Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, with reference to page 90 of the Williams-Shapps plan for rail, what progress his Department has made towards (a) tree planting and (b) introducing other (i) green initiatives and (ii) energy efficiency measures across the rail estate.

To maintain operational safety on the railways, Network Rail does not intend to plant more trees on the rail estate. Instead Network Rail has been working with the Tree Council to plant around 250,000 trees in communities over the past three years. Network Rail is also working with its neighbours, supported by Defra Nature for Climate funding, to encourage tree planting at a suitable distance away from the railway. Network Rail has committed to no net loss of biodiversity on the rail estate by 2024 and net gain by 2035.

Network Rail and all Department for Transport (DfT) contracted Train Operating Companies (TOCs) are required to set out their decarbonisation strategies and produce validated Science Based Targets, setting out clear and deliverable pathways to Net Zero 2050. Network Rail and the DfT TOCs are all delivering energy efficiency measures across the rail estate to achieve their decarbonisation commitments. Progress against commitments is monitored by DfT.

Network Rail is also pursuing other green initiatives, including supporting new renewable energy projects in the UK for energy use on the rail estate.