Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of diesel operation on the Midland Main Line north of Leicester on emissions and air quality in a) Leicester and b) the East Midlands.

Prior to the decision being made to pause the Midland Main Line Electrification programme as part of Spending Review 2025, the benefits of the scheme were being assessed. The benefits of fully electrifying the Midland Main Line (MML) are predominately those that would deliver greener transport, such as reducing carbon and improving local air quality, particularly at stations, through trains using electric traction rather than diesel.

Whilst not as clean as fully electric trains, the new intercity bi-mode trains currently being introduced by East Midland’s Railway are much cleaner and will contribute to improving air quality on the route.

Station managers in areas with poor air quality are required to develop and implement Air Quality Improvement Plans (AQIPs) which should outline feasible measures to improve air quality. The AQIPs for Nottingham, Derby, Leicester, and Sheffield stations on the MML have been developed and must be reviewed and updated annually.