Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps he is taking to (a) decarbonise and (b) increase efficiency in the rail freight sector.

Pursuant to the answer of 27/04/2022 to question 160513 “To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps he is taking to support investment in sustainable freight locomotives.” Government remains committed to its ambition of removing all diesel-only trains (passenger and freight) from the network by 2040, as set out in our Transport Decarbonisation Plan (TDP).

We are working closely with industry to better understand opportunities for decarbonisation, including electrification, renewable hydro-treated vegetable oil (HVO), hydrogen, battery or bi-mode traction technology. For example, in 2021/22, Government funded a Connected Places Catapult-led R&D project to identify low-emission technologies for use in the rail freight estate towards stimulating innovation in the sector. We will also build extra capacity on our rail network to meet growing passenger and freight demand, supporting modal shift and incentivising the take up of low carbon traction for rail freight.

Regarding increased efficiency in the rail freight sector, Government is committed to unlocking the benefits rail freight can deliver by working towards maximising utilisation of the network and increasing rail freight’s role in supporting resilient supply chains We continue to work closely with Network Rail (NR) and Freight Operating Companies (FOCs) to increase rail freight capacity, including: increasing the number of train paths available from Felixstowe Port and through the running of longer and heavier trains. We have also committed to introducing a rail freight growth target, which will reflect the sectors own business growth ambitions.