered in our latest report Engineering Net Zero, our energy demand will increase from 300 TWh per year to well over 600 TWh per year, requiring us to quadruple low carbon energy generation as it stands today. This requires a never before achieved build rate of 9-12 GW of new energy infrastructure per year to 2050; this needs to come from a mix of renewables such as offshore wind, solar, nuclear power and carbon-abated gas generation across a balanced system.
While we hear extensive conversations about battery storage for use in transportation and infrastructure, it is pertinent to acknowledge that there is currently no battery technology capable of grid-scale balancing storage, and none on the horizon. Our critical railway transport system needs increased firm low carbon electricity to decarbonise and that supply needs to be reliable and consistent.
Fundamental to our own industry aims and Net Zero targets is the cooperation between demand and supply – where our future energy supply will come from, and how we will afford to use it, across our railways, highways and modes of transport. Net Zero targets in one industry cannot and will not be reached unless targets across all industries and our entire system are met.
Underpinning all of this is the need for firm commitments and decisions now on the route to Net Zero. We cannot afford to wait any longer.”
Lizi Stewart, Managing Director UK Transportation Atkins
